What happens when you couple top-of-the-line hardware with promises of fast software updates and a bargain-basement price tag in a smartphone? That smartphone sells out within minutes.

The Nexus 4, which went on sale yesterday (November 13) around the world, was sold out within minutes of availability — both 8GB ($299 USD) and 16GB ($349 USD) versions. In Germany it reportedly sold out within 15 minutes, while it took less than an hour to sellout in both the USA (5o minutes) and UK (3o minutes). In fact, the demand was so high in some places (e.g. UK), Google’s online Play Store couldn’t handle the load and left many users hanging… literally. When a Web 2.0 giant like Google cannot handle website traffic… that says something.

Google has posted an official announcement on Google+ acknowledging that “we’ve sold out of some of our initial stock in a few countries” and promising “to add more Nexus devices to Google Play in the coming weeks to keep up with the high demand”.

Unfortunately, Google did not specify how much stock they hand available for sale the first day so it is hard to concretely define how successful the device is. However, when a smartphone sells out faster than an iPhone, it must be somewhat of a hit, right?

Is anyone really surprised? What did anyone except to happen when an Android smartphone with specs to challenge (and arguably beat) the likes of Samsung Galaxy S III and iPhone 5 hits market at $299/$349 unlocked? Sure that price may seem high for people who purchase phones with 2-year subsidized prices, but folks in reality that is rock-bottom pricing — Galaxy S III and iPhone 5 (and many other smartphones) go for twice that amount if purchased unlocked.

I guess I won’t be getting a Nexus 4 for Christmas after all. It isn’t even the fact that I don’t celebrate Christmas that is deterring me — it is the fact that the damn phone is sold out.