It'll be interesting to see how the long term availability of the nexus 4 goes; it's another of the "sold at cost" products (along with nexus 7/10, samsung chromebook, etc), so google are paying the manufacturer something to make it worth their while building the thing - or covering another piece of the retail cost structure, be it distributor margins or whatever to achieve the same effect.

Obviously in the tablet/chromebook market, they needed to prime the market with competitive devices to get android/chromeos a foothold, but that wouldn't seem to be the case with android. There are many many vendors in the game delivering to every price point and every quality level. Possibly it's a warning shot to amazon?

I wouldn't be surprised if it's always in short supply for this reason - it's subsidised with a limited budget. The fact it exists is enough to mark the nexus checkbox, and if you really really want one you can order and wait.

Just got the samsung chromebook and it's decent for the price, I have to say. Sub-par screen, plasticky build, bad keyboard feel and a meh trackpad (though nicer than the Cr-48) but for $250 you really can't argue - it browses the web perfectly acceptably and battery life is good.