Damage to Palm sales from Verizon Delay

[FDP]

I was hoping to get feedback on how others felt about the essential non-availability of Palm devices on Verizon at the moment (OK, they have the Pixi...). It seems to me like Verizon is essentially costing Palm sales, and the outlet for these sales is Android.

My existing phone* went off of contract, and I am definitely in the market for a replacement. I remembered liking what I'd seen of webOS, but was leaning in the direction of a Droid. The Pre Plus on display at my local Verizon store completely changed my mind (only used Pixi before).

I tried to buy the phone, only to have the salesman tell me that it was no longer being offered (after agreeing to sell it to me, then spending 10 minutes trying to sell me accessories). I asked if I could buy a used model, or the floor model and was told that I couldn't. That was about two weeks ago.

I'm looking forward to the Pre 2, but as a customer who isn't particularly obsessed with any phone brand on the market (except for my hatred of Win Mobile and the iPhone) I don't really have the patience to wait for a month for Verizon to put something out there. I need a good replacement for my existing phone, and will go Droid if something doesn't pop up before the new year.

It's sad to feel herded into a decision like this, and I can't help but feel that others are in the same spot.

*HTC Touch Pro 2, I'm on my 3rd replacement (screen just randomly dies) and have been permanently turned away from both Win Mobile and HTC.

[Cantaffordit]

I think it would harm things if they launched it now. They need it to make a big splash and fit into the context of an entire family of devices, and not just a single phone that people will mistake for a 2-year old device.

I personally think it will launch after a bunch of CES announcements, and hopefully Verizon will announce that they are will be offereing the entire Palm family.

There sales people have to be given to not push a droid down everyone's throat as they walk into the store.

IMHO

[MDsmartphone]

verizon hates palm.

[JED-WEB-OS]

Verizon is my carrier of choice and Palm is my hardware provider of choice, but the two don’t get along. Verizon has under marketed Palm products and even crippled the operating system to limit Palms competiveness.

[vreihen]

Originally Posted by FDP

It's sad to feel herded into a decision like this, and I can't help but feel that others are in the same spot.

I am in the same exact spot right now! My employer decided to jump from Sprint to Verizon (for valid reasons) this month, and I had until last Friday to select what phone from Verizon was going to replace my beloved Pre. I checked the VZW web site every day last week, praying that the Pre 2 (or even Pre+) would be available. No dice. At the last possible second on Friday afternoon, I had to make a choice between the Droid-X or a Casio G-Z'one. (I used to personally own an older Casio G-Z'one a few years ago, and it was the best *phone* that I've ever had going back to 1987.)

I'm not going to say which phone I chose, because I intend to set call forwarding on my work phone up to point to my own personal Verizon Pre+ and leave my work phone rot in my desk drawer. Fortunately, I have this option since I bought my own Pre+ back in April.

In case anyone was wondering about the valid reason for dumping Sprint, it is because of their data service in the neighborhood around where I work. Time Warner and at least one pre-paid phone company are selling 3G/4G data cards with unlimited data plans using Sprint's network, and let's just say that Sprint's local throughput makes iPhone/AT&T look like a gigabit link.....

[smarterthanmydog]

Well they managed to damage at least 2 sales anyhow. I was intending to purchase Pre 2's for both me and my wife for Christmas but will be going another route after finally giving up on a release before Christmas.

But on the other hand.....they wound up actually doing me a favor since the main reason for the phone for my wife was to have Epocrates for her work and they just announced they are abandoning Palm. I would have been very upset to be locked in to a phone that was unable to perform it's primary task.