There's a theory. Produce an awesome, unobtainable android phone. Hope people will give up on the phone but not android and buy a different model that is profitable.
It wouldn't be the first time that Google releases something in very limited quantities and very high demand. In fact, they do it every year (Google IO tickets), and raise the stakes every time. In fact, the Nexus 4 release was very reminiscent of Google IO ticket ordering. Google seems to love to tout how quickly X sold out.
