NEW: When Will the ThunderBolt be Available for Purchase?

[obidos]

I can clear this up in one second....


*Shakes Magic 8 ball...*

Will there be a release today?

Magic 8 ball says 'Outlook not so good'

Damn.

NICE! I have one on my work desk and my response was "Reply Hazy - Try again"

le D'OH!

 

[Its TwiX]

I was on the phone last night with a vzw csr to get my wife's phone replaced (it went into the washing machine with the laundry,it's dead now). I actually found doing the assurion online replacement option pretty easy and it will arrive today.

So why did I post this, well I asked about the ThunderBolt and she told me it was SHIPPING. I asked her what do you mean it's shipping? She explained that she was helping a customer with tech support who was having issues with their smartphone that was way beyond the normal screwed up messes we have been had.

She said that tech support replaced his phone with a ThunderBolt, she said that it was a rare exception but they did authorize it. This is what the customer told, now of course they may be swapping it out when it releases next week, they could have done it already, the customer could be a wacko who is making things up.

None the less I wanted to share my experience last night. I also tried to get them to allow an early upgrade on one of my lines and they couldn't budge. She did suggest I contact a 3rd party reseller of theirs and if I was going to Best Buy I should get the Wireless Dept Mgr. to offer some help on an early upgrade.

Since I have the Gift Cards to spend there I will go that route, if they won't I will just get a refund and goto a Verizon store instead.

Even if it were true (slim to no chance), BB doesn't do early upgrades. Good luck with that

 

[RLI3]

Look, here's what we know:

-The phone is ready and has been for awhile now
-Ads are out for it
-HTC is pissed and putting pressure on VZW to announce a date this week
-People have received demos already
-No matter how absolutely ****ing stupid verizon is, they will definitely not let HTC pull the TB because its their first 4G phone

We know the ads are out. Everything else is speculation and 99.9% of it has been wrong. There are 0 credible sources. Nobody has come out with anything that has come true. Valentine's day because wouldn't that be sweet of Verizon?! 2/24, 3/3, 3/10... all Thursdays. 3/4 because some random BestBuy manager somewhere in California didn't realize that 3/4 was a Friday. 3/17, 3/24, 3/31 are next in line for baseless speculation should 3/10 come and go w/o a release.

If anyone can prove anything without pointing to some tweet or some random website that is treating this thread as a reliable source, I'd love to see it.

EDIT: Sorry if I sound bitter. My Droid is dying :-(

I think that it is important to note that just because the infromation provided to us has not come to fruition, does not mean that the people/sources providing it are not credible or that the infromation itself is baseless.

 

[BasilofBakerStreet]

Has anyone tried to get in contact with HTC? See what they are willing to say?

 

[Sentrix]

As I was informed would happen last night, the Thunderbolt began shipping to Verizon stores as of 9:00 AM this morning.

 

[Stevessvt]

So they are getting them tomorrow? Then they can sell, or we still have to wait?

 

[Sentrix]

So they are getting them tomorrow? Then they can sell, or we still have to wait?

My guess is all stores would have a full inventory by next week.
That would make a March 10 release date more likely.

...Who knows when these fools will have the guts to announce the thing, though.

 

[probotic]

The verizon rep I know is going to a Verizon launch party in Orange County for the Thunderbolt on the 6th.... He didn't say that meant a 10th release date though.

 

[bassic83]

Too late. I'm out of contract on 3/22, and I'm thinking I will go with either an EVO Shift, or whatever else that is a dually on another provider. VZ honed their customers on this by playing politics with the iSheeple, and I, for one, am not having it. Too many other plans out there, VZ is getting ridiculous with their pricing, and there are a lot of other phones available on other carriers. I am letting them know this, as well, in writing- that they have lost a semi-evangelical customer who has brought them a lot of business, over their shenanigans. Goodbye, Big Red, let's see how many of my customer referrals I can persuade to jump ship. Yes, it's personal now, you schmucks!

 

[scottt732]

Last night I was playing Poker with 3 employees from BestBuy, Verizon, and HTC whose names I can't reveal because its sooper secret and I signed an NDA. They told me that Apple and Intel were co-conspiring with Motorola to sabotage the marketing campaign, that battery life is was a problem but has been fixed by a firmware update, that Skype dropped the ball, that the LTE network wasn't ready but is all better now, that the devices are shipping, that the LTE prices are the same as the 3G prices, that the devices will be released on one of the remaining Thursdays in Q1, and that none of the pictures on the Internet were Photoshopped. The HTC guy was angry at Verizon. Everyone was pissed at Apple. BestBuy was clueless. I learned so much credible information last night & I thought I would share it with everyone... much more than I learned when I played the tooth fairy, the Easter bunny, and Santa last Friday.

 

[Preach2k]

Last night I was playing Poker with 3 employees from BestBuy, Verizon, and HTC whose names I can't reveal because its sooper secret and I signed an NDA. They told me that Apple and Intel were co-conspiring with Motorola to sabotage the marketing campaign, that battery life is was a problem but has been fixed by a firmware update, that Skype dropped the ball, that the LTE network wasn't ready but is all better now, that the devices are shipping, that the LTE prices are the same as the 3G prices, that the devices will be released on one of the remaining Thursdays in Q1, and that none of the pictures on the Internet were Photoshopped. The HTC guy was angry at Verizon. Everyone was pissed at Apple. BestBuy was clueless. I learned so much credible information last night & I thought I would share it with everyone... much more than I learned when I played the tooth fairy, the Easter bunny, and Santa last Friday.

This is funny!!! Did you win the poker game?:icon_ banana:

 

[swamp]

How embarrassed should Verizon be right now? They made a huge deal about LTE handsets in a highly publicized presentation at the beginning of January and are now unable to deliver. People should be fired for this nonsense. If they can't push it out the door before the end of the quarter they're going to get some pretty sharp questions on their next earnings call, especially since the iPhone didn't turn out to be the smokescreen they were hoping for.

The fury towards VZW is so absolutely unfounded. I'm in the same or a similar boat to many: My battery is shot (both actually). My touch screen is dead, I do not have enough smart keys on the phone to get by with the keyboard alone. I'm also anxious as all get out to drop AT&T like a brick. Of course most importantly I'm also simply excited about the TB itself. Nonetheless, I am quite capable of some perspective on the issue.

The HTC ads (along with rumors behind them) indicate some tension there. However, all we have from VZW at this point is "Q1" and then "very soon" from their CFO a couple of days back. Forget rumors, twitter, forums, Best Buy, etc. THAT IS ALL WE HAVE. If there have been any technical problems with the phone itself I absolutely prefer a short delay for them to get it right. Common sense also dictates that those problems were on the minor end of the spectrum. All of the the milestone technical goals for the phone were met a very long time ago, that is just how engineering works. Getting it "right" for their first big 4G phone is so incredibly important for them for obvious reasons.

Now if they miss Q1 that is an entirely different story.

Also, not specifically related to your post, but this has nothing to do with Apple directly. I don't have insider knowledge on that, but I'd be willing to bet on it. No provider can be beholden to 1 supplier and let that supplier dictate their business. I'm sure Apple got some great perks in their contract, but control over VZWs release schedule for non-Apple products just isn't one of them.

/rant

 

[razng2grtboys]

Last night I was playing Poker with 3 employees from BestBuy, Verizon, and HTC whose names I can't reveal because its sooper secret and I signed an NDA. They told me that Apple and Intel were co-conspiring with Motorola to sabotage the marketing campaign, that battery life is was a problem but has been fixed by a firmware update, that Skype dropped the ball, that the LTE network wasn't ready but is all better now, that the devices are shipping, that the LTE prices are the same as the 3G prices, that the devices will be released on one of the remaining Thursdays in Q1, and that none of the pictures on the Internet were Photoshopped. The HTC guy was angry at Verizon. Everyone was pissed at Apple. BestBuy was clueless. I learned so much credible information last night & I thought I would share it with everyone... much more than I learned when I played the tooth fairy, the Easter bunny, and Santa last Friday.

Nice! Wish I was at that poker game - when and where is the next one?

 

[SixStringMadMan]

Last night I was playing Poker with 3 employees from BestBuy, Verizon, and HTC whose names I can't reveal because its sooper secret and I signed an NDA. They told me that Apple and Intel were co-conspiring with Motorola to sabotage the marketing campaign, that battery life is was a problem but has been fixed by a firmware update, that Skype dropped the ball, that the LTE network wasn't ready but is all better now, that the devices are shipping, that the LTE prices are the same as the 3G prices, that the devices will be released on one of the remaining Thursdays in Q1, and that none of the pictures on the Internet were Photoshopped. The HTC guy was angry at Verizon. Everyone was pissed at Apple. BestBuy was clueless. I learned so much credible information last night & I thought I would share it with everyone... much more than I learned when I played the tooth fairy, the Easter bunny, and Santa last Friday.

:rofl2::rofl2::rofl2::rofl2::rofl2:

 

[dajogejr]

How embarrassed should Verizon be right now? They made a huge deal about LTE handsets in a highly publicized presentation at the beginning of January and are now unable to deliver. People should be fired for this nonsense. If they can't push it out the door before the end of the quarter they're going to get some pretty sharp questions on their next earnings call, especially since the iPhone didn't turn out to be the smokescreen they were hoping for.

I'm just a casual spectator, but my gut tells me that this phone will not release, and if it does, it will not be the first LTE handset on Verizon.

Why would Verizon be embarrassed? They said in Q1. Last I checked, we have almost 4 weeks left of Q1.
They haven't said anything other than coming soon.
I would rather see people fired for holding back and making sure it is right then releasing it with buggy software and making customers unhappy.

Forums, rumors, false reports from Best Buy....and everyone knows someone who knows something...those are the drivers for all the speculation.

Please explain how Verizon is at fault here for not giving a specific date for the release other than Q1.
I too anxiously await this phone as a replacement of my BB 8530, but I'm not jumping up and down and ranting like a 12 year old who got put in a corner for a time out...

I can wait. I'd rather wait for a great product than an early released half baked one.