谷歌Nexus 4 与苹果 iPhone 5这两款手机都获得极好的评测，可谓万众期待。两者都可在网上订购，并迅速销售一空。

    但有一点，据Piper Jaffrey的吉恩·明斯特称，苹果（Apple）的iPhone 5克服了一些初期生产上的小问题，到上周四，消费者终于可以在苹果商店购买iPhone 5的现货。

    而Nexus 4——由LG电子为谷歌（Google）代工生产，作为展示Android 4.2（又名软糖豆）的机型——则不幸沦为错过节前产品发布良机的反面教材。

    笔者引用了科技博客Computerworld的JR·拉斐尔在《谷歌Nexus 4发布错失良机》中的话：

    产品售罄不是问题；这对需求旺盛的热门产品而言可谓稀松平常。真正的问题在于：

    首先是谷歌Nexus 4销售的方式。因为没有进行预售，Nexus 4一开始发售，人们就迫不及待地去买。谷歌起先称将于11月13日开始发售Nexus 4，但没有透露具体时间；后来，有消息称发售时间是太平洋时间当天早上9点。很多Android粉丝据此安排了自己当天的行程，确保不至于无功而返。

    然而，谷歌却随随便便的将销售时间提前了15分钟，既没有发布通知，也没有提醒消费者。随后事态急转直下：该公司的Play Store不堪负荷巨大的访问量，几乎无法正常运行。就算已经把Nexus 4放入了购物车中，成功付款之前，这个网站也会反复出错。

    很快，谷歌的网店首页开始一会儿显示Nexus 4有货，一会儿显示“即将到货”。当天大部分时间里，网站基本都处于勉强能用的状态。只要坚持不懈，往往都能下单成功，但得耗费很多精力。据我所知，有很多用户花了好几个小时下单。

    Both smartphones were highly anticipated and well-reviewed. Both were made available for online orders and quickly sold out.

    But one -- Apple's (AAPL) iPhone 5 -- overcame some initial production hiccups and as of Thursday, according to Piper Jaffrey's Gene Munster, had "finally reached a point where consumers can walk into an Apple Store and walk out with a phone."

    The other -- made for Google (GOOG) by LG Electronics (LGLD) as a showcase for Android 4.2 (a.k.a. Jelly Bean) -- has become an object lesson in how not to stage a roll-out in advance of the holidays.

    I quote from Computerworld's JR Raphael (Google's Nexus 4 launch and the land of lost opportunity):

    Selling out isn't the problem; that's relatively common with hot products in high demand. There's more to this story.

    First is the way Google started the Nexus 4's sales. With no presales available, people were champing at the bit to get the phone the second orders opened up. Google initially said it'd start Nexus 4 sales on November 13th, with no specific time; later, word got out that the floodgates would open at 9 a.m. PT that day. Plenty of Android enthusiasts planned their days around that schedule to make sure they wouldn't end up empty-handed.

    But then Google randomly started the sales about 15 minutes early, with no announcement and no warning. And then things really went to hell: The company's Play Store buckled under the pressure of incoming traffic and became almost unusable. Even if you managed to get a Nexus 4 in your shopping cart, the site would repeatedly hiccup and give you errors before you could check out.

    Soon, Google's storefront started randomly switching between showing the phone as available and showing it as "coming soon." That level of barely-usable business went on much of the day. With enough work, you could often place an order -- but it took an awful lot of effort. I chatted with scores of people who spent hours trying to make it happen.