The Nexus 4 remains on the back-order status, latest check on Google Play store showed, which allowed unofficial channels to offer the Google-LG handset but with significantly bloated price tags.

Still, the entry of third-party sellers into the picture failed to quench what appears as a global thirst for the smartphone sought by many for its feature-rich offerings and affordable sticker price.

Nexus 4 is a phenomenal hit but the problematic supply chain governing the Google-LG collaboration proved unprepared for the floodway of demand that the gadget broke open when it was launched.

Blog reports suggested that Google, and more so LG, didn't see the storm coming. Deep probes by Android fans indicated that the two firms only rolled out less than 400,000 Nexus 4 units as of December - a month that each year normally sees millions in sales of smartphone per results by the majors like Apple and Samsung

The numbers pointed to the fact that Google and LG partly created the Nexus 4 supply issues and are responsible for the stock outs and the resulting frustrations of the great many who waited in vain during the holidays for the Nexus 4 deliveries that never came.

The firm holdouts though do not have to wait anymore, Gotta Be Mobile suggested in a report.

The same report pointed to the 2013 CES, still underway, and the upcoming Mobile World Congress - two event platforms that host the introduction of new mobile devices for consumers' consideration.

Tech experts said that all the rumours about this year's hotly anticipated handsets - like the M7 from HTC and the new top-tier smartphones from China's Huawei and ZTE - will mostly likely become realities come these prestigious device showcases.

Also, within the first half of 2013, frenzied talks are swirling that Apple and Samsung will refresh the iPhone 5 and Galaxy S3 respectively, with added bonus likely to come from Apple.

Analyst have been harping on the likelihood that Apple will issue a budget version of its smartphone, possibly taking on the name iPhone Mini.

And around the same time, it remains doubtful if Google and LG would have figured how to solve the supply glitch that is preventing many consumers from laying their hands on Nexus 4.

Even if the phone would shift to normal delivery mode in the coming weeks and months, as pledged by Google when it issued an apology for the fiasco last month, Nexus 4 would have to jostle for a space in a field that is set to be crowded by other players, all offering equally or more attractive and powerful alternatives.

Google's Nexus 4 would have been a global hit that failed to hit the mark. It was a failed launch that had a good start but lost most of its steam even before gaining a respectable traction, said Gotta Be Mobile on its report.

By the time Google's Nexus 4 thrust recovers, rivals are out there, fully-armed to woo away disappointed Nexus 4 would-be buyers left hanging in a limbo by the Internet giant.