It seems like some of you have not been into the Nexus phones that long. There have been only two Nexus phones that sold initially at a cheap price, the N4 & N5, both of which were the last two Nexus phones. All the other phones, the Nexus One, Nexus S, and Galaxy Nexus all had premium prices. I know this because I've owned and payed full price for them all.
I'm probably one of the original Nexus fanboys. Every year the Nexus is released, I hear different complaints. Every year the Nexus phone gains new fans in one way or the other, without them really understanding what the Nexus program is about. To be honest, I don't totally understand what it's about, and I'm not sure Google does either.
I'm sure I've told this story before somewhere on this forum, but here goes, LOL. When the Nexus One was released it was a high end phone from my understanding. At the time It was sold online only through Google. The Play store didn't exist back then, only the Android market, and it was just an app store. T Mobile was the main carrier you had to sign up with to use the Nexus One. A friend of mine recommended I take a look at the Nexus One, since I didn't want to switch to AT&T to buy an Iphone.
To make a long story sort of short, I bought the Nexus One, along with the car & desk docks, and loved it. The Nexus One didn't sell very well and it had it's issues early on. After only a few months, Google stopped selling the Nexus One and all it's accessories. The only way you could get a Nexus One after that was if you were a developer (all you had to do was pay a small dev fee I believe).
From then on the Nexus program became a myth, a developer or Google reference phone. I hear that a lot, and maybe that's what Google has told some of the tech sites, including this one. However IMO I think they initially meant it to be a premium phone, it just didn't sell well, and a lot of people didn't know about it.
The Nexus 6 is the Nexus phone I've been waiting for. They went all out on specs and the price reflects that. As much as I like the other Nexus phones, there was always something missing.
Anyway, I enjoy this time of year and like to come on here and read you guys/gals conversations. It means the new Nexus phone is right around the corner. I do share the OP concerns about VZW getting the Nexus again, but I think it may be different this time. Even it it isn't, a least it's not exclusive to big red.