If you were a participant in any of the chaos surrounding the launching of the LG and Google Nexus 4 then you were no doubt left with a wicked sour taste in your mouth. Frustrated consumers released their rage on the poor uninformed souls manning the Google Play Store phone lines or went to message boards in order to vent.
At first there was the apology from Dan Cobley, the Managing Director of Google UK and Google Ireland, back in mid December which pointed the finger at LG and left many of us unimpressed. Now today we have word from Cathy Robin who is LG Mobile France Director pointing that finger right back at Google.
Ms. Robin, in an interview with Challenges.fr out of France says that “the supply problems are not solely related to LG.” She goes on to explain that the manufacturer was given sales reports from previous Nexus versions which obviously did not accurately predict the actual demand for the device. This resulted in less resources being directed towards Google’s flagship.
Robin goes on to say that the relationship between the two companies is still going “very well” and that production will catch up with demand by the middle of February, so that there will be “no more pressure” on the market. Additionally she says that the reported 375,000 units sold is “much lower” than the actual number. One other tidbit that I found interesting is that Robin claims that the long held rumor of the Nexus 4 being sold at a loss is untrue. However, there is a deal in place where the handset will be sold at an attractive price tag.
So now we’re back at who to blame for the great Nexus 4 debacle, LG or Google. And even though this explanation seems the most reasonable the big question remains. What took so long for this excuse? At this point does anyone even care what they have to say? I got mine on the original launch day with minimal anxiety, but I did follow the story closely because it was so hard to believe it could get that messy so quick. We can only hope that going forward Google will be able to anticipate the sales of the next Nexus and plan accordingly.
What are your thoughts? Will we see a change in strategy by next years release? Or will we be sitting at our computers frantically hitting F5 again?