BASH!!!!

No, you are right, I hate complainers as much as you do...but I've had this phone for almost 2.5 years and I was looking forward to an upgrade even though I think after 2.5 years, its still the best thing on the market.

As for the general purpose of my posts? I am just hoping that by some chance, maybe, just maybe, some higher-up from VZW or Samsung will see our thread and realize that there are enough people out there that want the perfect Worldphone that can do EVERYTHING PERFECTLY!

Until that day, I will look to SETTLE!

That would be great. Of course, first they would have to let us switch between pda and non-pda phones with the online esn switcher.

Forgive me for not being more clear. I obviously still have some things to learn about being clear and concise in my posts. There has been much information shared on this thread that clearly wasn't gospel but was also very interesting. You yourself questioned that specific email, but I agree it was still worth sharing. I just didn't agree with somebody using that information as "gospel". Thanks for the reply - it was fair.

Regarding my naivete, I'll respond to the marketing items shortly. Cheers.

In the interest of full disclosure, i should say a few things before you respond.

1. I used to work for Verizon......many years ago
2. Marketing in Verizon runs the show. Marketing determines products developed, capital invested and how everything is sold.
3. Verizon is ruled by sales/marketing. Believe it or not.....most companies are.

They want to know they can sell it before they build it......that is marketing's job.

sl

WOW!!!!! 22 minutes without a post! Must be a record since this AM. (ok, not quite...but you get the point.)

__________________
Geckotek
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Here is the email response from our Verizon rep. He is the national accounts manage and I consider him to be quite credible. He was on the money with the i730 release. -Like I said and has been said, it's nice to see some trends developing in the info we are getting! It's also kinda funny there are memos about our little community (even if they blew the domain!)...



You are too funny! Please tell all of your fellow pdaforumhome.com people to quit mining for information! There are internal memos cautioning ALL Verizon Wireless employees to heed our ND agreements and not to "leak ANY information regarding ANY upcoming devices" because of you people! But because I know you won't leave me alone until I give you something...

The i760 is scheduled to launch before month's end...tentatively. Just promise me you won't post my name!

How many lines do you plan on upgrading? Let me know fi you need anything else.

Thanks,

(name withheld to protect the innocent) | National Accounts Manager | Verizon Wireless



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I did a little looking, and I found some figures for Q3 of last year plus some older figures (best I could find) of voice vs. data revenues. Some of them were interesting:

1)
Verizon was the Largest US Provider - Based on revenue (also had the most post-paid subscribers)
Cingular/ATT was the Largest US Provider - Based on subscribers

2)
Churn (Customers saying, "See ya'") is Lowest for VZW @ .95%
We have yet to see what the iPhone did to this figure, but I suspect any temporary damage that the iPhone did will be undone by Verizon staying true to the same business model that has satisfied customers so far (disgruntled or not).

3)
Data use is growing very rapidly (135% of previous year!), but the majority of data users are still "text messagers" (43%). Also, only 14% of Verizon's revenue came from data. Users like us (tech heads) are gaining significance, but we're still a small minority.

4)
(The following is from 2000-2004 data, but I think it's still valuable)
Equipment sales revenue was less than 20% of the revenue provided by voice subscription services.

I feel like all of this applies because it addresses a lot of our frustrations including the delay conversation I've been having with a couple people today. Verizon is a service provider first. They make far more money off of service than equipment. I don't have an "Ethan" up my sleeve to ask more about this, but the company numbers say that they are continuing a business model that is service revenue centric. Verizon is continuing to be more and more convergent, but at the end of the day, convergence actually means less and less equipment purchased, and more and more services to provide. Verizon controls this by selling units that fit their model, and as the numbers above show, the model is working just fine.

Thus...Verizon will spend a huge amount of time and money marketing its service, and that kind of marketing is all we really see from them rvaling that of the iPhone. Of course there will be some marketing for the i760, but I don't believe the delay is due to some major change in marketing to try and compete with the iPhone. As I said earlier, they compete with the iPhone marketing through their service advertising. Then, as NE2 (for whatever it's worth), and "in calling" and "better quality reception" and "EV-DO" and "awesome tech support" (haha, just seeing if you're paying attention) and other service benefits keep bringing people back or bringing them in for the first time, the specific units are sold to meet people's interests in using the service. With such a low churn rate, Verizon is making its money off of the long-term relationship.

This information backs up the idea that units are being "dumbed down", that GIN and VCast are going to become more and more a part of the units themselves, and that the wait is due to making the unit fit the service. I'm very interested to see what happens if/when more equipment providers try to take some of this control back as Apple did with iPhone.

All this post really is, is some figures and wordy analysis to follow up some of the ideas we've put in this thread. I'm sure it's old news for some of you, but I thought it was interesting.

crmealey

P.S. Got my figures from the following web addresses:

Google Answers: Revenues data and projections for cell phone sales and services
http://www.strategicmirror.com/repor...rends_Q306.pdf

I think the one thing that has made me not worry so much about the horizontal keyboard is the suspicion that T9 will work from the numeric keypad. For most of the quick texts or e-mails that I send out one handed (that's because I'm holding a beverage, not driving or doing both) I have a feeling (from previous T9 experience) that that will be more than adequate (although my capitalization, punctuation and grammar will certainly suffer)...

Dan

today this is my first post ever on here and ive been reading this forumn for about 3 or 4 months now waiting on this pda to release. I work at CircuitCity which as you all know has a vzw inside and i spoke with a rep that i know and he told me a Samsung rep was inside the store today in the morning of course using a working i760 and he told the rep that they will release the i760 on Aug 1. i was hoping for next week seeing as the 19th will be my bday but i can wait another 2 weeks for the 1st. im not sure if anyone else has said a solid date but for a store rep to say it to me in confident about the 1st and btw the store rep was so excited about seeing the i760
thanks

ps i appreciate reading all the posts about this phone you guys are good

Thanks, Pastor Tim. A short while after I made my post, I remembered you were on vacation so I didn't expect such a quick response. I appreciate the sentiment and hope you can make it for my party.

__________________
-Jay
The Fine Print:Nothing in this post (or any of my other posts) is intended to constitute legal advice or the establishment of an attorney-client relationship. For purposes of this forum, I'm just another nerd like you. :-)

Where you located? City/state please...

calumet city, il circuitcity like 10min from chicago

crmealey, I dont think youre arguing with a few member's opinions here, youre arguing against facts. ...wanman (and others) are right. A simple google search of Verizon's CEO, Lowell McAdam (lowell.mcadam@verizonwireless.com), will show not only countless quotes about Verizon being a "marketing driven company", but it will show his interview where he reveals Verizon "passed on the iphone", and has an "iphone killer" in Verizon's "pipeline" (speculation is it is either the LG "Prada" or the i760).

According to this "Ad Guy", businesses that value their own self-preservation are all "marketing driven companies"!

Now back to the i760...

This manager at my Verizon whose been there a long time said that what happens is they'll get some test demo and or dummy phones 1 month before their release and they had still not gotten any..so he speculated that that would push it to one more month. Then again they provided me with ZERO help with the i730 this whole time where flashing YH25 was a practical impossibility..so I'll bet many here are wishing other news was correct. The people at Samsung said that it's already finished and has been sent out, it's just up to Verizon to decide when to release it. I was "predicting"/guessing it would be released in June or July unless they really screw it up..so we'll see how that goes I guess this or next week. August 1st seems the latest..September just seems ridiculous though I wouldn't put it past them.

__________________
Make some nice money from home:
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Thanks...just wondering how close to DC.

All this talk about late July/early August is making me think that it will be available to business customers online in a week or two, and then available in the stores on August 1st. This would make sense given the information we received from the Circuit City employee.

Your kidding right?

You think it's Samsungs fault that we have crap for devices?

It's the service providers that are holding back technology in the USA.

__________________
VZW, It's 2009! Time to embrace technology, not suppress it. - oops too late I've moved on over to the iPhone w/ AT$T!

where do you think this Device will come out quicker. I live in California does that mean i will get it first or last. When it comes out do i have to wait a week or days for it to reach were i live.can someone help me figure this out.

crmealy,

i am going to tread very slowly here because i do not want to insult you or anyone else on this list. So i will make some very basic statements and it will be my last on the subject debating marketing.

1. People do not buy mobile devices based on "the network"
2. Anyone...including myself and others on this forum...will ditch the provider we consider to have the best network (voice and/or data) if our desire for the cool toy becomes strong enough.
3. The global passion (albeit misguided) for the iPhone was not insignificant.
4. Verizon would not be the leader if it did not try to capture those device "gadget heads"
5. even basic users want to have a cool phone and they will jump ship if it is not cool enough


There is NOTHING you can do to refute the above. Your statictics demonstrate ONLY that VZW has done a decent job, in the past, of keeping it's customers by having enough gadgets and features to keep them engaged and to bring in new customers.


People don't say "hey look at my new network"


sl

there's a poll in this forum that refutes it.