I don't quite agree. I do understand where you're coming from, but I don't see it quite that way.
By no account is Google making money off these, and by many accounts they're losing a far bit on each one. So... I'm not sure they're trying to sell as many as possible. I think they were aware of the issues in the review units and intentionally wanted what they're getting: generally favorable reviews, but with a few "issues" to make sure there's not an insane push to buy them right off the bat.
The battery life is fixable. The throttling is fixable. But those things, and the "ZOMG NO LTE!!!!1!!1BBQ" issue, will temper consumer demand initially. Developers will buy them anyway. Tech geeks will buy them. But there won't be a crazy rush.
Over time, reviews will be even more favorable, but the lack of LTE and the 16GB cap will keep sales down - which is fine, because Google's losing money on these.
Then, you'll see 32GB and 64GB provider versions (some/many with LTE) which aren't for sale on Play and which require a contract (because Google will charge the providers more for them), and people will buy them.
Google will stop losing money, people will like the phones, which will see a few software revs due to feedback from those who bought them initially, and everybody will be happy.
well said but I have to disagree.
You're telling me that this nexus 4 is costing more than £279 16gb ($444) to produce?
If anything Google is making a profit on the hardware (small mark-up considering other company profit margins) and they are making money through their services.
What ever happend to the Google makes $15 per gmail account? (estimated revenue potential customers will generate just by using gmail)
Google wouldn't pay you to buy their phone...
If you look around you can find out actual price costs of phones. I know its an estimation cause when producing such high volume numbers the price will change. There is no way that this nexus 4 costs that much per unit let alone Google making a Loss on each device!