In all fairness, the Nexus series of smartphones have never been top-selling devices. Google has long struggled with the selling of their own handsets and except for the Galaxy Nexus T-Mobile was the preferred carrier of choice for day one support. While I'm sure they appreciate T-Mobile's willingness to play ball, the fourth place provider is not going to deliver the desired impact. In a related note, the Nexus 4 that T-Mobile is offering is touted as 42Mbps-capable whereas the one listed in Google Play is 21Mbps.
It's worth noting that just because AT&T supports the new phone doesn't necessarily mean they will advertise the fact. All this in mind, Google will shoot themselves in the foot if they do not ultimately offer a Verizon or Sprint version of the Nexus 4. That is, provided, if they ever hope to see large scale adoption of their Nexus line.
It's the same issue with the with data connectivity. At $299, the no-contract 32GB is a good pickup to be sure. Just think, however, how much more appealing it would be if it was 4G LTE support instead of the 3.5G speeds of HSPA+.
I'm trying to justify Google's decision to skip 4G LTE for the Nexus 4 but the best I can come up with a "lesser of two evils" analogy. It seems they would rather see hardcore fans and early adopters grumble about not getting access instead of potentially larger crowd moan about poor battery life. It's a bitter pill and I don't want to swallow it.
Instead, I have the answer: Google is thinking globally here. We should consider that the Nexus 4 is being released to a number of markets on November 13 and not just in the United States. Factor in the fact that many of said markets operate on fully deployed GSM/HSPA networks and it makes more sense. At $299 unlocked and without a contract, this is going to be the handset to beat, even without 4G LTE.
Well, that is until CES arrives in a little over two months.
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