Nokia may have made the right call

rpm1984

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After my trips to both ATT and VZW stores yesterday and today I am thinking that even with all my anger and disappointment (which has not dissipated) in Nokia for going exclusive with ATT on the 920 they may have been right. I went to the ATT store and a massive windows phone poster hits you right in the face. I walked over to the 920 and the sales woman said "that phone is so cool one of the guys here has it and we are all jealous now" she then asked me about windows 8 and we talked for a while about it. She was shocked an upgrade was only 40 bucks and was going to upgrade last night and switch to wp8 when her upgrade was due.

Today I went into my VZW store (att has no service off the beaten path here) and got blank stares as I asked when they would have the Lumia 822. I said you know the "new windows phones" this sales lady had to ask the store manager what I was talking about he said "uhhh like the end of the month. We can get you set up so when they come out we will have one for you. If you are interested in a windows phone." I said I can already order it online and they are shipping today. He was like I don't think so. So I showed them and they ordered it for me. They said "I think that is probably an error you wont get it for awhile."

So at least in my home town Nokia probably made the right decision. Unless that attitude changes only people who already know what they want will buy windows phones around here.

Anyone else out there experienced something similar?
 

kiteless

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After my trips to both ATT and VZW stores yesterday and today I am thinking that even with all my anger and disappointment (which has not dissipated) in Nokia for going exclusive with ATT on the 920 they may have been right. I went to the ATT store and a massive windows phone poster hits you right in the face. I walked over to the 920 and the sales woman said "that phone is so cool one of the guys here has it and we are all jealous now" she then asked me about windows 8 and we talked for a while about it. She was shocked an upgrade was only 40 bucks and was going to upgrade last night and switch to wp8 when her upgrade was due.

Today I went into my VZW store (att has no service off the beaten path here) and got blank stares as I asked when they would have the Lumia 822. I said you know the "new windows phones" this sales lady had to ask the store manager what I was talking about he said "uhhh like the end of the month. We can get you set up so when they come out we will have one for you. If you are interested in a windows phone." I said I can already order it online and they are shipping today. He was like I don't think so. So I showed them and they ordered it for me. They said "I think that is probably an error you wont get it for awhile."

So at least in my home town Nokia probably made the right decision. Unless that attitude changes only people who already know what they want will buy windows phones around here.

Anyone else out there experienced something similar?
Wow... Thats just sad. I am a Verizon customer mainly for it's network, good phone support and I like the family plan I am on (and pay for), but VZW is just too interested in selling iPhones and I guess Android phones in the stores. Its extra sad that the employees in the store don't even know when their own phones are being released. I imagine the person you talked to will be surprised when a bunch of Lumia 822's and 8X's show up in 2 days. "Gee I guess that customer actually knew more that me." And this is not the first time this has happened. I have personally educated store employees about the products they are selling. I guess I am just a nerd with too much time on his hands.

- J
(Anxiously awaiting my white 822 to arrive on Thursday and promptly selling my Trophy.)
 

independentvolume

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My at&t store tried to sell me Android when I asked for a 920. My Verizon store new all about the 8x and 822. They were pretty gun ho about wp8. What this means is that it varies by store.
 

paulm187

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Unfortunately its not the same story here in the UK. You walk in EE and its all iPhone 5 and then the Galaxy S3. I thought being an exclusive partner means they are supposed to promote the phone but zilch. Same at Phones4U.
 

TaliZorah

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Where I live AT&T and VZW don't really care about WP. T-Mobile however was very excited about the HD7 and the HTC Radar back in the day.

I think it just depends.

Microsoft is pretty much in bed with Nokia and AT&T at the moment but I hear VZW has a lot up their sleeve as far as advertizing and pushing WP. Maybe they haven't sent memo's or trained their staff on WP yet and are waiting for the big push.

Who knows. WP8 is still fresh on the market, we should probably give it more time.

Im waiting for my 822!
 

botoru

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Where I live AT&T and VZW don't really care about WP. T-Mobile however was very excited about the HD7 and the HTC Radar back in the day.

I think it just depends.

Microsoft is pretty much in bed with Nokia and AT&T at the moment but I hear VZW has a lot up their sleeve as far as advertizing and pushing WP. Maybe they haven't sent memo's or trained their staff on WP yet and are waiting for the big push.

Who knows. WP8 is still fresh on the market, we should probably give it more time.

Im waiting for my 822!
At my AT&T store, same thing - giant banner, Windows 8 shirts for all, and my eavesdropping on the other employees talking to customers indicated that they were really pushing the Lumia 920. They had well prepared answers to questions about it too.
 

Why0Why

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At my AT&T store they were all wearing the shirts, but I was less than impressed with their knowledge(or lack therof.) Frankly, at $99 there is not a phone that is better for the price. I think they are offering the HTC One X for the same price(a very nice android set.) But the 920 is hard to top. I just can't see HTC selling many. The 16GB is $199 and only available in one color? Really?
 

link815

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my at&t has WP all around the store. when i went to pick up my phone the first thing i saw was two huge tv screens playing WP commercials that haven't been released yet, and some W8 commercials. there was a huge 920 poster hanging behind the register, an 8X poster close by, and the employees were all talking about changing over to a 920. they're doing a great job in stores from what i've seen. even saw a guy switching from his iphone to a white 920 cuz he was tired of it, and the salesman was agreeing with him.
 

davec53

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our area VZW store tends to not be on top of things, as well. i don't have them, but i've gone in a time or two to ask some things they should have known, but it was a mess. however, they seem to be owned by some other group and not a company store, so to speak.

i just wish AT&T had better coverage in my area. i would love to make the move to the 920...but if i want to use the phone for what it is actually intended...as a phone...my choice is to stick with my regional carrier (which has openly told me they have no interest in Windows Phones), or move to Verizon, which i don't particularly want to do.

i would do it for the 920, i think...or a variant of it...if it was on VZW, and i considered it for the 8X, and even the 822, but i am starting to think i will just wait it out and see if either VZW gets a better Nokia offering or my regional carrier decides to step up and carry some WP8 models. at this rate, AT&T may improve their coverage in this area before either of those things happens. :)
 

kiteless

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I am a VZW customer, but dropped into an AT&T store to check out the Lumia and especially the 820 since I pre-ordered the 822. Mainly just wanted to compare screens to my poor old Trophy. Anyway, same thing at that AT&T store, I was smiling (being a bit of an MS ******) to see all these excited people wearing Windows 8 shirts. The store had a sort of new looking Windows kiosk that took up nearly an entire wall, and the new WP8 handsets were all nearby with folks looking at them. I had to wait a few min to get some time. I should have floated around and listened to see what people asked about the phones and what kinds of answers they were getting.

In other news I should get my 822 tomorrow. I am gonna swing by the Verizon store and look at accessories. Will be curious if the employees are totally clueless or ramped up. The store I normally do to when I need to actually go to a store seems like they are normally really sharp and educated about new products. We will see.

- J
 

aubreyq

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our area VZW store tends to not be on top of things, as well. i don't have them, but i've gone in a time or two to ask some things they should have known, but it was a mess. however, they seem to be owned by some other group and not a company store, so to speak.

i just wish AT&T had better coverage in my area. i would love to make the move to the 920...but if i want to use the phone for what it is actually intended...as a phone...my choice is to stick with my regional carrier (which has openly told me they have no interest in Windows Phones), or move to Verizon, which i don't particularly want to do.

i would do it for the 920, i think...or a variant of it...if it was on VZW, and i considered it for the 8X, and even the 822, but i am starting to think i will just wait it out and see if either VZW gets a better Nokia offering or my regional carrier decides to step up and carry some WP8 models. at this rate, AT&T may improve their coverage in this area before either of those things happens. :)
Does your regional carrier piggyback on any of the big carriers' towers? Just curious.
 

davec53

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Does your regional carrier piggyback on any of the big carriers' towers? Just curious.
They do. They already had roaming on VZW towers, along with 1X data, but they made an agreement last year to each allow 3G roaming on each others towers. They now have in place an agreement called "LTE in Rural America". VZW signed it with several smaller regional carriers. The regionals will build out there 4G network, and when finished, VZW customers will be able to roam on that network, using LTE, and the regional customers will be able to do the same on the VZW network. it is supposed to go live very soon.

some customers have asked about purchasing Verizon phones and then activating on this carrier, but the customer reps claim that the Verizon phones are locked in a way that they can not activate them on my local carrier's network, at least not data.
 

scottcraft

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I think Verizon will have plenty of advertising, but probably not to the extent AT&T has. The rep I normally deal with at my local Verizon store knows about the Windows phones that are coming out and he's interested in them. I will say that Verizon's support for my Trophy has been outstanding. I haven't miss any updates and have received outstanding customer service on any issues I've have.
 

rpm1984

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Just a follow up when I did go in and get my wp from my Verizon store they still had no idea what the phone was (My preorder was the only one they had seen). I went in two days ago to see if they had the 822 or accessories and no go still. I asked if they had heard anything about carrying a surface and the two employees said they didn't know what a surface was. Then they said that must be a corporate thing. I sat there for a while and talked to them about wp8 and windows 8 (which they had heard of but not seen) they seemed interested just uninformed. I still was the only windows phone they had sold. (They never carried the Trophy) I do live in the middle of nowhere maine but still that's pretty sad lol.
 

Isror

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I've gone into several VZW stores now, mainly just because I'm bored and I ask to see accessories for the Nokia Lumia 822 and one rep told me "We don't have the charging pad for the 822, only the 8X," as he walks me over to the display and we come to it, there is a 8X sitting on top of the charging plate that has NOKIA stamped right smack in the middle...I asked him again and he just said "Yep, mmhmmm that's only for the 8X." I asked for the manager, told him the problem and continued on that the lack of training just cost them a sale. VZW in store for the most part is a joke; especially that queue system they make you follow even for an accessory purchase.
 

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