Motorola RAZR V3
Newsflash - FINAL WORD on RaZR/Cingular
Voila.
Why does wirefly offer a car charger if there is a problem with it and they are supposedly so reputable?
This "launch" just doesn't make sense to me. IMHO as a marketer and product manager, Cingular and Moto f'd this launch up really well.
I will probably still buy the V3 even after having an Asian version and selling it. The phone is nice, not worth $400-$500 but is the only flip Moto & Cingular phone that gets great reception, is loud speaker and mic and has bluetooth...
Since we are all basing what we know on rumor and conjecture, we really don't have enough facts to know if they tripped on this launch or not. My opinion is, they floated the phone for a day to see the market reaction and then pulled it, to discuss internally if they had the right price point or not (I also believe New Coke was a marketing ploy as well, and a wildly successful one, so that should give you some feel for my view of the world).
IMO, this is a LIMITED PENETRATION phone (95th %ile), intended as a trophy of the acquisition. The AVERAGE Cingular customer has no knowledge of the phone, and no interest in buying one.
The bulk of the target audience for this phone...
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November 15th is the official launch of this merger. AWE stores are being rebranded EOD on Sunday. Cingular stores also have a ton of POP promoting the phone and the merger.
It was pulled from the website when the bigwigs determined โDAY 1โ would be a lot sooner then early projections of 60-90 days.
Hope that helps....
Jake
The merger was finalized 10/26. The phone went up on the site 11/1, AFTER the last variable was already known. If they had inventory (not disputing that) but knew they weren't going to ship until "Day 1" which, according to the scenario you've offered up, wasn't until 1/1 or 2/1, why start taking orders 11/1?
Also, you're in essence saying the bigwigs walked in the week AFTER the merger and said, "hey, we only need 15 days to convert the stores, not 60 - 90 days like we've been planning. Draw up a new timetable, and stop taking orders on that d@mn V3!"
It's possible it was all a "mistake" by a (now unemployed?) web programmer that didn't get the memo, but that...
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I am not saying that haphazard behavior on the Cingular website has caused the launch to fail.
If indeed Cingular gains the penetration of their core target for this phone they still f.up. What is the message they send to the folks underneath that pricepoint? We like to offer good phones to the folks who can afford it. So, if you want a good Moto phone from Cingular be prepared to fork over $500. Forget about reception and appropriate speaker volume unless you want to drop a load on a phone.
I think you are missing the point that consumers are smart. Forget about this or any other enthusiast website. People pay attention to price, features and benefits. I also firmly believe that people are familia...
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it's not about just PRICE. It's about quality and service. My point is that Moto and Cingular are royally screwing the person who cannot afford this phone.
They fail to provide a reasonable alternative under the same brand that has good sound quality/performance.
You can take your other V-phones and use them for shuffle board. they are big, awkward and depending on model basically all suck when it comes to sound/volume issues.
These companies are in business for a profit! Do you also think that GM is screwing people over because they make Cadillacs and price them so high that no one can afford them? If you want a cheap phone, them buy a Samsung, Nokia or a LG. There are also cheaper Moto's to be had but don't bust on Moto for not making a Rolls Royce in your "price range"
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Thank you for saying it for me.
A cell phone is still a luxury item. The fact that there are free phones at all tells you how badly the market is at making buying decisions - Cingular isn't selling phones, they're selling phone SERVICE.
I can see you dinging Moto for their product offerings, but LG makes perfectly good, inexpensive clamshell phones - which Cingular carries. But basically, companies have to decide to either be the low cost producer or to differentiate their product to command a premium proce. With LG in the market it's harder to be the low cost producer. Is there no room for Cadillac, Audi, Mercedes, etc etc with ia and Hyundai making inexpensive cars?
The only way you can claim Cingular is disrespecting t...
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Envision a triangle with the words "Cost" "Quality" and "Service" on the three points. Decide which TWO are important. Expect the other to move in the opposite direction.
In virtually every buying decision, every consumer wants all three. We can only realistically have two. Anyone that delivers all three does so at a loss. Do that consistently and you'll eventually go under.
Think about it.
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There are a ton of really terrific phones that get the job done extremely well. They don't use aircraft-grade aluminum, they don't have two 65k color screens, they sure as heck aren't 1/2" thick. You want those features? Pay the $500. You don't? get a Honda, errr, Nokia. ๐