The Nexus 4 pure Google Android smartphone by LG is a great handset
and has met with huge popularity across the world, despite problems with
supplies meeting demand. However, we have been detailing the release
saga of the Nexus 4 for India and there is growing frustration that the
phone has still not been officially launched there, although several
times it has looked as though it was about to be. Today we want to look
at just why the Nexus 4 is still absent for India.
Recently we updated our readers in India with the latest situation regarding the official Nexus 4 release there and detailed the sorry saga so far (see here).
Even though Google now lists India as a supported country on a Nexus 4
microsite the order page still lists it as not available yet for the
country. Also online retailer Saholic put up a new availability date
for the Nexus 4 as April 30, which was taken down again merely to be
replaced with the unhelpful ‘coming soon’ message.
We also mentioned that Google’s and LG’s lack of official information
about the delay of the Nexus 4 for India was not helping the situation,
with consumers feeling left out of the loop and as though they didn’t
matter. Although there had been speculation that the delay may be down
to a pricing disagreement between Google and LG we had no further
details of this at that time. In the last few days though Google’s Eric
Schmidt discussed Nexus devices (or lack of them) for India at the Big
Tent Activate India event and gave us a little insight into the
situation.
From previous comments to our posts on the Nexus 4 for India we now
that many of our readers have felt really disappointed as well as
annoyed about the treatment of customers in the country by Google and LG
and when Schmidt appeared at the event in India one question in
particular drew a big response from the audience. A developer asked
Schmidt about ‘low-cost’ Nexus devices in general and why they didn’t
make it to India within a reasonable timeframe. In reply, Schmidt said
this had been noted and that Google was working on it and then
apologized for this. He then went on to concede that ‘low-cost’ Nexus
devices often ended up being more highly priced for India and said that
was also being looked at.
It does seem then that pricing has played a large part in why the
Nexus 4 has not yet been officially released in India. Furthermore we
have heard that a report last month discussed a pricing debate between
Google and LG about the Nexus 4 for India and quoted a source who said,
“They (LG and Google) have not yet come to terms on whether to opt for
the same price model at which Google introduced the phone in the US, or
let LG determine the price of the new phone for the Indian market.”
Of course we should remember that not all Nexus devices have been
officially launched in India but we still expect the Nexus 4 to be,
although nobody seems any closer to offering a release date for the
phone in the country. Many consumers in India have taken alternative
routes now to get the Nexus 4 in the country, either via unofficial
sources or asking friends in the US to get it for them and many of our
reader’s comments on other posts have reflected this.
As we said in our previous post about this saga, an eventual official
release of the Nexus 4 in India could be too late, as other potential
customers will have given up and opted for a different smartphone
instead. We’d really like to hear your thoughts on this. Do you think
that customers for the Nexus 4 in India have been given the short straw
and deserve more of an explanation? Are you still waiting, or maybe
you’ve moved on to another smartphone because of your frustration? Let
us know with your comments.
Source: CIOL
Now craze for nexus 4 is reduced due to delay in launching in India. Even I lost interest I waited for few months to get nexus 4 but mean while we got many good models like CANVAS HD so no interest to buy nexus now.
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