Google Inc (GOOG) Nexus 4 Phone Sells Out Online in 1st Day

Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) is apparently generating its own holiday-shopping buzz this fall, at least if the results from the first day of online sales of its new smartphone are any indication. Reports are that the new Nexus 4 smartphone sold out online in its first day of release, which was Tuesday.

The Nexus 4 was offered on the Google Play Store yesterday, and in pretty short order Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) announced that it was out of inventory, which applied to the $299 8-gigabyte version and the $349 16-GB device as well. The Nexus 4 just began sales in seven countries – the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and Germany are included. While the online devices were of the unlocked variety, a T-Mobile edition of the device would be going on sale soon for $199 with a two-year contract, or $499 for an unlocked phone.

One of the unique features on the new Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) smartphone is what is called Google Photo Sphere, which allows for 360-degree photo images that can be shared on applications like Google Maps and Google+. The new smartphone will run Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, has wireless charging and a feature called Gesture Typing, which allows the user to swipe over the keyboard. the LG version of the smartphone, which was unveiled last month, has a 4.7-inch screen with 320 pixel-per-inch resolution. The device has an 8-megapixel camera on the back and a 1.2-MP camera on the front and runs on a Snapdragon S4 processor by QUALCOMM Inc (NASDAQ:QCOM) with 2 GB of RAM.

It has been only a day, and the device doesn’t seem to be hitting wireless carriers’ shelves until later this week or next, but does a quick sell-out mean anything for Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) in its attempt to get into the smartphone handset market with its Android operating system? Can Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) leverage the initial positive reception into solid sales to make the Nexus 4 a viable competitor in the congested smartphone market? What could this indicate for investors like billionaire Julian Robertson of Tiger Management? If you were in the market for a smartphone, would you consider the Nexus 4? Why or why not?