Android sees rare return to hype with early HTC Evo 3D intro
updated 09:20 pm EDT, Wed June 22, 2011
HTC Evo 3D gets early Best Buy doors open
Buzz surrounding an Android phone returned for the first time in many months with Best Buy planning an early opening for the HTC Evo 3D. All Best Buy Mobile stores, and those regular Best Buy stores that offer Sprint, will open two hours early at 8AM on the June 24 launch day. The retail chain planned to keep the same $200 on-contract price.
The Evo 3D has been built up as the direct successor to the Evo 4G, Sprint's most successful phone ever and often credited with saving the carrier. It will be the carrier's first dual-core phone and the first real 3D phone in the US.
Such early openings have become less and less common for Android. Launches in 2010 were marked by multiple lines across carriers, ranging from Verizon's Droid Incredible in April that year to the Nexus S on T-Mobile in the fall, but lineups have been virtually absent in 2011. Google has been affected by Android becoming mainstream but also by the iPhone on Verizon becoming the most popular device, robbing Android of some of its force.
Samsung managed to drum up lines for the Galaxy Tab 10.1's New York debut on June 8. However, the boost was artificial as sales were deliberately limited to one store in one city.
TAGS :
iPhone, Verizon, Google, htc, sprint, Android, Samsung, Best Buy, mobile phones, Apple, Galaxy Tab, Nexus S, Evo 3D
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Oct 2004
artificial huh?
So it's artificial to have lines when you limit sales to one store in one city.
yes, that's one way to artificially inflate a metric - there are many ways to inflate false metrics.
But look, do you get a prize for not releasing a hardware update for over a year - is that it?
Limiting choice, you get a prize for that?
There is no prize for doing these things - the only prize in the marketplace is revenue.
Apple is doing well enough on the real metric - no dispute on that score.
But the fascination with false metrics, like lines that are caused by pent up demand - or limiting the sales outlets - eh it sickens me. Or even false metrics like limiting sales to only a few models. It not sales per model - its overall sales. Call every single individual phone you sale a new model - heck thats what HTC does - doesn't change a thing.
Units in peoples hands - thats the key.