I Sent Letter to VP and Chief Marketing Officer

[Polychrome]

I just had a nice chat with Lachelle at Verizon Wireless. I voiced all of the concerns I've had, blah blah blah.

Among the things she said:

1. We can't give out release dates for our phones because it affects our competitiveness. My response: You announced on Feb 11 that you were going to carry iPhone, release in a month. You gave a month notice, and you launched on time. How competitive are you on this platform if you're the only major carrier in the world (with supported language) that doesn't have a phone on the platform? You have like 47 different Android models, but not everyone wants Android.

2. I will pass your comments on to our marketing department so they can look into whether we should carry this phone. My response: You WILL be carrying this device. You have made a special offer to Microsoft employees, and have modified that offer at least 3 times that I can think of off the top of my head. A dummy device has been spotted in a Best Buy store, and I've seen pictures of it online (I forgot to tell her it is listed on bestbuy.com). Your store employees have been trained on it. Verizon branded devices have been seen in the wild (I forgot to tell her about the one on craigslist). You're on the edge of launching, and granted, all I've got are rumors, but the photographic evidence to back those rumors is overwhelming. You are frustrating your customers by keeping this so tightly under wraps. The whole world, except for Verizon employees it seems, knows that there is a device coming, and the lack of information is frustrating your customers. I stayed with Verizon, and gave you until the 12th, because the most powerful evidence of a launch seemed to point at the 12th, but I NEED the phone now, so today I became an ATT customer, and I'm talking to you on an ATT phone.

Anyway, she gave me the typical "I'm going to pass this up to marketing" blah blah blah and "thank you for your feedback because it helps us to keep our customers happy blah blah blah."

We'll see what happens. I'm kind of hoping, since there is a droid phone launching tomorrow, that it may be tomorrow, however that is just speculation on my part and I have no evidence to back it up whatsoever.

To be fair, most reps don't realize the Trophy even exists, even among the top-tier techs. They've been alerted that WP7 is coming, and there's been trainings, but most of them don't have a name to put to the device yet. A lot of eyes are on upcoming Androids, since that's the hype right now. (We need more keyboard PDAs, and one of said Androids is such, so I'm not complaining.) A lot of reps are also happy with their Androids since they're prepared to do any necessary troubleshooting for themselves, and don't seem to understand that the customer may not be. On top of all that, there's a *lot* of devices that have been delayed over and over again, some of which have been heavily advertised, so a plea for the trophy's quick release is a drop in the bucket.

If you're going to try arguing with these guys, show them the Microsoft flyer link. Give 'em the irrefutable proof that the device has been publicly revealed by us on our website. They won't magically have knowledge for you, and they won't have release dates, but they might be more inclined to research the device when they have time. Not that it gets the device released any faster, but if your intention is to educate... *shrug*

 

[hopmedic]

I told her of the MS flier. I gave examples of all the evidence that is not rumor, but fact. And if you read my follow-up, I provided links (except I forgot to include one for the Trophy on Craigslist).

 

[jgrieves]

talked to Denise from Verizon Executive center.

1. Publicly stated release by mid year
2. So far she has talked to 4 MS employees today about it
3. Going to ensure executive management is told about enthusiasm around the platform

 

[Adiliyo]

mid year now, going by verizon's standards that probably means late august...