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read and weep fanboys
http://shop.o2.co.uk/iPhone
I have no reason to weep as I'm not a iPhone fan. But thanks for the notice!
Interesting. That's either because they've run the stock out for the 3g model coming out soon, OR they've pulled out of their contract with Apple for some reason.
Here is the full press release
British carrier O2 today issued a statement on its website (not available outside of the UK) that the company has stopped selling the current-generation iPhone. Both the 8GB and 16GB models are listed as "no longer available" and have not been given a restocking date by the provider. Apple itself continues to list both versions as shipping within 24 hours, though independent phone retailer Carphone Warehouse has also reported selling out all its supply without expectations of new shipments.
O2 recently instituted a temporary price cut to help drive sales but is thought to have underestimated demand, triggering a sales spike that dried up supplies of the 8GB model covered by the discount.
The device has been in chronic shortages in recent weeks across both the US and Europe, and is believed by many to have effectively been phased out by Apple in favor of a replacement expected at next month's Worldwide Developer Conference. California-based Apple has not explained the early shortfall other than to suggest that demand has been stronger than anticipated.
To me, this seems a slightly strange marketing tactic unless they're gonna sell the "new" iPhone for a lot more...
Why stop people buying the current generation when you can still make money?
Actually... I have both an iPhone and a TyTN II... so... just to help shed some light... while WM people here are saying that O2 is cutting supply because of unsatisfactory demand, people at the Mac side are speculating that this is to make way for the 3G model, with its eminent release, which is believed to be held sometime June 9th-13th, in Apple's WWDC. AT&T has also passed an internal memo to its employees restricting employee vacation days on June 12-July 15 or something like that... I forget. But on the company memo, it said that they needed manpower to help the stores because they were "expecting large demand" due to an "exciting new product launching." Looks like O2 is probably clearing the way for the 3G iPhone. Just my 2 cents.
just an update the site now says that only the 16gb is available. this has been updated within the last half an hour???
l3v5y said:
To me, this seems a slightly strange marketing tactic unless they're gonna sell the "new" iPhone for a lot more...
Why stop people buying the current generation when you can still make money?
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y? maybe they dont want to piss their customers off?
buying a iphone for less then a month, and now u have 3G iphone which is much better?
Guess that explains this...
http://www.hotukdeals.com/item/171022/iphone-price-reduced-to-169-from-to/
I don't get it. i clicked the TS link and i get offered to buy an iPhone. Am i missing the part where i can't buy it and its no longer available?
The 8Gb are gone but they seem to not have a problem selling you a 16GB one. Is that what all the hullabaloo is about?
This is bizarre - can't get onto the o2 shop to even look - says they only sell to the UK.
But I'm in the UK, working at one of the larger internet backbone suppliers ....
Snowreaper said:
I don't get it. i clicked the TS link and i get offered to buy an iPhone. Am i missing the part where i can't buy it and its no longer available?
The 8Gb are gone but they seem to not have a problem selling you a 16GB one. Is that what all the hullabaloo is about?
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If you read my post following the original announcement. Within half an hour of releasing an official press statement from both o2, apple and carphone warehouse they have changed the site to say that only 16gb available
Looks to me like either they cant make up their mind or a shameless marketing ploy
I'm surprised by Chinese's reaction to the market. Shortly after iPhone 4's debut, so many counterfeits have been launched. The clone iphone 4 have multi-functions with a dirt cheap price comparing to the original Apple iphone.
I founded about 6 different models of clone iphone 4 just on tinydeal.com
I think it is not a bad idea if you could not afford a real iphone 4, what do you think?
I think it's very obviously a bad idea.
I'm not so sure why you're so surprise by the reaction. Chinese companies produce knockoffs of every popular phone out there. The prior iPhones all had multiple knockoffs too of varying similarities.
They all do have one thing in common, though. Not a single one of them are anywhere near as good as the iPhone.
I'm not a believer in the saying 'You get what you pay for' (I've bought too many great products at a low price to believe that adage), but, in this case, there's a reason why they're a fraction the cost of a real iPhone. They're not anywhere near as good in specs (aside from missing many important things, plenty of the listed specs could be extremely misleading or outright lies).
Of course, all of this is ignoring the elephant in the room: The fact that not one of those knockoffs will have Apple's iOS.
To get to the point, if you're willing to spend the money for a Chinese knockoff phone, that's completely fine. They come with nice specs at a low price. However, the idea that they would be a good substitute for what they're knocking off? No, never. Absolutely not.
Pokerface1987 said:
I'm surprised by Chinese's reaction to the market. Shortly after iPhone 4's debut, so many counterfeits have been launched. The clone iphone 4 have multi-functions with a dirt cheap price comparing to the original Apple iphone.
I founded about 6 different models of clone iphone 4 just on tinydeal.com
I think it is not a bad idea if you could not afford a real iphone 4, what do you think?
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Click to collapse
Chinese have always made knock off's of just about EVERY highly bought phone/ smartphones in the market.
Yes the clone phone 4 does "somewhat" and I use that carefully, but it does not come anywhere close to the iPhone4.
Now to your question, if you CAN'T afford a true iPhone there are many other opitions out there, including buying an Android based phone. Also even if you are on the AT&T service you can just as easy get a smartphone unlocked and use it on another carrier.
Clonephone4 ---> SAD
Why do you think Viewsonic decided to put together a device with some of the best tablet hardwares out there and then put a crappy software interface on there? If a bunch of people online could put together a more stable and faster rom for free, why not a multi-million dollar industry?
I guess I'm wondering why these really big electronic companies decided to shoot themselves in the foot over and over.
Because they were first to market by about 9 months with a Tegra2 tablet. Everyone else (Motorola, Asus, etc) waited until nVidia had a stable SDK, before pushing their wares out, and even still, Motorola is the first to do it out of the big guys.
Viewsonic just made the mistake of going to Tap'N'Tap to get it done. They should have gone with a Tier 1 Android integrater, like Wind River (oddly enough, owned by Intel now). Wind River is all over this stuff and already has Tegra3 in their sights for early fall.
h3llphyre said:
Because they were first to market by about 9 months with a Tegra2 tablet. Everyone else (Motorola, Asus, etc) waited until nVidia had a stable SDK, before pushing their wares out, and even still, Motorola is the first to do it out of the big guys.
Viewsonic just made the mistake of going to Tap'N'Tap to get it done. They should have gone with a Tier 1 Android integrater, like Wind River (oddly enough, owned by Intel now). Wind River is all over this stuff and already has Tegra3 in their sights for early fall.
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I agree!! Tap'N'Tap can't even design a good UI for their website (it's not even a website, really it's just a landing page), why anyone would think Tap'N'Tap can design a more difficult UI is beyond me. Lol.
http://www.tapntap.com/
You also have to realize that it TRULY isn't even a Viewsonic product. I don't even know what their true involvement is (are they the one's 'in bed' with tap n tap?)
US Merchants is re-boxing the Malata product similar to how Dell, HP, Acer does thier PC's. I still don't know how Viewsonic got involved, did US Merchants just need a big name behind them. I did get a number to a Rep for Viewsonic that I looked up in LinkedIn and she used to work for US Merchants (or maybe the other way around).
i wish I knew how this partnership came about?
the3dman said:
I agree!! Tap'N'Tap can't even design a good UI for their website (it's not even a website, really it's just a landing page), why anyone would think Tap'N'Tap can design a more difficult UI is beyond me. Lol.
http://www.tapntap.com/
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Probably because Tap'N'Tap was the cheapest. Remember, to meet the price point, Viewsonic had to make some sacrifices. Look at the price of the Xoom and most of the other upcoming Tegra2 tablets. Viewsonic's price is HALF.
Plus, personally, I'd rather have the software be crap. Can change that and because of the awesome devs here, that's a reality.
it2steve said:
You also have to realize that it TRULY isn't even a Viewsonic product. I don't even know what their true involvement is (are they the one's 'in bed' with tap n tap?)
US Merchants is re-boxing the Malata product similar to how Dell, HP, Acer does thier PC's. I still don't know how Viewsonic got involved, did US Merchants just need a big name behind them. I did get a number to a Rep for Viewsonic that I looked up in LinkedIn and she used to work for US Merchants (or maybe the other way around).
i wish I knew how this partnership came about?
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Because Contract Manufacturing has now turned into Contract Engineer/Design AND Manufacturing. Most of the time, design is done in Taiwan, manufacturing in mainland China. It's been going on now for almost a decade (that I've personally seen). It's cheaper for Viewsonic and it's easier for a CMO to enter the US market that way. No one is going to buy a Malata product, but Viewsonic? Maybe. You'll see this a lot at Bestbuy, when name brand TVs look suspiciously like the no name brands.
h3llphyre said:
Because Contract Manufacturing has now turned into Contract Engineer/Design AND Manufacturing. Most of the time, design is done in Taiwan, manufacturing in mainland China. It's been going on now for almost a decade (that I've personally seen). It's cheaper for Viewsonic and it's easier for a CMO to enter the US market that way. No one is going to buy a Malata product, but Viewsonic? Maybe. You'll see this a lot at Bestbuy, when name brand TVs look suspiciously like the no name brands.
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Or no brand at all. I've seen quite a few of those in stores like best buy, office depot, etc. nowadays. They look and feel exactly like those made by the well known brands, but try to look for a stamp of the brand and you won't find any.
Speaking of which, is viewsonic a legit American brand or is it a company of 5 employees created just to slap an American sounding name on a Chinese product?
goodintentions said:
Or no brand at all. I've seen quite a few of those in stores like best buy, office depot, etc. nowadays. They look and feel exactly like those made by the well known brands, but try to look for a stamp of the brand and you won't find any.
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Best Buy has moved from generic brands to their house brand (Insignia). I have an Insignia Plasma, that is a Samsung Plasma (I took it apart, it's all Samsung inside).
Speaking of which, is viewsonic a legit American brand or is it a company of 5 employees created just to slap an American sounding name on a Chinese product?
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Viewsonic still makes amazing displays (ironic with the crappy display on the G Tablet).
goodintentions said:
Why do you think Viewsonic decided to put together a device with some of the best tablet hardwares out there and then put a crappy software interface on there? If a bunch of people online could put together a more stable and faster rom for free, why not a multi-million dollar industry?
I guess I'm wondering why these really big electronic companies decided to shoot themselves in the foot over and over.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Most likely Viewsonic wanted to get the tablet on the market before Christmas to take advantage of the holiday shopping season - tablets were a hot commodity if you recall - and the state of the software was simply what was available at the time. Somebody had to make a call and they decided to ship.
Unfortunately that decision backfired on them because the software was not ready for prime time.
As many of you may know, Desire HD has been one of the most sold HTC Android OS based Smartphone in the shortest period since it was launched last year. One of the reasons for that is probably, and mostly because of its humongous 4.3” LCD screen which has been advertised and reviewed as a Super LCD (recognized as a S-LCD, equivalent to Super LCD) which is supposed to have a similar performance in a viewing angle and a battery life to Samsung’s Super AMOLED.
While I was shopping for an Android Smartphone, I was considering purchasing between Samsung’s Galaxy S and HTC’s Desire HD. What caught all my attention was Desire HD’s humongous 4.3” Super LCD screen as it was advertised on the official HTC website and many other information websites on Smartphones. So I went ahead and bought a Desire HD. I am not well educated with the Smartphone technology stuff and all so I didn’t notice the different between Super LCD and the regular TFT-LCD at first until I was outside under sunlight and was not able to tell what my phone’s screen was showing, while my friend’s Galaxy S was fully capable of showing the screen without so much trouble.
I wasn’t the only one who felt the same way and one of the consumers called HTC to inquire if the LCD screen on Desire HD is really Super LCD as advertised. What the representative said was quite shocking because it turns out that Desire HD just has the regular TFT-LCD.
A lot of consumers felt that the phone was falsely advertised and contacted with HTC about getting refunds for a false advertisement, but HTC made it sound like consumers were the ones who confused themselves by claiming that the term “Super” in Super LCD of Desire HD simply means that the size of the LCD screen is super big but not the kind of LCD HTC was advertising as a rival to Super AMOLED. Also HTC is insisting that they are responsible for neither confusions nor refunds for this incident. But there’s already a case where a wireless phone service provider promised and offered a full-refund to whoever purchased a Desire HD for a false advertisement in Denmark.
In the midst of all these problems, there was a conflict between consumers and a representative who is in a bit high position (supposedly his position is a General Manager, not just a regular normal call center counselor) at Customer Service Department of HTC Korea named Mr. Kim. While consumers were complaining about no-refund on this incident policy to Mr. Kim, he said something like.. “If you don’t like what we are offering, why don’t you just sue us?”. In hospitality industry, as a man in position of being in charge of Customer Service department, this kind of reaction should never be allowed nor present at all cost.
So with all the problems present, I’ve personally contacted HTC Taiwan and HTC Korea about the incident and asked them for an official statement to apologize for this false advertisement to current consumers of Desire HD’s in Korea to begin, corrections in advertisements of Desire HD’s, better Customer Service quality in Korea.
They denied that they falsely advertised the kind of LCD in Desire HD and all they were saying was that Super LCD of Desire HD has nothing to do with the kind of LCD screen and it just means the size is super big. They also refused to make an official apology statement. Yet, they have changed the ads, specifications of Desire HD on their official websites… and so on. It’s just cheap.
And plus, HTC’s new Incredible S has Super LCD as well and despite the 0.3” difference, the quality of two screens look awfully different. Has HTC researched and developed a new Super LCD within about half a year? Huh?
I’ve spent so many days fighting against HTC through phones, internet, emails etc just to get an official apology but it seems that I have failed to accomplish most of my goals. Maybe I was too soft on them. I’ve thought about a lawsuit but suing someone in South Korea isn’t just that easy like I would have done it in the United States. That’s why I am going on a “NO HTC Campaign” and spreading the words around the world so one day, HTC can realize consumers have powers and are not that stupid anymore to just accept what a company has to say.
Consumers have “lawful consumer rights” to know the correct information on products, be educated about consumer rights, organize a consumer organization to fight against the company, and participate to give advices to company and so on.
To this point, I’ve recommended Desire HD as one of the best android Smartphones to get and it is, I think, still true. Many people have purchased Desire HD just because they trust me that much and I’ve recommended this phone so strongly. But the quality of customer care at HTC degrades the performance of Desire HD and I really with that I would not have recommended HTC products. From this point, I am not going to buy any HTC related products whatsoever and I also am going not to recommend any HTC related products to people around me and hopefully everyone around the world.
I’m just a consumer who wanted to buy a decent smartphone with all the information I knew and wanted to be happy about it, nothing more and nothing less.
I was feeling sympathy for you untill I googled SAMOLED vs SLCD and found many many informative comparasons between the two (many actually comparing SAMOLED desires with SLCD desires), and in all the ones I have seen SAMOLED is better in power consumption and in veiwing angle, but SLCD is not far behind in terms of normal use clarity.
As with crapple dont fall for company propaganda, and ALWAYS do your own research.
I wont be boycotting HTC, as I like many of their devices including the Desire but I wont automatically purchase their latest device either.
[email protected] said:
...its humongous 4.3” LCD screen which has been advertised and reviewed as a Super LCD (recognized as a S-LCD, equivalent to Super LCD)
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I'm not familiar with Korea but here in the UK HTC have never advertised the screen as being S-LCD, no reputable website has ever advertised it as such, no competent reviewer has ever claimed it's S-LCD.
Here is the Engadget article on the announcement of the Desire HD, it also contains a copy of HTC's press release - neither describes the screen as S-LCD.
If you have purchased a Desire HD from a website or retailer that has claimed the screen is S-LCD, then that's a matter you have to take up with that website/retailer.
But it's nothing to do with HTC themselves, they're not responsible for mistakes made by third parties.
Ill take your engadget review (the competent reviewer you mentioned) and raise you an engadget review. WITH VIDEO
AMOLED Desire Vs SLCD desire.
http://dailymobile.se/2010/09/14/screen-comparison-amoled-vs-slcd-htc-desire/
my concern is that...
It had been officially advertised on HTC website as a Super LCD...
A lot of users including me have evidents to prove so....
I don't know what to do..
All I wanted was a sincere apology.. that's all.
@hungry81: what's any of that got to do with the Desire HD?
@[email protected]: seek legal advice?
So you are a guy you say is listened to by many on these forums about getting the Desire, yet you did no actual research and just toed the company line before you bought one? Huh? Wtf are you trying to sell here? HTC makes some great phones. In my experience, I've been able to go to wireless stores and test drive/compare phones before I buy them. Maybe you should do the same before complaining about falling for corporate advertising like some idiot yuppie.
Perhaps you were looking at the NA Desire HD which DOES have a SLCD?
I don't remember the Desire HD launched in Europe being advertised as SLCD? or am I mistaken?
I remember before I bought a DHD I've done heaps of research on it to know what I'm getting and what to expect. Anyway, I bought it from this store here in NZ: http://www.einfo.co.nz/shop/product_info.php?products_id=20720
As you can see it is advertised as a S-LCD screen, and it was like that everywhere I looked including the official site. It didn't say S-BigDisplay, it said S-LCD. If it were meant to mean something else they should of pointed it out.
I've used the phone before I bought it to make sure I like it but I wouldn't know the difference between S-LCD/TFT.
I will bring this into future phone considerations, HTC is great but I will explore the options.
Is there some way of checking the screen type? I ask because I might try to get a refund...
scottyd035ntknow said:
So you are a guy you say is listened to by many on these forums about getting the Desire, yet you did no actual research and just toed the company line before you bought one? Huh? Wtf are you trying to sell here? HTC makes some great phones. In my experience, I've been able to go to wireless stores and test drive/compare phones before I buy them. Maybe you should do the same before complaining about falling for corporate advertising like some idiot yuppie.
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@scottyd035ntknow
Can you not read what I wrote up there? It was officially advertised as a Super LCD on the OFFICIAL HTC WEBSITE and was also ADVERTISED AS A SUPER LCD ON A TELEVISION FOR FOUR MONTHS.
And when I bought my phone was just right after it was launched in Korea. At the official press conference and the showcase it was also introduced as a Super LCD.
So you are saying it's my fault to trust a company who makes some great phones according to you?
Now what kinda bull**** are YOU TRYING TO SELL HERE?
I AM VERY SORRY I COULDN'T GO CHECK OUT A PHONE THAT WAS NOT EVEN OUT YET AT THE STORE BY THE TIME I HAD MY DESIRE HD.
When I went to a phone store to check out that Desire HD which was not out by the time I went to the store, they gave me a brochure of it saying that it comes with a SUPER LCD.
I've done my fair share of research so don't even bring up "You didn't do yo ****" bull**** here now.
HTC Korea admitted and corrected the ads but hasn't apologized about the fact that they deceived a lot of consumers and that is why I have posted a thread here.
Maedhros said:
Perhaps you were looking at the NA Desire HD which DOES have a SLCD?
I don't remember the Desire HD launched in Europe being advertised as SLCD? or am I mistaken?
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Click to collapse
I've checked with HTC Taiwan (supposed to be like a headquarter I guess) and they said it's no Super LCD in any technical terms. Super just means that the size of LCD is SUPER BIG.
It's just a regular TFT-LCD.
In addition, there was a case in Denmark where a wireless service provider gave out a full refund for the false advertisement of HTC's Desire HD's LCD.
Idk why a service provider would give out a refund but in some part of this globe they acknowledge the problem and take the full responsibility for it I guess.
scottyd035ntknow said:
So you are a guy you say is listened to by many on these forums about getting the Desire, yet you did no actual research and just toed the company line before you bought one? Huh? Wtf are you trying to sell here? HTC makes some great phones. In my experience, I've been able to go to wireless stores and test drive/compare phones before I buy them. Maybe you should do the same before complaining about falling for corporate advertising like some idiot yuppie.
Click to expand...
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Quick question. @scottyd035ntknow
Can you even tell the difference between SLCD and the regular TFT-LCD with your bare eyes?
So you can tell that the other screen is consuming less power just by looking at two LCD's right?
WTF are you trying to sell? HUH?
And by that bull**** you are saying, if I can't trust the ads, reviews, press conferences, your bare f-ing eyes, and so on, who should I trust then?
Please tell me how so I don't have to go researching on a phone for a week before I press that pre-order button on the official online phone store.
Or you can go f yourself.
I think people put htc in a very high pedestal, I mean what can you expect from a company who sell you phones with dust under the screen, glued and taped parts inside the phone and whats worse, breaking and flexing in some of their high end offerings, you also have inconsistent build quality from their different plants located in taiwan, shanghai and shenzhen.
Oh I forgot all what matters is that cheap die cast aluminum unibody, which htc fanboys are so hanged up with because it means quality, I only buy htc if it is dirt cheap.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using Tapatalk
I doubt they did anything to intentionally misleed anyone. As far as an apology they can not under any circumstance offer an apology unless they loose a law suite. If they apologized that apology would be used against them.
Now as for the people who bought the phone. I can look at a Droid X and say eww that screen is washed out and say no thanks I can look at a fascinate and go wow that looks great and then make a decision to buy a thunderbolt because its good enough and I like the features.
The bottom line is you shouldn't need them to tell you the screen looks good you should be able to see for yourself and make a decision based off of that. You are the one who made the mistake.
Buyers have rights but also buyer beware. Also if that screen was good enough before you knew it wasn't slcd then it was good enough stop complaining.
Also I doubt the will get in trouble unless they had a - in there or used slcd or s-lcd.
Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk
greenstuffs said:
I think people put htc in a very high pedestal, I mean what can you expect from a company who sell you phones with dust under the screen, glued and taped parts inside the phone and whats worse, breaking and flexing in some of their high end offerings, you also have inconsistent build quality from their different plants located in taiwan, shanghai and shenzhen.
Oh I forgot all what matters is that cheap die cast aluminum unibody, which htc fanboys are so hanged up with because it means quality, I only buy htc if it is dirt cheap.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using Tapatalk
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Click to collapse
glad my phone didn't come wrapped in duck tape and dusty lol
THIS MESSAGE is about: HTC Corporation Lacks Global Managerial Cohesion
NOTE: THOSE WITH TWITTER 140 ATTENTION SPANS, SKIP AHEAD.
From what I've read here I have a few comments and observations:
1) I don't know the org chart of HTC as a global corporation, and how spread out they have become in their primary functional areas of R&D, product design, programming & UI development, localization & carrier customization, parts & sourcing, manufacturing & assembly, packaging, wharehousing & distribution, customer support, warranty support, sales & marketing, international branding, regional branding.
2) I say this from the perspective of knowing, for example, that Apple has divisions in France, Germany, Spain, Ireland, Africa, Greece, all over the world -- and they are, to the best of my knowledge, almost independently run and operated from Apple America... with Presidents and corporate structures, and often completely separate warranty handling processes from country to country.
3) So too I have experience first hand how HTC has, in its growth spurt, been experiencing regional differences in operational quality -- and I would add - competence. For example: When the original unlocked HTC Desire (GSM) was being sold in April of 2010 in UK and Europe and India, many many people had pre-orders PAID FOR and theye were in queue for these orders to be shipped to them initially end of March 2010, then date pushed to beginning of April 2010... But then something very shifty occurred:
At this time last year the HTC Desire (first version) was such a hugely in demand phone, that HTC'd supply chain did not have enough inventory in the supply chain to feed all the demand. And HTC made a very terrible decision. In order to kiss-ass and satisfy T-Mobile UK, whose walk-in customers were asking for this phone left and right, but yet T-Mobile UK was OUT OF STOCK, HTC authorized the huge (i mean gigantic) diversion of the shipment of phones wharehoused and being trucked in for fulfillment of UNLOCKED PRE-ORDERS which had been paid for as early as February and March -- to be re-routed and trucked in to T-Mobile UK stores... In so doing, they pushed vague messages to major distributors in UK like Clove and handtec, who had thousands of customers so excited to get their unlocked phones finally -- describing some uncontrollable delay that would cause another 2 weeks before the unlocked phones would be shipped.
Customers and distributors figured this out very fast, collectively, and HTC should have paid a price for this in terrible PR, but they managed to skate by because they did push out the unlocked inventory one week later rather than 2 -- and even though in total they were one month later than promised, customers were so thrilled by the phones and their workmanship that the storm went away.
4) But what this speaks to is managerial operational dysfunction at HTC, in at least some regional operations -- and Europe is a HUGE primary region for HTC customers and has been since at least 2003, around the time these forums started with the very first HTC smartphone, the XDA (for those of you who never knew how and why these forums were named XDA)
Let me now state for clarity: I LOVE HTC phones. For me, the product design is gorgeous, and has been leading the industry for years, since 2003... And I am on my 5th HTC smartphone in a row in 7 years time. So I "come in praise of HTC", not to spite it. HTC CHINA, where the magic happens, clearly has known what they're doing for years. MY QUESTION IS: as they have grown, and inevitably have needed to open more and more regional offices in other countries, how well have all these operations been integrated into one corporate culture with a unified operational code? MY ANSWER: NOT VERY WELL AT ALL.
I think that last year's really quite successful "YOU" branding campaign for HTC -- its first ever -- had two purposes. The first was obvious: To present to the world, and to consumers, its NAME and face -- which had long been buried as the unnamed brand behind T-Mobile's and other carrier's phones... And with the meteoric resurgence of Motorola and their droid franchise of phones, HTC -- a king of smartphones -- was suddenly dwarfed and marginalized. To stay alive they had to become known to consumers, not just carriers. That was their primary aim.
However, I would argue that purpose #2 was to provide a unifying glue for the international string of operations that comprised "HTC" in all the affiliate countries. I think the very fact that we see these abberations speaks to elements of autonomy which were vestages of a company run not as a consumer brand company but as regional distribution hubs only -- and that all of this has abruptly changed --- and thus the "YOU
campaign and "quietly brilliant" would bring unified branding -- and brand discipline -- to all of these perhaps semi-rogue operations, tightening them up into a singular culture worlwide, with a consistent brand experience wherever consumers went, but also wherever managers went too.
5) Further supporting the wild aberrations in quality control of how HTC operates/ doesn't operate as a uniform company in all regions of the world (IT DOESN'T -- AND THAT'S WHAT SPEAKS LOUD AND CLEAR IN THIS THREAD), I just went through 3 months of battling with HTC AMERICA's Warranty Division over their initial refusal to honor their warranty obligations on my HTC Desire -- while it was still under ONE YEAR old -- and with my phone having a TWO-YEAR warranty. I accused them, correctly so, of not honoring their UK Warranties (where I purchased the phone). They insisted they do. I said "No, you don't. You don't even know the TERM of the warranty"
"All HTC products have a 1 year warranty"
"No, you're wrong, and clueless about your own corporation. I am reading the warranty right now, and I have the worldwide care pamphlet here as well which I am going to PDF and send you -- which is ridiculus because YOU should have it or go to your own company's website and download it from the web -- if you know how... It says very clearly it;s a TWO YEAR WARRANTY --"
"Well we've never seen that"
"Well have you ever considered that warranties can vary region to region?"
** I was speaking to the senior level executive at HTC AMERICA at their corporate headquarters at Bellevue Washington -- they don't even know how their own global company works.
I have detailed this fully in another thread (you can search for it), but I never followed up the final chapter of it. It's a waste of time. I have a summary statement after dealing with all if these entities within HTC America: Warranty Repairs in Stafford Texas, Warranty Escalations in Indianapolas, Supervisor and head of the Warranty Escalations Department in Indianapolis, who was appalled by the behavior in Texas and fast-tracked my repair, but also with senior executive level corporate customer complaints for HTC America in Bellevue Washington, who also assured me the problem would be handled, apologizing for the handling.
It was nevertheless flubbed yet again, with HTC Corporate failing to send the actual email authorization to HTC Escalations in Indianapolis, who had to give Stafford Texas the go ahead to perform the work (which is all completely absurd to begin with because it was under warranty and this was a defective USB port which was widely reported and easily googled "HTC DESIRE microUSB port"). Thus, an already delayed under-waranty repair was delayed just sitting there in what was supposed to be a top-escalated state, first-in-queue fix and fed-ex back, instead gathering dust for over a week until I called to see what was going on.
I couldn't believe how many cross-checks could be fouled up, and yet they were. Finally, that day, the device was repaired and I was told it was in labeling to be fed exed out that same day, as it had been pre-approved for OVERNIGHT delivery. I was so excited to go to my service bureau next day to get the device. But it didn't arrive. nor the next day, or the next, or next or next or next or next or next. But 7 days later I get the FED EX GROUND shipment, despite Head of Warranty Operations Escalations Department in Indianapolis (a really nice, and really competent person who was on the short end of the stick of OTHER people's F*ups, including Bellevue's, and Stafford, Texas). She was so embarrassed. On the phone at the end of our call she said "I have good news, here is your Overnight FedEx tracking # they've just sent me"
But Texas Warranty center, in a final act of total clutziness, entered Fed Ex ground.
6) I apologize for the long message, but to me it is a different way of approaching the problem cited in this thread:
From what it sounds like, the problem is isolated to Korea and the way it was advertised there offcially in HTC stores, on websites, in TV ads. And, based on what others are saying, it seems to be an aberrartion from the norm - where it was NOT advertised that way elsewhere.
CONCLUSIONS: I am sorry to say that I agree with other person that you will not get an apology because it would be a legal admission of wrongdoing; and that is a legal liability that would immediately make them in breech of so many things -- there is no way they are going to voluntarily put themselves in that position.
This is why they will lie to you and then chnage their ads. It is despicable and deplorable. But in this case -- and I know this is a horrible thing to hear -- you have only a few choices: a) you will not get what you want, that is unless you want to devote your life to this for the principle of it, and allocate about $100,000 minimum in legal costs to bring about litigation for false advertisement or fraud or deception IN KOREA. I strongly advise you not do this. b) you do as you have said you will do: punish with your pocketbook, and refuse to buy their products anymore. And given you are an opinion leader, you take down the business that would come from colleagues of yours, ripping it away from HTC.
NOTE: I understand that what this LACKS is moral satisfaction: When someone smugly tells you "if you don't like it, you can sue us", you want to smack them in the face for such arrogance and disrespect for a customer. And I know exactly how it feels. You want them to FEEL the loss of your business.
Well, look, they may not. They probably won't.
But thus is what I told the honcho at Corporate at HTC, expecially after the 3rd and 4th screwup:
"Listen, may I ask how long you have worked for HTC?"
"3 years"
"Okay. ... And in Stafford it was 2 years. And in Escalations is was 3 and a half years. I don't mean this with any attitude at all, but I doubt very seriously that you can find very many people, IF ANY, working there at HTC AMERICA who have been working there longer than I have been buying your phones, 7 years. You see, I know your products way better than you do. And you need to understand how disrespectful it is to have some automaton in Warranty Repair in Texas read off of a screen, get my RMA wrong, and tell me my phone has had its seal broken and I tell them no it hasn't, and they sternly tell me yes it has and we have pictures -- only to then say "what was that RMA again" --- and I tell them again, and then they say "I was looking at the one under yours; how can I help you"... and you need to start understanding you better respect your customers because HTC has just a sliver of marketshare now, and it is very expensive to create a new customr, and a lot cheaper to keep an existing one. So when your operation saves you a nickel and dime and you treat people the way you have been, you're losing customers, and that is not a growth business. And if you would permit me I would like to add this one fact to that:
At the start of 2010, when the droid came out and the Nexus One came out, I saw the stats and breakdowns of Android devices, and I just figured that with HTC having invented the first touchscreen smartphones, that they were probably ranked maybe #3 or so. They weren't. They were wany down maybe #8, and a tiny fraction. I was very astounded. So I really think you should give thought to what I am saying. ...."
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So, I just want to say that despite the flood of product models HTC has every quarter -- and despite the fact that I still love their phones, I am getting a bad taste in my mouth. And HTC China better wake up -- they better get a handle on their international operation, because they don't have a handle on it right now, that is for certain.
One last comment: Blow off the jerks who come onto these threads and scold you with "you shoulda done your homework". I've been at these forums now a good # of years -- a lot of the people who've been here longer have left, they've moved on since the site changed hands. But this type is very familiar. Whether on this forum or any tech forum. They're a breed of know it alls you;d like to just squash with your shoe like a cockroach. They add no value. They're just around to **** on other people - and they generally take great delight in it. Do your best to ignore them. They usually can't stand me -- and believe me the feeling is mutual.
/quicksite
[email protected] said:
I've checked with HTC Taiwan (supposed to be like a headquarter I guess) and they said it's no Super LCD in any technical terms. Super just means that the size of LCD is SUPER BIG.
It's just a regular TFT-LCD.
In addition, there was a case in Denmark where a wireless service provider gave out a full refund for the false advertisement of HTC's Desire HD's LCD.
Idk why a service provider would give out a refund but in some part of this globe they acknowledge the problem and take the full responsibility for it I guess.
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well, yeah, cuz in some parts of the world people continue to consume their business in a professional fashion, which in the usa,this concept will most probably fade away with att buying tmobile ... still , this cant help but remind me about the bad screen/ good screen on the glacier ( which is a variation of dhd for tmo), still,tmo accepted their bad ( dont know exactly if in htc name to or not) and exchanged it for me... twice !!! thats why one gets his 14 to 30 days right to return a sub advertised or deffected device that shoudnt of passed QC ... of course,if htc is that sneaky with their loyal fanbase, they should be asheamed of them selfs, but that doesnt mean they are less the innovators they are ... imo !
Thank you very much for your thoughtful tip..
I've had my eyes sucked into the monitor while reading your post... so true and so ..empathetic... it feels like I was that consumer in your post.
My head is just too occupied with my work and this cherry to top off. I may need to re-think my strategy here... or quit.
But I appreciate your concern and help. Thank you.
hungry81 said:
I was feeling sympathy for you untill I googled SAMOLED vs SLCD and found many many informative comparasons between the two (many actually comparing SAMOLED desires with SLCD desires), and in all the ones I have seen SAMOLED is better in power consumption and in veiwing angle, but SLCD is not far behind in terms of normal use clarity.
As with crapple dont fall for company propaganda, and ALWAYS do your own research.
I wont be boycotting HTC, as I like many of their devices including the Desire but I wont automatically purchase their latest device either.
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I was about to side with you on the assessment of S-LCD till you dis'd Apple. The iPhone 4 LCD is the best there is for common LCD tech and, according to me simply looking at my iPhone 4 and SAMOLED equipped Samsung Focus, has just as good of viewing angle. My HTC Inspire (Desire HD) has excellent viewing angle but it isn't as good as my iPhone 4.
[email protected] said:
...
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I did a cursory comparison of my HTC Inspire (AT&T Desire HD) and my HTC HD2. The HD2 has a common LCD (non-TFT) and the Inspire is suppose to have a S-LCD (TFT, IPS). I pulled up the same picture on both units and they look very much the same. The Inspire has deeper and richer colors, but both units look the same in viewing angle. There is no difference in the viewing angle that my eye can detect.
For reference, a TFT LCD is the best type of LCD. The iPhone 4 uses a TFT LCD and is the same as a Super LCD or IPS type LCD. My opinion would be that the Inspire has a common LCD (non-TFT) as it is almost identical to the known common LCD (non TFT) of the HD2.
I wish you well in your campaign and hope you are successful.
So, as someone living and working in China, I've been super excited following up on the Xiaomi Phone. When they released the price as 2000 RMB (about $310 USD), I knew it had to be fake, or there was some serious funny business. The numbers just don't add up.
Engadget recently had a review of the Xiaomi phone and had it benchmarking near the Galaxy S 2 in several tests, so I think it makes sense to compare these two:
SGS 2 Advantages: Super AMOLED screen; 4.3 inch screen (vs 4 inch); forward facing camera; 1080p video recording (vs 720p); onboard storage (16 GB vs 4 GB); slightly smaller footprint.
Xiaomi Advantages: Price; processor speed (1.5 Ghz vs 1.2); battery (1930 mAh vs 1650); GLONASS and GPS tracking; highly customizable UI out of the box.
In China, the SGS2 retails for about 4300 RMB (about $670 USD). So how does a phone which is in the SGS2's ballpark retail for less than half the price?
It gets even more peculiar. Here are some questions Xiaomi hasn't cleared up(or at least I haven't seen their responses yet):
1) Xiaomi uses a Qualcomm processor and a LCD screen from Sharp (Japanese import). So they can't be using local parts to save costs, how are they able to offer the phone at only $310?
2) Local competitors like Huawei and ZTE who have much more experience in manufacturing (and much more leverage with suppliers) have yet to produce a phone remotely like this. Also, their closest local competition in terms of specs is something like the Huawei Honor, a single core phone that retails for about $400. Yet Xiaomi, which has never produced hardware before is getting better deals than these guys on components? Samsung also does component development in-house, but Xiaomi is getting better pricing than Samsung?
3) Xiaomi was originally a software developer. How did they pull a piece of impressive hardware like this out of nowhere?
4) Why retail for $310? They could sell it for $500 and it would still be way cheaper than an SGS2. Hell, I paid more than 2000 RMB for the crappy 2 year old Nokia I'm still using over here.
My Chinese is OK so I've been trying to read more on the Xiaomi forums, but I haven't really gotten any new information, other than there's something like 300,000 preorders already. I figure there's got to be some serious funny business going on. Probably:
a) ridiculous free loans and/or development assistance from the government to built up national prestige; or
b) copying another phone's internals verbatim; or
c) fake components of some kind
It looked really smooth in the Engadget video, so I'm inclined to be believe it's option A. Good for consumers I guess, but probably lousy if you're a Chinese taxpayer. Any ideas on why the price is so low?
Smaller companies tend to do these kind of things.
However I'm interested as well.
I believe that it's one part 'a' and another that generally huawei and zte have primarily been marketed for export (to SE Asia, India, EU) but the government is really trying to subsidize local start ups to fight imports (like HTC, Sony, etc...) and get Chinese to spend their money on Chinese things. But if a Chinese phone were 3000 RMB and a Korean or Japanese phone was also 3000 RMB, no one would get the Chinese phone for obvious reasons.
so basically you just made up a thread without any evidence and full of speculation accusing Xiaomi not being legit.
india are making ARM Cortex 9 phones with 4 GB for only $35
if they can do it, so can china
lol
Mmmhmm .
I don't why people have so much comments , no offence though .
Forever living in my Galaxy Ace using XDA App
I support you , and do your know meizu'M9 or MX?
hehe
it is good for everyone. thank you!
AllGamer said:
india are making ARM Cortex 9 phones with 4 GB for only $35
if they can do it, so can china
lol
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Seriously?
cdesai said:
Seriously?
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yes, there is a post with the pictures and spec here in the forum
aprox 5 days old
it's made for the india school system
Hi it's my first post and I have no exact figures to support this other than a simple comparison to another industry.
I remember hearing from someone that the mark up on mobile phones (this was a while ago) was a few hundred percent. Remember that it doesn't cost 800 dollars to make a phone and the people that usually make it in third world manufacturing companies or places with poor working conditions only get paid a few dollars an hour to make your 800 dollar phones.
our
My comparison industry is optometry. The following information comes from someone I know who is an optometrist:
"Frames like Gucci and Prada cost $3 per frame to make. In the stores you pay $500 dollars to buy them. That is an insane mark up. However they can't retail it cheaper because of an agreement in place to prevent the devaluation of the brand."
I am sure the same thing happens in the cell phone industry.
Just thought that this might put the legitimacy of the phone in perspective.
Thanks for your time.
andao79 said:
So, as someone living and working in China, I've been super excited following up on the Xiaomi Phone. When they released the price as 2000 RMB (about $310 USD), I knew it had to be fake, or there was some serious funny business. The numbers just don't add up.
Engadget recently had a review of the Xiaomi phone and had it benchmarking near the Galaxy S 2 in several tests, so I think it makes sense to compare these two:
SGS 2 Advantages: Super AMOLED screen; 4.3 inch screen (vs 4 inch); forward facing camera; 1080p video recording (vs 720p); onboard storage (16 GB vs 4 GB); slightly smaller footprint.
Xiaomi Advantages: Price; processor speed (1.5 Ghz vs 1.2); battery (1930 mAh vs 1650); GLONASS and GPS tracking; highly customizable UI out of the box.
In China, the SGS2 retails for about 4300 RMB (about $670 USD). So how does a phone which is in the SGS2's ballpark retail for less than half the price?
It gets even more peculiar. Here are some questions Xiaomi hasn't cleared up(or at least I haven't seen their responses yet):
1) Xiaomi uses a Qualcomm processor and a LCD screen from Sharp (Japanese import). So they can't be using local parts to save costs, how are they able to offer the phone at only $310?
2) Local competitors like Huawei and ZTE who have much more experience in manufacturing (and much more leverage with suppliers) have yet to produce a phone remotely like this. Also, their closest local competition in terms of specs is something like the Huawei Honor, a single core phone that retails for about $400. Yet Xiaomi, which has never produced hardware before is getting better deals than these guys on components? Samsung also does component development in-house, but Xiaomi is getting better pricing than Samsung?
3) Xiaomi was originally a software developer. How did they pull a piece of impressive hardware like this out of nowhere?
4) Why retail for $310? They could sell it for $500 and it would still be way cheaper than an SGS2. Hell, I paid more than 2000 RMB for the crappy 2 year old Nokia I'm still using over here.
My Chinese is OK so I've been trying to read more on the Xiaomi forums, but I haven't really gotten any new information, other than there's something like 300,000 preorders already. I figure there's got to be some serious funny business going on. Probably:
a) ridiculous free loans and/or development assistance from the government to built up national prestige; or
b) copying another phone's internals verbatim; or
c) fake components of some kind
It looked really smooth in the Engadget video, so I'm inclined to be believe it's option A. Good for consumers I guess, but probably lousy if you're a Chinese taxpayer. Any ideas on why the price is so low?
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Click to collapse
I'd get the M9 or M9x ( or something.. Quad Core? HELLOOOOO )
I don't see why someone would get a device ONLY for Miui, most phones out there have a build of MIUI.
You really think that $600 phone costs $600 to make?
The markup on electrical goods from brand names can be over 200%
My point is not really related to the idea of a markup, I KNOW all cell phones have a dramatic markup, and I read not long ago an iPhone 4 costs about $180 to make, while they retail for something like $600 out of contract.
I'm more interested in a) How did this company come out of nowhere with this sort of hardware? and b) They don't NEED to sell it for 2000 RMB for it to be a hit. They could have sold it for $400-450 and it would have still been a hell of a lot cheaper than a Galaxy S 2.
That, coupled with the fact that the big guns in China (Meizu, Huawei, ZTE) are not even in the same ballpark with specs or price, is really weird.
If i can demo one and it works well, i'll definitely pick one up, but there must be some serious funny business behind the scenes.
Why must there be funny business?
Well, you can build a cheap phone if you want.
The question is: can you sell it cheap?
Operating costs, brand advertisement etc. They have no problem there, they just build a phone having no ad space on western media.They can do it, they are smart enough.Plus: we enthusiasts are their advertisement plan, we buy it for cheap, all our friends will buy it.
It's a win win scenario.My 2 eurocents.
andao79 said:
My point is not really related to the idea of a markup, I KNOW all cell phones have a dramatic markup, and I read not long ago an iPhone 4 costs about $180 to make, while they retail for something like $600 out of contract.
I'm more interested in a) How did this company come out of nowhere with this sort of hardware? and b) They don't NEED to sell it for 2000 RMB for it to be a hit. They could have sold it for $400-450 and it would have still been a hell of a lot cheaper than a Galaxy S 2.
That, coupled with the fact that the big guns in China (Meizu, Huawei, ZTE) are not even in the same ballpark with specs or price, is really weird.
If i can demo one and it works well, i'll definitely pick one up, but there must be some serious funny business behind the scenes.
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Click to collapse
The issue is risk. Do you risk spending $300 on a new unknown brand or do you spend $450 on a noname brand when you can get a well known brand for $600?
There is obviously going to be a greater curve of buyers the lower the price you go and finding the balance is where your marketers need mettle. I think the current price is going to be very good to get users into buying the phone. Obviously, if they can become the new HTC, their markup is going to increase hugely.
My concern is going to be: at ~$300, what is the customer service going to be like? HTC's is mediocre here in the UK, but if Vodafone, Orange et al resell this phone, it's going to be VERY attractive to us as the carriers are held responsible until end of warranty.
russ18uk said:
The issue is risk. Do you risk spending $300 on a new unknown brand or do you spend $450 on a noname brand when you can get a well known brand for $600?
There is obviously going to be a greater curve of buyers the lower the price you go and finding the balance is where your marketers need mettle. I think the current price is going to be very good to get users into buying the phone. Obviously, if they can become the new HTC, their markup is going to increase hugely.
My concern is going to be: at ~$300, what is the customer service going to be like? HTC's is mediocre here in the UK, but if Vodafone, Orange et al resell this phone, it's going to be VERY attractive to us as the carriers are held responsible until end of warranty.
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Just to clarify, the retailer is responsible until you have had a reasonable amount of use out of it irrespective of warranty
The law doesn't care about warranties, they're in the best case an agreement that the device will be repaired without the need to take legal action, and in the worst case used to illegally convince consumers they have no rights.
Take my Sensation, afaik it has a 12month warranty.
Say the screen dies after 18 months, I'll be demanding O2 repair or replace it otherwise I'll be contacting trading standards as being a phone provided on a 24 month contract I should be able to expect it to last at least 24 months and more especially considering the price when new.
I love being a consumer in the UK
Xiaomo said:
I support you , and do your know meizu'M9 or MX?
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yes~ Meizu much better than xiaomi
kerwin_pig said:
yes~ Meizu much better than xiaomi
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WHY DID YOU DIG UP OLD THREADS
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda premium