Why it went right: The word in January was that Samsung was releasing a touchscreen phone in Europe called the F490--a 5 megapixel camera-toting device running for about $700. The real news was that Sprint Nextel was going to launch a very similar CDMA/EV-DO phone with haptic feedback in the United States sometime in the second quarter of 2008. Leaked photos [1] at the time, originally from the website Mobiledia, revealed a phone that looked a whole lot like the Samsung Instinct. The phone, in fact, turned out to be just that. Sprint launched the phone just before the start of the summer [2], and a few days later, when Sprint was trumpeting the phone's sales [3], it made sure to note its haptic feedback capability.
Links:
[1] http://www.fiercecio.com/techwatch/story/samsung-launches-touchscreen-f490/2008-01-10
[2] http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/sprints-iphone-killer-debut-june-20/2008-05-23
[3] http://www.fiercewireless.com/press-releases/samsung-instinct-tm-becomes-sprints-fastest-selling-evdo-handset-within-first-week-av?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal&cmp-id=EMC-NL-FW&dest=FW
[4] http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/rumor-mill-sprint-carry-samsung-haptics-phone/2008-01-11
[5] http://www.fiercewireless.com/special-reports/t-mobile-will-presale-htc-dream-sept-17
[6] http://www.fiercewireless.com/special-reports/run-mill-rumor-mills-went-right-and-wrong
[7] http://www.fiercewireless.com/special-reports/t-offer-garmin-phone-500