1. chromedome's Avatar
    This is just my opinion, but I think to myself, why would a major corporation, scratch that, two major corporations be short on stock? Sounds like a bunch of nonsense to me. Nobody, not a best buy associate, not VZW reps even know what the status is on this phone. How many conflicting reports have we heard so far? So many that my head is spinning in circles. Remember, major corporations have shareholders to protect...nobody wants to be out of stock on a hot seller, a guaranteed money maker especially in this economy. trust me every retailer is struggling to make every single penny they possibly can. i work for a major retailer who stresses NONSTOP product availability. To create a "hype" just to make people want something more may have worked before but nowadays it is ridiculous. I am just using my common sense here. I just think that VZW and RIM are in business to make money, not hype. How could they possibly JUST NOW find all these problems??
    11-19-08 10:52 PM
  2. dispatch1054's Avatar
    Some good points and perspective thanks. I've also been wondering why there would be shortages if they want people to switch to verizons service. Imagine how happy those potential converters would be if they go friday to sign a contract for the storm to find that there are none. Shortage will create hype, but most certainly turn away potential customers

    Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com
    11-19-08 11:02 PM
  3. CrackisWackBerryisNOT's Avatar
    Some good points and perspective thanks. I've also been wondering why there would be shortages if they want people to switch to verizons service. Imagine how happy those potential converters would be if they go friday to sign a contract for the storm to find that there are none. Shortage will create hype, but most certainly turn away potential customers

    Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com
    There won't BE any shortages. I think VZW's approach is to keep their stores uncluttered so their plan is to fulfill most orders through direct fulfillment. That just means instead of you taking your phone home that day, you receive it via Fed-Ex in the next couple of days. No shortage just a different way of selling. The hype is necessary to keep the attention of the world & shareholders. Marketing professionals know EXACTLY what they are doing. They learned VERY well from the initial iPhone release.
    11-19-08 11:06 PM
  4. MsJuicy313's Avatar
    Makes sense...guess we'll see what happens tomorrow!
    11-20-08 01:35 PM
  5. CSSVT's Avatar
    because they're both incompetent and lucky to have the user base that they have. Verizon more-so than RIM but you get my drift. I swear this company is run by chimps or people with IQ lower than chimps.....just my opinion.
    11-20-08 01:38 PM
  6. Nisca's Avatar
    There won't BE any shortages. I think VZW's approach is to keep their stores uncluttered so their plan is to fulfill most orders through direct fulfillment. That just means instead of you taking your phone home that day, you receive it via Fed-Ex in the next couple of days. No shortage just a different way of selling. The hype is necessary to keep the attention of the world & shareholders. Marketing professionals know EXACTLY what they are doing. They learned VERY well from the initial iPhone release.

    Haha, i'll add to the conspiracy soup.

    You mentioned two corporations(VZW and RIM) that are there to make money. Well I think after reading your second post that FEDEX is in bed too and they are having a three way to get our money.
    11-20-08 01:47 PM
  7. urbanmyth's Avatar
    I doubt this is true but i can say one thing for sure. I have called every corp. store in Arizona and they have all said that they dont know how many they are getting and that they are hoping they come by Fed Ex today. When i asked what they meant by hoping they said that they are supposed to get them but when they have checked with Fed Ex it is unclear whether or not the packages will be available for delivery. One store told me that Fed Ex said that there shipment hasnt even gotten into the state yet. I just cant believe that a major corp. like verizon would hinge their biggest phone release to date on whether or not Fed Ex can do their job. You would think that they would have sent them a day early just to make sure. And i dont want to hear any crap about how they weren't ready to be shipped a couple days ago. I run my own small business and I Know from experience that if you don't cover all you bases that someone like Fed Ex is bound to screw up your business. I would venture to say that some stores will recieve them and some stores wont and because of that, whoever's job it was to oversee the strom release will be filling out his resume tomorrow about six a.m.
    11-20-08 01:58 PM
  8. phillypharm's Avatar
    there will be plenty of phones. u just may have to order it. that is my last resort. ill buy my $50 worth of accessories if i have to so i can get free overnight. i planned on getting a few things anyways and i get 25% off

    Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com
    11-20-08 02:01 PM
  9. iso100's Avatar
    My wife's cousin is a VZW Regional Manager. He will be in the Frederick, MD store tomorrow and said that all of the stores he oversees are only getting FIVE Storms each. ARGH! He can't even guarantee that I'll get one!
    11-20-08 02:02 PM
  10. WarEagle's Avatar
    It's amazing how the stories are the same across the country in regards to the "company line" the reps are telling everyone. How do they not know how many there going to get?
    11-20-08 02:03 PM
  11. Nisca's Avatar
    I doubt this is true but i can say one thing for sure. I have called every corp. store in Arizona and they have all said that they dont know how many they are getting and that they are hoping they come by Fed Ex today. When i asked what they meant by hoping they said that they are supposed to get them but when they have checked with Fed Ex it is unclear whether or not the packages will be available for delivery. One store told me that Fed Ex said that there shipment hasnt even gotten into the state yet. I just cant believe that a major corp. like verizon would hinge their biggest phone release to date on whether or not Fed Ex can do their job. You would think that they would have sent them a day early just to make sure. And i dont want to hear any crap about how they weren't ready to be shipped a couple days ago. I run my own small business and I Know from experience that if you don't cover all you bases that someone like Fed Ex is bound to screw up your business. I would venture to say that some stores will recieve them and some stores wont and because of that, whoever's job it was to oversee the strom release will be filling out his resume tomorrow about six a.m.
    If some of the posts are true about shortages, they are being forced to depend on Fedex to get the ones coming off the assembly line to the stores as fast as possible.
    11-20-08 02:03 PM
  12. bballsct1212's Avatar
    Its called sales, it what makes a demand for the phone.
    11-20-08 02:51 PM
  13. Nisca's Avatar
    What we have here, is a failure to communicate...
    11-20-08 02:53 PM
  14. jb-sb's Avatar
    I just received a call from my local store in Santa Barbara, CA. I was on the "list" so they called to tell me they will have the phone tomorrow, that they open at 7 and they expect to sell out in the first couple of hours. They are expecting to receive 30 units. They also said that they would be happy to ship one out to me with Monday delivery if/when they run out of stock locally.

    Seems that it is probably more efficient for them to ship phones out from a central location. So while the stores may be understocked, it probably its better for VZ to be able to say they "sold out" in the first few hours but are taking orders. Generally good publicity I would guess.
    11-20-08 02:57 PM
  15. Gaget's Avatar
    If you go to any major corporation they can look at thier shipping manifest and tell you how many they are or have recieved. There is something going on internaly.
    11-20-08 02:58 PM
  16. jb-sb's Avatar
    Internally I am thinking that there are some cost efficiencies of doing it this way (some people pay for shipping right?) and they are also manufacturing a shortage at the stores which will make for a good first day media reports of lines to get a phone that is in short supply. A false shortage. Extra hype if you will.
    11-20-08 03:03 PM
  17. FUSIBLE's Avatar
    because they're both incompetent and lucky to have the user base that they have. Verizon more-so than RIM but you get my drift. I swear this company is run by chimps or people with IQ lower than chimps.....just my opinion.
    Wow! I didn't know chimps could run the best cellular network that way!?
    11-20-08 03:04 PM
  18. pollofrito81's Avatar
    i think they just want you to believe there is a shortage, get out there early create a line, so media/press can see, then gladly sell you one. Think about it,

    If I could be assured that there was enough to go around, I would just go pick one up tomorrow during lunch or after work. Since I cant get the confirmation I am going to show up at 8am before work and try. See how the hype effected my plans?
    11-20-08 03:04 PM
  19. jb-sb's Avatar
    i think they just want you to believe there is a shortage, get out there early create a line, so media/press can see, then gladly sell you one. Think about it,

    If I could be assured that there was enough to go around, I would just go pick one up tomorrow during lunch or after work. Since I cant get the confirmation I am going to show up at 8am before work and try. See how the hype effected my plans?
    Yeah, I agree. My plans were cooled off a bit after seeing some of the negative reviews. Now that there is a "shortage" I am all revved up again! Once we find out we CANT have one, we want it all the more!
    11-20-08 03:12 PM
  20. verizontroll's Avatar
    I just received a call from my local store in Santa Barbara, CA. I was on the "list" so they called to tell me they will have the phone tomorrow, that they open at 7 and they expect to sell out in the first couple of hours. They are expecting to receive 30 units. They also said that they would be happy to ship one out to me with Monday delivery if/when they run out of stock locally.

    Seems that it is probably more efficient for them to ship phones out from a central location. So while the stores may be understocked, it probably its better for VZ to be able to say they "sold out" in the first few hours but are taking orders. Generally good publicity I would guess.
    When word gets around they sold out because they only stocked 30 phones that good publicity will go bad. Verizon will look like a company of idiots that couldn't handle a launch. Everyone will compare this to the iPhone launch in their articles and show how Apple only ran out after moving thousands of units per store while Verizon moved 30 and ran out.

    Verizon is setting themselves up for a lot of negative press right before Black Friday if they dont have enough phone stocked for at least 75% of those that will wait in line.
    11-20-08 03:20 PM
  21. jb-sb's Avatar
    Oh, but the press release will not say anything about 30 units. They will report the total number of units sold in the stores and through telesales. They will hype it as a huge success. And frankly people crying over having to wait for a phone to be shipped to them (sat delivery is an option) seems sort of like a non story.

    I could be wrong, but selling out seems like it was planned for.
    11-20-08 03:28 PM
  22. sdmilton's Avatar
    There won't BE any shortages. I think VZW's approach is to keep their stores uncluttered so their plan is to fulfill most orders through direct fulfillment. That just means instead of you taking your phone home that day, you receive it via Fed-Ex in the next couple of days. No shortage just a different way of selling. The hype is necessary to keep the attention of the world & shareholders. Marketing professionals know EXACTLY what they are doing. They learned VERY well from the initial iPhone release.
    this is there plan. they will be shipping everything out as fast as possible. this helps make sure there isnt too much stock at one store when another store needs it. it may not be the best for the consumer on launch day (esp with it being a friday and saturday deliveries are sometimes tough to get) but it will work out for everyone.
    11-20-08 03:32 PM
  23. verizontroll's Avatar
    Oh, but the press release will not say anything about 30 units. They will report the total number of units sold in the stores and through telesales. They will hype it as a huge success. And frankly people crying over having to wait for a phone to be shipped to them (sat delivery is an option) seems sort of like a non story.

    I could be wrong, but selling out seems like it was planned for.
    Go back & look at iPhone stories. There are reports of how many in the stores. Verizon won't be able to keep the wraps on having only 5, 10 or 30 units in each store while sending people home phone-less. There is no way they can hype it if they have so many people waiting in line and so few devices at the stores.

    The WSJ & other outlets will pick up on this if Verizon claims a success & sell out while only stocking 5 units in each store.

    This happened for the Voyager release too. Verizon is the king of getting bad press for mucking up launches. The tech press is already drooling over taking Verizon down a notch for messing this up (read all the bad press so far about the Verizon's private sales debacle). Anything less than fully stocked stores will equal bad press for Verizon.
    11-20-08 03:44 PM
  24. bry005's Avatar
    Long story short-- I use to have sprint. I got in good terms with one of the guys there who owned an autorized sprint sales/repair store and we occasionally hung out. I asked him if he knew any VZW employees today. He called me back and said he has a guy in sales at my local VZW store about 10 miles from my house and they only have 60 units in stock. He said that it's a slim chance all 60 units are going to sell within one day. i'm going at 9am tomorrow to pick mine up, drop some names and we'll be in good hands-- hopefully all is true. i have faith in my ole' pal.

    DON'T BELIEVE THE HYPE!!!
    11-20-08 03:49 PM
  25. PezRadar's Avatar
    Shortages confirmed in DFW area..

    All stores are receiving around 10 phones each.. and they are all claimed for as they are only giving NEW CUSTOMERS phones on Friday..

    (ridiculous)
    11-20-08 03:59 PM
LINK TO POST COPIED TO CLIPBOARD