My response is: earlier is much much better than later. If it rewards the people who have stayed ontop of the blackberry forums and who really want them. The date that Cingular gave out was just a arbitrary date that was to insure that all stores would have them shipped out to all their locations and ready to sell.

In a perfect world Cingular could have waited to the release date and it might have made things simplier, but as someone who is a blackberry lover, things could have gone much much worse.

My response is: earlier is much much better than later. If it rewards the people who have stayed ontop of the blackberry forums and who really want them. The date that Cingular gave out was just a arbitrary date that was to insure that all stores would have them shipped out to all their locations and ready to sell.

In a perfect world Cingular could have waited to the release date and it might have made things simplier, but as someone who is a blackberry lover, things could have gone much much worse.

How could they not? I’ll tell you. Now dont under estimate that I do love the 8800, and its definitly a mean machine, however.

At simple glance it seems like a rethorical question, will the 8800 be more successful? One would think so when comparing the 8800 to the pearl. But take this food for thought.

The pearl has had more than its fair share of problems, a good amount still unresolved. Are users of the pearl willing to take another blind leap. Are older blackberry users who watched a plethora of issues pour over the blogs step into this device without fear of the same 4.2 issues. Most would think not, at least not right away.

Which brings up my next point, the 8800 is going to have a split crowd. Its only a stop gap for the fully loaded 8900/9000/whatever has the GPS n camera. Most users arnt going to upgrade when they know its a striped down version of whats soon to come.

I’m not expecting apocoliptic failure when the 8800 launchs. But the pearl was much more innovative. The 8800 is just its fat sister without all the hot multimedia, and also a cooler older brother looming in wait isnt goin to boost sales either. Most users who buy the 8800 are going to b enterprise, since most consumers have the pearl or will want the 8900. And enterprises usually dont buy new phones, till theres all break.

So I would not be surprised if the 8800 launch is a little ho-hum and barly meets par on the pearls launch numbers.

How could they not? I’ll tell you. Now dont under estimate that I do love the 8800, and its definitly a mean machine, however.

At simple glance it seems like a rethorical question, will the 8800 be more successful? One would think so when comparing the 8800 to the pearl. But take this food for thought.

The pearl has had more than its fair share of problems, a good amount still unresolved. Are users of the pearl willing to take another blind leap. Are older blackberry users who watched a plethora of issues pour over the blogs step into this device without fear of the same 4.2 issues. Most would think not, at least not right away.

Which brings up my next point, the 8800 is going to have a split crowd. Its only a stop gap for the fully loaded 8900/9000/whatever has the GPS n camera. Most users arnt going to upgrade when they know its a striped down version of whats soon to come.

I’m not expecting apocoliptic failure when the 8800 launchs. But the pearl was much more innovative. The 8800 is just its fat sister without all the hot multimedia, and also a cooler older brother looming in wait isnt goin to boost sales either. Most users who buy the 8800 are going to b enterprise, since most consumers have the pearl or will want the 8900. And enterprises usually dont buy new phones, till theres all break.

So I would not be surprised if the 8800 launch is a little ho-hum and barly meets par on the pearls launch numbers.

and simple, straightforward, and obvious answer is… HOW COULD THEY NOT? the 8800 launch almost has to be more successful by default…

and simple, straightforward, and obvious answer is… HOW COULD THEY NOT? the 8800 launch almost has to be more successful by default…

What I can say is that really depends on what stores you go to and how well informed they are. Usually you want to deal with someone who has silver certification, which is a RIM accreditation and those individuals who do have it usually are on the ball.

All companies who bring out phones have an a hardtime with keeping up with demand. Though with this device I dont see as much hype on it as the pearl so i dont think stock shortages will be that bad (as well as this time of the year is slower in sales in the cellular world, where as the pearl came out right around backtoschool/ pre xmas shopping time).

The pearl was really rushed interms of getting the product ready to sell, they knew it would be hot and they didnt want to miss the rush. That might explain the miscommunication/ why the staff didnt know what was going on.

What I can say is that really depends on what stores you go to and how well informed they are. Usually you want to deal with someone who has silver certification, which is a RIM accreditation and those individuals who do have it usually are on the ball.

All companies who bring out phones have an a hardtime with keeping up with demand. Though with this device I dont see as much hype on it as the pearl so i dont think stock shortages will be that bad (as well as this time of the year is slower in sales in the cellular world, where as the pearl came out right around backtoschool/ pre xmas shopping time).

The pearl was really rushed interms of getting the product ready to sell, they knew it would be hot and they didnt want to miss the rush. That might explain the miscommunication/ why the staff didnt know what was going on.

I agree that the device will be a good selling and very popular device.

But the question is will Cingular screw up this launch like they have in the past?

You know: Stores not knowing when/if they will get it, trucks being delayed, shipments being held in back rooms, etc.

Who can remember the Pearl launch?
“We have it!!!”
“We don’t!!!”
“It’s on the trucks!!!”
“It’s still in the warehouse!!!”
“They have it, look, its in the window” and then walk into the store and the clerks go “huh, what’s a pearl?”.
“We won’t have it for 2 weeks”
“We will have it this afternoon”
Etc.

Cingular communicates worse than the NSA/CIA and FBI.

I agree that the device will be a good selling and very popular device.

But the question is will Cingular screw up this launch like they have in the past?

You know: Stores not knowing when/if they will get it, trucks being delayed, shipments being held in back rooms, etc.

Who can remember the Pearl launch?
“We have it!!!”
“We don’t!!!”
“It’s on the trucks!!!”
“It’s still in the warehouse!!!”
“They have it, look, its in the window” and then walk into the store and the clerks go “huh, what’s a pearl?”.
“We won’t have it for 2 weeks”
“We will have it this afternoon”
Etc.

Cingular communicates worse than the NSA/CIA and FBI.

I can just see a client yelling and screaming because the awesome job I did on implementing their million dollar ERP system is a month behind. Who cares you spent a year developing and implementing, you were a month behind schedule!!! Thank god my business clients don’t act and think list that.

My 2 cents…Enjoy