LG has told TechCrunch that the Nexus 4 won’t be launching in the Netherlands and Belgium, owing to the high demand in countries where Google sells the smartphone via the Play Store. This was earlier reported by Dutch blog AndroidWorld, then later confirmed by the South Korean manufacturer.
LG provided the following statement: “Due to extremely high demand in countries where the Play Store is in place selling the Nexus 4, Netherlands will not have product availability.” The Nexus 4 was initially set for a release in the two counties in late November, but LG is expecting shortages and hence decided not to bring the latest Nexus to either markets.
The Nexus 4 has been confirmed for a launch in U.K., France, Germany and Spain in Europe, so it is possible that LG is limiting availability to only a few countries in each continent. The device has seen high demand in the UK, Australia and the US where it went on sale yesterday and the day before that, though many are blaming it on poor management by Google instead of limited supplies.
This always seems to be the case with Google’s Nexus devices, which never make it to many markets in the world, and while people had hoped this time it would be different, it apparently isn’t going to be. LG also has their own Optimus G to sell, so I’m not too hopeful of LG taking steps to solve the Nexus 4 shortages.