Is Instinct going to get the marketing/promotion that the touch diamond/pro deserve?

[akijikan]

So I work for a big-box electronics retailer and we sell sprint, verizon and, and att.

One of my buddies did a week of training out-of-town for the mobile section, and he got back and we were talking and I asked if they had mentioned what I view as the windows mobile "iphone killer" (maybe not a successful one, but that's what I see it being offered up as by HTC). He said they talked about the instinct a lot for sprint as an iphone killer but hadn't really mentioned the diamond or pro.

I'm wondering if sprint is going to end up throwing its marketing weight behind the instinct and not really push the diamond and pro very much.

[dbigdawg]

Considering the Instinct is going to release on June 20th and the Touch Pro has no production plans yet, I am not surprised that it was absent from their roadshow. If your big box is at all like the yellow tag stores I used to run, turnover minimized the need to talk about things 3-6 months ahead of time. Our product launch schdules and training programs captured 90 days of product. Anything more than that and there was a high likelyhood you were training people who would be working somewhere else before the product was released.

Also, the Instinct was built by Samsung specifically for Sprint and nobody else. When a carrier and manufacturer enter into an exclusive development agreement, MDF is allocated by both parties. As much money as Samsung has laid out in MDF, I would assume that this is at least a 1 year exclusive. If Sprint and HTC sign an exclusive agreement for the Touch Pro, you may see big MDF. The Touch only received a 6 month exclusive and therefore got minimal MDF. The iPhone on the other hand, garnered a 5 year exclusive and the MDF agreement was massive.

Just my 2 cents and 18 years in the business.

[akijikan]

thanks for the insight. exactly what I was looking for when I started this thread.

my store is quite similar to the yellow tag place, however we must be the exception because most of our sales staff have atleast a year with the company. but an exception nonetheless, so you're probably right about your reasoning.

And I should have thought about the samsung-sprint relationship and the exclusivity of this phone.

[aseidman]

One thing I can't find about the instinct; does it have wifi? Do you know?

[falzon03]

i know the instinct is going to get an incredible ammount of advertising from sprint(about $150million) compared to there normal $50million.....thats what i was told but my sprint rep at least....they also expect it to be the same price as the touch for upgrades and new acts.

[cykococo]

Originally Posted by falzon03

i know the instinct is going to get an incredible ammount of advertising from sprint(about $150million) compared to there normal $50million.....thats what i was told but my sprint rep at least....they also expect it to be the same price as the touch for upgrades and new acts.

$249.99 MSRP w/ 2 year agreement
The Treo 800w will have the same price in order to make sure that the 3g iPhone doesn't impact their customer base any.

[theevilmonkee]

Originally Posted by aseidman

One thing I can't find about the instinct; does it have wifi? Do you know?

No, it won't have wifi.

[tpmwr]

I see you work at Best Buy too. I work at a Best Buy Mobile, and the reason your friend got soo much Instinct thrown at him is pretty much exactly what dbigdog said. The only other thing I can throw in is that Best Buy is going to be an exclusive carrier of the phone for the first 90 days. So from June 20th till September 20th ONLY Sprint Corporate/Sprint.com & Best Buy Mobiles will carry it. That means no 3rd Party / Indirect Dealers / Radio Shack Stores/Kiosks. So Best Buy is really big into pushing it as well.

-Anthony

[falzon03]

actually the instinct will be 199.99 just found out yesterday also 100$ mail in rebate

[falzon03]

Originally Posted by tpmwr

I see you work at Best Buy too. I work at a Best Buy Mobile, and the reason your friend got soo much Instinct thrown at him is pretty much exactly what dbigdog said. The only other thing I can throw in is that Best Buy is going to be an exclusive carrier of the phone for the first 90 days. So from June 20th till September 20th ONLY Sprint Corporate/Sprint.com & Best Buy Mobiles will carry it. That means no 3rd Party / Indirect Dealers / Radio Shack Stores/Kiosks. So Best Buy is really big into pushing it as well.

-Anthony

actually your only somewhat right on that indirect dealers were granted the privelege(excuse my horrible spelling) of direct shipping and if i remember right its 45 day exclusive that we cant stock the phone..might be 60days though....but our rep told us we will be able to direct ship as of the 20