
Google's Nexus 4 smartphone sells out in the US in 50 minutes - kevinSuttle
http://thenextweb.com/google/2012/11/13/googles-nexus-4-smartphone-sells-out-in-the-us-in-50-minutes/
======
gergles
The fact that it is 2012 and stores still refuse to just let you give them
money and then have them ship you a product is ridiculous. I don't want to sit
here and wait for a store to open or for things to come 'back in stock' to buy
a phone. That's why we invented computers, to automate boring tasks.

I give you money, you put my name on a list, as phones come in, you ship them
in the order of the names on the list. Problem solved.

Of course, that won't happen any time soon, because being sold out
inexplicably generates buzz like the present article.

~~~
ChuckMcM
There are laws in the US which require you to ship a product within a certain
time or offer a refund. I agree that the 'sold out' buzz is a popular
marketing technique, its one of the persuasion tools that works well,
scarcity, but I think that is a side effect here.

So take a moment and imagine you are in the product manager's shoes at Google
and you're tasked with forecasting how many Nexus 4's will be needed. If you
guess 'high' you end up with HP's Touchpad fiasco, or Motorola's Xoom, too
much product. Since you've probably borrowed the money to buy the parts to
build the stuff and you have to pay it in 90 days, you need to get stuff, sell
it, and then get the money to pay off the money you borrowed.

Building a million phones like this probably costs in the neighborhood of
$200M - $250M. That is a pretty sizable chunk of cash to be hanging out there
'in the float' as it were. Sloshing around that much capital is like driving a
fully loaded big rig truck on a wet highway, you don't want to enter any turn
with too much speed, the 'bad' outcome is really bad.

So of the two options, "leaving money on the table" because someone who wanted
to buy your gear couldn't, and "missing your wall street guidance" because
you're carrying inventory for longer than you wanted, the former is the much
better choice. At the limit its horrible but if you're going to err, and your
error bars are large, you want to err on the negative side not the positive
side. On the negative side you just don't make as much money as you might have
wanted to, on the positive side you don't make the margins you need to make on
the product.

~~~
mgkimsal
Xoom and Touchpad were 'new' products (new to that brand) - Nexus isn't 'new'
by any stretch. It's got a track record. They have customers they can survey.
Hell, it's _google_ \- if they can't predict public and customer sentiment and
willingness to buy, who can?

~~~
zmonkeyz
But now they have a lot of people bitching about how the phone doesn't have
LTE so it's not like it was known it'd be a total slam dunk. I'm a T-Mobile
customer in the US though so i don't worry about stuff like that. ;)

~~~
yen223
I'm more worried about the fact that they only have up to 16GB storage, for an
Android phone that doesn't support removable storage.

I mean, even the iPhone 4 has 32GB!

~~~
dangrossman
What do you use all that space for on a phone? My Android phone (HTC Evo 4G)
has 512MB internal storage and the Android version it runs doesn't support
moving most apps and their data to an SD card. I still have all the apps I
want. I still listen to my entire multi-gigabyte music collection... by
streaming it through Amazon MP3 for free. Everything's streaming or in the
cloud these days. You don't need to carry duplicate copies in your pocket.

I ordered a Nexus 4 8GB.

~~~
yen223
The problem with cloud access is that you need to have a reliable Internet
connection to benefit from it.

I live in a 3rd-world country where 3G connections are either expensive or
unreliable. Also, we don't have access to all the excellent streaming sites
like Spotify or Hulu.

So yes, I need all that space for my music collection :)

------
jbail
It sold out way quicker than that. I tried to purchase it right away, had a
phone in my cart, then when I went to checkout, it was gone and said Coming
Soon. This was within the first 10 minutes of the phone going on sale.

 _UPDATE:_ The store is back up. 16gb appear to be sold out, but I just
successfully purchased an 8gb model.

 _ANOTHER UPDATE:_ I just bought the 16gb model successfully as well. Both
orders show as pending in my Google Wallet account.

~~~
pkulak
I've got a script checking the site, and it's been back to "Add to Cart" a
couple times since it was initially down, though I've never been able to buy
it. I have a suspicion that Google hasn't sold out, but the site is just
melting, so they are only allowing purchases periodically.

~~~
mvc
"I've got a script checking the site...but the site is just melting",
apparently without a trace of irony

------
Greynum
There are 8600 likes on google+ for the Nexus 4. If you are very generous you
could say that would translate to 860,000 purchases.

No decent smartphone manufacture plans for sales of less than 1 million units
of its flagship product.

The fact that the nexus 4 sold out in every country it was sold within one
hour would only demonstrate complete operational incompetence on every level
to be that far off the mark.

It's a stunt and I don't like it when companies treat people like retards.

This is all a setup and im pissed because I wanted one.

Now I have to wait and play the stupid F5 game.

~~~
fragsworth
Translating "like" numbers to sales figures makes absolutely zero sense.

~~~
Greynum
That was a Google+ Number not a Face Book Number.

Yes if you are Google and you keep track of all of these things you can quite
accurately translate those metrics into potential sales.

Especially when you can build Plus Ones profiles for every phone every made
then correlate that to actual sales figures. It's not 100% accurate but it's
certainly accurate enough not to go out of stock in 1 hour.

Its Google entire business model last time I checked.

------
binarycrusader
Annoyed that they never sent out the email notifying that it went on sale
despite having signed up for that.

The cynical side of me thinks that they're out of stock, it shows that they
didn't believe their own statements about how great the product is and so
didn't secure adequate supply. It makes me question just how much they
believed in the product.

I suppose it's possible that the current order limits are based on how many
orders they're able to handle versus physical supply, but I remain skeptical.

------
bobf
I downloaded the Auto Refresh Plus Chrome plugin, set it to auto-refresh the
16GB page
([https://play.google.com/store/devices/details?id=nexus_4_16g...](https://play.google.com/store/devices/details?id=nexus_4_16gb))
every 1s and set the "Popup notification once FIND the target" option using
the word "STOCK".

I went through 3-4 false starts of trying to add it to cart and having it
fail, but it eventually succeeded and I was able to add to cart and complete
the purchase at 3:04pm EST.

~~~
chilgart
Thanks for the comment. I managed to snag a 16GB at 6:08 EST and I'm crossing
my fingers that the order doesn't get lost.

------
overshard
Just a heads up, it's not sold out, I got mine just now which is 3 hours after
people are saying it's sold out. The sales keep going up and down I'm not sure
if it's due to server issues or they are adding more stock here and there as
they get them but you can still get one if you try.

------
Roritharr
Just like in every other country that has launched it...

It would make it so much less painful if they atleast give me the option to
pre-order the next batch so i don't have to recheck all my info-sources all
the time...

~~~
jwong42
Yea, I agree. I was planning get one but didn't get a chance. Even if we can't
pre-order, it would be great if they release some info about when the next
batch will be available.

------
actf
Has anyone else noticed that when you repeatedly click between the two
different models in the play store, the seems to change randomly from "Coming
Soon" to "Out of Stock"?

As much as I want to like Android, this is the type of experience that just
makes me want to head straight back to Apple. If Google can't even get their
their flagship product's launch day store working properly, do I really want
to trust their customer service if I break my phone, or their ability to
manage an entire mobile ecosystem?

After owning early Android devices and being incredibly disappointed at the
experience (crashes, incompatibilities, lack of software, poor battery life,
lack of promised updates) I swore off getting another Android device for a
long time.

In the meantime I've owned apple products, and always been extremely happy
with the overall experience. With the Nexus 4 announcement, I've decided to
give Android another shot. As I said earlier I really want to like Android,
but it's stuff like this that makes me have second thoughts, and reconsider
just getting an iphone 5.

In my opinion this is a huge failure on Google's part.

------
vondur
It would be nice if Google would release some sales numbers on this. I'd
imagine it would sell well in Europe where the lack of LTE is not an issue. I
don't see it selling that well in the US, most people here get new phones
every two years when their contracts are up at subsidized pricing.

~~~
alanctgardner2
In Canada contracts are still typically three years. I've been salivating over
this for months.

~~~
sareon
I am almost done my three year contract with Bell. I don't mind them so I
don't mind staying with them. I want the N4 and I talked to retentions about
what I could get post-plan if I brought in my own phone. They seemed quite
confused and couldn't give me any better deals than a new customer. If I had
gotten one of their subsidized phoned on a new 3-year deal they would have
been able to give me a better deal. I would even be willing to go on a 1-2
year deal with an N4 but alas they seem like they don't know how to deal with
this situation.

I could just go with the Samsung Galaxy SIII which wouldn't be a bad phone but
it wouldn't be carrying the vanilla Android but rather Bell's variant (which I
am not sure how bad it is).

I've looked at other carriers, Koodo, Fido, Wind and Moblicity. Either their
deals aren't any better than I have now or they have little coverage. Wind is
much better than Moblicity in coverage so I am not sure how much roaming with
them would cost me on average a month.

So I am not sure which way I should go with my new phone.

~~~
alanctgardner2
If you live in a covered area Mobilicity is awesome. I'm in Ottawa, and it's
going to be $25 a month for text/talk/data (what Telus currently charges me
$60 for). Even if you consider the amount of subsidy they provide, the price
differential is so wide. They also recently added free roaming minutes every
month (50 minutes), for when I visit my family.

~~~
shinratdr
I can't speak to Ottawa but in Toronto Mobilicity coverage in the areas they
claim are covered is pretty awful.

Rogers charges you through the nose but I get LTE coverage almost everywhere
and 3G coverage everywhere, while my Mobility friends have no data connection
to speak of when in most buildings.

------
kleiba
_Some readers, like Henk van Ess are reporting that they’re still able to snag
them. He used Chrome to make his purchase as other browsers wouldn’t allow him
to complete the transaction._

This is sad.

------
fatbat
The whole launch seems very poorly thought out. Or am I missing the genius of
it?

* no official launch time.

* no early email notifications went out.

* no sense of stock availability.

* high phone limit (5) per user.

* constant site errors.

* constant checkout errors.

* HSPA+ feature typo.

------
tvon
How many were sold? I can't (easily) find numbers on what the available stock
was.

------
dmm
This means that the price of the Nexus 4 isn't $299. It's actually about $490,
the current buy-it-now price on ebay.

~~~
coolnow
That's the price the eBay sharks are selling at. It's not the official price.

~~~
paulgb
If people are willing to pay that, it's the market price.

~~~
MMXII
No, this is price discrimination. There are _some_ people willing to pay more
to have it.

It doesn't represent that the aggregate demand is at this price.

~~~
ISL
It may not be the optimal point on the supply-demand curve, but if supply is
limited, then the price is whatever people are willing to pay.

------
watmough
Ok, as of 12:09pm CST, I was able to add a 16GB N4 to my cart and check-out.

So either they found another pallette of the things somewhere, or people are
getting cold feet and canceling their orders.

Hitting F5 on the product page seems to find a phone about once every twenty
times, and on about the 1/5th try to add to cart, it succeeded.

~~~
nvarsj
A lot of people ended up with duplicate orders from the madness this morning,
and I expect they're cancelling. My co-worker ended up with 3 N4's despite
only seeing one confirmation.

~~~
watmough
It's been a while since I've been so stoked about a piece of tech!

I returned my Galaxy Nexus, mainly for the poor camera, and for the fact that
not one week after getting it, it was discontinued and replaced with this much
nicer phone.

------
Greynum
This joker is selling his nexus 4 for £1200 ($1900) in the UK

[http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/lg-GOOGLE-NEXUS-4-8GB-UNLOCKED-
BRA...](http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/lg-GOOGLE-NEXUS-4-8GB-UNLOCKED-BRAND-NEW-
GOOGLE-HAVE-SOLD-OUT-/221153176250?pt=UK_Mobile_Phones&hash=item337dc1aaba)

~~~
uzusan
I'm pretty sure selling something you don't actually have isn't allowed on
ebay (he's selling a phone he hasn't received, and in all likelyhood wont
receive as google could quite easily cancel the other 2 orders as they seem to
be a mistake).

~~~
Greynum
The bid is now at £2050 ($3280), mind you they are all from accounts with 0
history. Only one bidder has a history and its at 40.

------
thebranman
Its /kind of/ sold out - if you refresh enough it will allow you to add it to
your cart. I took me about 30 minutes of refreshing, and about 15 failed
attempts to add it to my cart, but I finally was able to check out
successfully with a 16GB Nexus 4.

Order date: Nov 13, 2012 1:36:11 PM EST

------
YZF
I stayed up till after midnight and then got up again at 9pm to try and place
an order. I guess I wasn't persistent enough at the face of errors - no phone.

Google should do much better at communicating the situation. When will the
phone be available for ordering, how many units are in stock, etc. How about
providing some information about when the next batch is coming? The way
they've handled this is a disgrace. If there was any comparable product in a
comparable price I would not be buying Google.

EDIT: Are all those people saying that if you keep refreshing you'll get to
buy it just part of a DDoS attack on the store?

I hope the phone works better than the store. :-(

------
blinkingled
Google - I am sure you lost some sales by releasing the 4.2 update for Galaxy
Nexus and Nexus 7 on the same day as Nexus 4 and Nexus 10 were released! Not
that I am complaining - this same day update is fast even for Google :)

~~~
tmrhmd
I have an unlocked Galaxy Nexus and I don't see any system updates in
settings. Do you have any sources for this?

~~~
JBiserkov
Prerequisite: Nexus 7 with Android 4.1.2 build JZO54K

Manual download link:
[http://android.clients.google.com/packages/data/ota/google_n...](http://android.clients.google.com/packages/data/ota/google_nakasi/094f6629314a.signed-
nakasi-JOP40C-from-JZO54K.094f6629.zip)

Instructions: [http://www.androidpolice.com/2012/11/13/android-4-2-build-
jo...](http://www.androidpolice.com/2012/11/13/android-4-2-build-
jop40c-rolling-out-to-the-nexus-7-now-manual-download-link-available/)

------
sgtnotorious
Like some people have mentioned, I don't think that the N4 is actually sold
out. I think they're just making small batches available slowly as to not
instantiate a big performance issue on their servers. Keep refreshing the page
every so often and click 'Add to Cart' once you see that button. F5'ing the
page and then clicking that small gap in between the 'Email' box and the
'Notify Me' button after each time you press F5 will increase the likelihood
of pre-empting someone else's click (since the Add to Cart button will be
located there).

------
kux
I just got a 16GB model after hitting refresh on and off for the past hour

~~~
dowskitest
Thanks for the tip - this worked for me as well, although I felt kind of dirty
doing it (the poor servers!).

------
mcantelon
Pretty happy with the prospect of unlocked phones becoming a market norm. I've
been very happy with my Nexuses in the past: super convenient to be able to
just throw in a new SIM when I'm travelling.

------
peeters
The Google store was extremely slow during this period. I tried to initiate a
purchase around 5 minutes after they became available, but 95% of my clicks
resulted in errors, and when it finally went through, the Wallet info
collector hung for another 5 minutes. When that finally went through, my cart
had had the phone removed from it, and they were once again out of stock.

So the 50 minutes is probably somewhat inflated. Had the store kept pace it
probably would've been more like 10 minutes.

~~~
akshaym
This is surprising. Not that it sold out after 10 minutes, but that Google
didn't handle the load well.

I wonder why - surely they expected this (if nothing else, given the
performance of the phone in other markets).

~~~
jc4p
This happens every time google sells something directly, just like Google I/O
tickets for the last few years.

------
nullvoyd
Luckily, I got my order through albeit with a good share of issues.

-> Google Wallet pane opening empty

-> Google Wallet pane opening with an error message

-> Google Wallet pane not opening and me receiving a top of the window notification saying they are working hard on resolving the issue

-> Google wallet opening, with info. I then clicked purchase and it wouldnt go through.

After multiple times trying it, losing my cart a few times, I got a N4 8GB
order through. Should ship in two days.

~~~
laggyluke
I wasn't that lucky. But I've grabbed some screenshots:
<http://imgur.com/a/SikfG>

I especially like the "Expected 3 components in jwt:" one :)

------
Ives
What's incredible is that the Nexus 4 is so successful that LG won't make it
available in Belgium or the Netherlands[1].

So they clearly think they can sell all of their stock for the foreseeable
future in just a few countries.

[1] [http://tweakers.net/nieuws/85507/lg-brengt-nexus-4-niet-
uit-...](http://tweakers.net/nieuws/85507/lg-brengt-nexus-4-niet-uit-in-
nederland-en-belgie.html) (in dutch)

------
edw519
1922: heroin

1932: alchohol

1942: nicotine

1952: amphetamines

1962: marijuana

1972: acid

1982: crack cocaine

1992: crystal meth

2002: X

2012: smartphones

~~~
nsns
So now capitalism itself is the opium of the people?

~~~
dredmorbius
Given my fascination with things dopamineagenic and their interplay in modern
consumer commerce, that is a very insightful observation.

Note that Marx's version is usually given as "the opiate of the masses", but
still.

~~~
nsns
Not really that insightful... [0]

[0]<http://www.wbenjamin.org/passageways.html>

------
dag11
It's not strictly sold out.

At 3:03 PM EST, I managed to purchase a 16GB Nexus 4 after refreshing every
second for ten minutes.

------
roger_padactor
What grinds my gears is that I had it in the cart and processing 4 times and
still didn't get it. I find out 2 hours later people were still currently
buying it even after it kept showing me the "notify me" button. Oh well I
guess I'll wait even longer.

------
rufugee
So if I'm on Verizon and I buy this, what speeds should I expect? I'd be ok
with HSPA+ speeds (I find Verizon LTE to be extremely underwhelming), but as I
understand it, Verizon doesn't do HSPA+. What will the Nexus 4 fall back to?

~~~
TrisMcC
This phone will not work on Verizon or Sprint.

~~~
rufugee
Wow...so to insure working across all carriers, they cut out two very large
carriers? This doesn't make sense to me.

~~~
jxi
Uh.. they didn't 'cut out' anything. If anything, it's the carriers that are
stupid for not adopting the same standard of using sim cards (Verizon and
Sprint don't use sim cards..). I think they wanted to lock people in to their
service.

~~~
steve-howard
It's more than "adopting" sim cards. Verizon and Sprint are CDMA networks, and
incompatible at the very root with GSM networks like T-Mo and AT&T.

------
OldSchool
Nexus 4 looks like a great phone - very comparable to the Galaxy S III. Since
the fair price of a new or virtually new S3 on eBay is about $450, the Nexus 4
at $299 new is a steal if you don't need a microSD slot.

------
forax
Just one data point but I had zero problems. Refreshed the page and saw "add
to cart." Went to checkout, entered my info, and clicked purchase. Guess I
just got lucky.

------
dangerboysteve
If they don't make any mention of inventory on hand for the launch then what
is the point? Who cares how fast something sells out if it's not put into
context.

~~~
alexmat
I care, as someone who wanted to buy one.

------
farinasa
You know, had they implemented a pre-order option, they may have been able to
better gauge demand. Instead, they decided to piss off their customers.

------
truebecomefalse
Got a 16GB at 1:10pm CST by refreshing the page every 2 seconds and stopping
when "Notify" was replaced with "Add to Cart". Sorry Google.

------
callahad
Just sold out in Canada as well. Bummer.

~~~
bvi
That's odd. I wasn't notified by email when it apparently became available.
Were people just refreshing Google Play nonstop until they saw an option to
buy it?

~~~
jondcampbell
Yes. yes we were.

~~~
eventualEntropy
Anybody have any more luck in canada?

------
datalus
Just ordered a N4 16 GB, it seems they're still letting some stock out today
for the US. 4:34 pm CDT.

------
andys627
Anyone have any guess when it will be available again, based on past "day 1
sellouts" like this?

------
fatjokes
Did it!

After refreshing repeatedly, I finally got through and made a purchase for the
8GB at around noon PST.

------
donniezazen
I just managed to get a Nexus 4. Just refresh the page and you might be the
lucky one.

~~~
greenmountin
out of curiosity (not obsessed), does the losing page say "Sold Out" in red
letters like mine does?

~~~
dangrossman
I think you're out of luck now. It was saying "Coming Soon" until under an
hour ago, and that's when people were still picking them up here and there by
refreshing all day, myself included. Since it just recently changed to "Sold
Out", it's probably actually sold out now.

~~~
donniezazen
The Google Play Store page kept switching between "Sold Out" and "Coming
Soon." I didn't try it obsessively but i tried it once in a while throughout
the day. And it worked.

------
OpusCroakus
I just placed an order for the 16GB model. I don't believe it's sold out.

~~~
OpusCroakus
<http://i.imgur.com/otNAV.jpg>

------
jamaicahest
I seem to be saying this a lot lately: How is this HN related?

------
kcbanner
They just came back in stock, I managed to snag one quickly.

------
syassami
This is almost like the touchpad fiasco all over again

------
diminish
would this be an indicator for any future trends in contract subsidized phones
vs others?

~~~
watmough
It may be an indicator that the iPhone lifetime is now exceeding 2 years, and
rather than being desperate to get the next Apple iDevice, people are instead
casting around for cheaper cell-plans and thinking about moving to Android.

~~~
shinratdr
You're extrapolating all that from a phone that is manufactured in small
quantities and subsidized to the point that it's basically an off-contract
phone for an on-contract price selling out?

I don't want or need the thing and I'm thinking about buying it. It undercuts
every high end off contract Android phone on the market by about $100-200
while also boasting a much better design and spec sheet.

This is basically a fire-sale at launch. It sold out because it's decent and
market-disruptingly (some would argue dangerously) cheap.

------
donniezazen
It felt more like 15 minutes.

------
mkoryak
is that 360 degree camera feature software or hardware or both?

~~~
skeletonjelly
Software which requires hardware to support Android 4.2

------
benihana
I'd love to see numbers to compare this to the sale of previous iPhones. My
gut instinct says this is a supply-side issue more than a popularity issue.
Could google be keeping supply low to keep demand up? Or was this such a
popular product (people reporting that this bringing the google store to its
knees) that it sold out within minutes and google was just ill prepared for
the popularity?

~~~
jxi
My gut feel is the opposite. This is a ridiculous phone, for a ridiculous
price. I personally wanted it and couldn't get it Today yet, and I know of at
least 5 other people (outside the US) who've been pinging me to see if it's
going to be available anytime soon. Pretty sure it's a demand-issue this time.

~~~
kemiller
If the numbers are good, they'll brag about them. If they don't, it's a pretty
good sign that it's supply.

~~~
KirinDave
Given it's 50 minutes, the numbers don't have to be incredibl good to make a
really impressive-sounding rate.

Let's say they had a quarter million units for sale for their first run (given
their Nex7 sales, totally reasonable). That means they're selling ~80 phones a
second.

Now did Apple sell more? Sure. Does that mean these numbers are bad, even in a
relative sense given the obscurity of the Nexus brand, the troubles during
launch and the location of sale?

No. Supply or Demand, this is good for Nexus.

