Google Inc (GOOG): Is This Handset Truly Going Extinct?

Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) has made a strong move in the smartphone space thanks to its aggressive positioning of its Android operating system. While Google has had an extraordinary alliance with Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and its Galaxy lines of devices that run the Android OS across a number of price ranges, Google has had only modest success with its own smartphone called the Nexus. A handful of manufacturers have produced the Nexus smartphone for Google, but the numbers off those OEMs combined just don’t measure up to what Samsung has been able to do.

But now that smartphones seem to be trending larger now after getting smaller – what with millions loving to download apps but now finding their phone screens too small to be really useful – it seems that Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) may be on its way to rolling out a bigger smartphone as has been rumored for a while now, and the timing might be just right.  At least in the United Kingdom there has been some attention paid to the stock of the Nexus 4 smartphone, and apparently that supply is beginning to dwindle.

There is a report coming out that says that Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) is showing that its white Nexus 4 is out of stock in the Google Play store, and there is nothing showing that the company is taking orders for a new shipment. This seems to confirm at least some part of a rumor that has said that the Nexus 4, replacement, the Nexus 5, is due to hit store shelves by September.

There has been no timeframe more specific than that discussed, but the new smartphone is expected to sell for about the same price as its smaller cousin did when it launched yet is expected to boast  better features – including a 5-inch display to upgrade from the 4-inch display of the predecessor.

Thee is no word yet on how the other colors of the Nexus 4 are doing in terms of stock, but as white is one of the more basic and widely popular colors in the rainbow and Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) is showing no intention or indication of replacing the stock in its own Play store, it sure seems like this is the opportunity to clear out the other inventory for the new smartphone, which reportedly will sport a quad-core QUALCOMM, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM) processor, a 13-megapixel camera in the rear, 3 GB of memory and  a battery of more than 3,100mAh. It is also expected to be up-to-date with 4G LTE support included and would run on Android 4.3 Jelly Bean.

What are your thoughts about the Nexus smartphone line by Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG)? Should Google even continue to market this line, or should it focus its attention on Samsung and its dominant stable of smartphones that run Android? If you were an investor like fund manager George Soros (see his full equity portfolio), what would you suggest that Google do? Give us your feedback in the comments section below.

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