[Stern]

All of the posts regarding the leaked Vodafone roadmap has vanished from BGR?

[zkyevolved]

Originally Posted by Stern

All of the posts regarding the leaked Vodafone roadmap has vanished from BGR?

Yeah I saw that, too. Very strange .......... That bugs me :( Damn you VF!

[Sith_Apprentice]

Did you really expect anything less? RIM has strict NDA with the carriers, and im sure they got pressure from RIM as soon as that hit the internet.

[John Clark]

Woops!

[ArgonNJ]

I don't understand why the carriers are so tight lipped about upcoming handhelds. Knowing that a certain model phone is coming soon might make the difference in keeping a subscriber or losing them to a competitor.

[JSanders]

A bunch of tight-a$$ed corporate twits, with lawyers who need to earn their fees...

[penguin3107]

Originally Posted by ArgonNJ

I don't understand why the carriers are so tight lipped about upcoming handhelds. Knowing that a certain model phone is coming soon might make the difference in keeping a subscriber or losing them to a competitor.

Knowing that certain model is coming soon would also negatively impact the sales of current models. No one would buy existing inventory if they KNEW that a "better" one was coming in a short time.

The hype and "mystery" of the new product is also an excellent marketing tool.

Apple is notorious for these tactics and they work very well.

[Sith_Apprentice]

and the carriers are supposed to announce it *with* RIM or RIM first

[RobM]

Originally Posted by ArgonNJ

I don't understand why the carriers are so tight lipped about upcoming handhelds. Knowing that a certain model phone is coming soon might make the difference in keeping a subscriber or losing them to a competitor.

Thats how apple got everybody foaming at the mouth with the iphone...by announcing their product well in advance...I just dont get it...or maybe they dont get it!

[penguin3107]

Originally Posted by RobM

Thats how apple got everybody foaming at the mouth with the iphone...by announcing their product well in advance...I just dont get it...or maybe they dont get it!

It was a win-win for Apple, because the iPhone was their first mobile phone to market. They didn't have to worry about their own customer base... because they didn't have one yet.
Announcing the iPhone early and hyping it up adversely affected their competitors sales, not their own.

I doubt you'll see Apple release any specifics about their next gen iPhone until very shortly before it's put to market.

[Sith_Apprentice]

the more you *dont* say about a product the more free press you get by speculation. Look at how many views are on the BB 9000 posts.

[omkhar]

Originally Posted by RobM

Thats how apple got everybody foaming at the mouth with the iphone...by announcing their product well in advance...I just dont get it...or maybe they dont get it!

FWIW, at the time the annoucement was made Apple said that it was because they would have to file an application with the FCC which would publicly disclose all the info about the phone, months before its release.

[Shaun]

Originally Posted by RobM

Thats how apple got everybody foaming at the mouth with the iphone...by announcing their product well in advance...I just dont get it...or maybe they dont get it!

It was also the first gen of the phone, so they weren't hurting sales of a product already on the market. I think they will play things far differently when they are going to release the next iteration of the iPhone. This could change if there are no sales to hurt.

[penguin3107]

Originally Posted by shaun27612

It was also the first gen of the phone, so they weren't hurting sales of a product already on the market. I think they will play things far differently when they are going to release the next iteration of the iPhone. This could change if there are no sales to hurt.

Is there an echo in here?

[Shaun]

Originally Posted by penguin3107

Is there an echo in here?

Woops... I saw the Red Sox logo and I skipped the post...

So in summary... "ya, what he said."

[theBorg]

Originally Posted by ArgonNJ

I don't understand why the carriers are so tight lipped about upcoming handhelds. Knowing that a certain model phone is coming soon might make the difference in keeping a subscriber or losing them to a competitor.

It is so that competitors can't use the information to make a counter move or propogate disinformation. It's also because roadmaps refer to devices that aren't production ready at the time of roadmap release.

Should the roadmap change for technical reasons or random chaos, the manufacturer is then slammed up against the ropes. It's nasty stuff to back peddle.

Example: Imagine you told your wife/girlfriend all the wonderful things she was going to get for her birthday 3 months in advance. A month before her birthday your car craps out and takes $2000 of repairs, so you're broke. If you then go with the (oh so sweet) handmade gift and a bunch of flowers, you're screwed. The backup gift, however, would have been a success if you hadn't let the cat out of the bag.

You dig?