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Are Sprint's claims about Instinct true?
Yesterday we reported that demand was so high for Sprint's new Samsung Instinct touchscreen EVDO device, that the device was breaking sales records. The carrier said that sales were so strong that it was causing temporary shortages at some store locations. Some dismissed this story as hype, but Pali Research called 100 Sprint stores across the country to check on availability of Sprint's new Samsung Instinct phone and found the claims to be true.
In 28 of 100 stores Pali Research contacted, stores had five or fewer phones and 11 stores were sold-out of the device. Los Angeles residents seem to be big fans of the Instinct because there were only seven devices in the five stores that they called in the area with one store reporting they had a 20-person wait-list for the phone.
For more:
- check out the Pali Research blog
Related stories:
Sprint drops price of new Instinct
Can Sprint make a cheaper iPhone?
Comments (5) | Post a comment
iPhone 3G vs. Instinct - July News Round Up
Comments
Posted by Anonymous | June 27, 2008 - 3:19pm
Does lack of inventory at a store imply demand? Ever been to a night club with a line outside but no one inside?
Posted by Pete D. | June 27, 2008 - 5:26pm
I did my own retail checks, and while the stores are selling out daily, the allotment per retail store is just a handful of units. For example, the Palo Alto store, on University Avenue, which is a flagship store, had only 6 units on Friday when the product was launched. That's why Sprint didn't include any numbers in the press release which reported shortages. It is a contrived scarcity to make demand seem material when it is not. More over, the customers taking the Instinct are existing Sprint customers. Sprint is not selling new lines with this product.
Posted by Anonymous | June 27, 2008 - 10:42pm
How the hell do you know that Pete? You don't! Fact is Instinct was available to existing customers on Thursday and many were taken by existing customers. But since I am a sales rep for Sprint I can tell you I have had high interest from customers and prospects that want to port over their ATT, Verizon or Alltel lines over to us. THAT'S NEW LINES PETEY! The Instinct is a great device and Sprint has the best data network to run it on. Sprint under the leadership of Dan Hesse shall no longer be the whipping boy of the industry. The Instinct and the Simply Everything plans are just the first steps toward greatness.
Posted by Anonymous | July 1, 2008 - 1:00am
The Steve Jobs groupie in Palo Alto (aka Mr. Pete) is wanting to spin his own tale.......
Here is the comparison between Sprint Instinct and the "new/cheaper" 3G iPhone.
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SPRINT INSTINCT
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Price: $129.99 with a two-year service contract and a $100 mail-in rebate
U.S. launch date: June 20
Creator: Samsung Mobile
Wireless carrier: Sprint Nextel Corp.
Download speed: As much as 3.1 Mbps
Size: 4.57 inches tall, 2.17 inches wide, 0.49 inches thick
Capacity: 2 GB, expandable to 8 GB
Features: Touch screen, Web browsing, e-mail access, multitasking capabilities, 2.0-megapixel camera with camcorder, multimedia capabilities, visual voice mail, music store, GPS-enabled audio and visual turn-by-turn driving directions, advanced stereo Bluetooth, live and on-demand TV programming, voice activation, commercial-free radio
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The "CHEAPER" iPhone 3G
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Price: $199 with a two-year service contract
U.S. launch date: July 11
Creator: Apple Inc.
Wireless carrier: AT&T Inc.
Download speed: As much as 1.4 Mbps on AT&T 3G mobile broadband networkSize: 4.5 inches tall, 2.4 inches wide, 0.48 inches thick
Capacity: 8 GB; 16 GB version available for $299
Features: Touch screen, Web browsing, e-mail access, multitasking capabilities, 2.0-megapixel camera, multimedia capabilities, visual voice mail, music store, GPS technology and real-time mapping, Wi-Fi support, Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync, wireless App Store to download applications, YouTube
BOTTOM LINE
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"Cheaper" iPhone = $199 with upto 1.5 Mbps downloads and much less features than Instinct.
Regular Instinct = $29 (w/ $100 rebate) with upto 3.5 Mbps downloads and a lot more features than iPhone.
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Cheaper, faster and better will ALWAYS beat expensive, slow and cultish ............
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Posted by Jeff | September 16, 2008 - 3:32am
I am happy to see the innovation in the industry, but the iPhone is clearly a much higher quality device with a more intuitive, richer set of applications. It seems that buying the Instinct would be disappointing in the long run.
Quality: The iPhones case is made of glass and metal. The glass is highly scratch resistant and features a higher resolution screen.
Applications: The iPhone features full html browsing and mail, a better music player, and a better viewing experience for videos downloaded or transferred through itunes. Finally, with the iPhone, you can download great applications for free with its open source community backing.
The only battle I see here is between the networks. Sprint is supposed to have a little better coverage. Boy I would love to see the iPhone work across all the networks.
