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Verizon playing games again...

I have never seen a company that has such an obvious pathological fear of releasing information to their customers. I can only form the mental picture of some PHB, with tin foil draped over his bald spot, announcing to his underlings that their marketing philosophy will consist of not telling customers anything about their products.

If my Trophy was not on its last legs I would not care as much, but as someone who likes to be informed before making large expenditures I find it enormously frustrating to have to make buying decisions completely in the dark because Verizon does not share information about upcoming products so that I can plan to purchase the device that will best suit my needs in the timeframe I choose.

If the 929 is nothing but a rumor, say so.

If you have no other Windows phones in the pipeline, say so.

If you do have an upcoming Windows phone, say so.

I have, on multiple occasions, convinced my management to change a vendor based solely on the fact that they refused to disclose their future plans. I really hope Verizon's policy of secrecy costs them dearly in customers very soon.

Comments

mrowmrif2

i second that. i've been eligible for upgrade (my wife has, too) since June. JUNE! i've waited through the 5c and 5s, i've waited through the galaxy s4 and HTC One... waiting... waiting. AT&T gets its sick 41 MP camera 1020, and still i wait... smoke and mirrors, rumors and bs.

can you please release the damn 929 already? i'm sure you just want to move 928 inventory first, but really? REALLY? you think the people who are going to upgrade are going to bail and go 928 instead when this is sitting in the wings, pending release? you'll capture the marketshare of people who want a new phone for cheap and are willing to go with 1+ year old tech for $0-$50... what is that, 5-10%? and the other 90% of us loyalists who are anticipating this new flagship are sitting here on our thumbs, whining in forums because the #1 coverage carrier in the US hasn't released the biggest phone of the year months after its development announcement.

cmon verizon. Q1 2014 is too late.

jroeder

It's not Verizon on that one. AT&T has a marriage with Nokia where all Nokia phones are exclusive to AT&T for 6 months. Then Nokia, not Verizon decides whether or not they will release it to Verizon and when. Verizon can beg and complain all they want but that doesn't make a difference because of Nokia's agreement with AT&T. So if you want release dates, look at when it was released to AT&T and shoot for 6-7 months away from that date.

Message was edited by: jroeder

>> Edited to comply with the <<

Message was edited by: Verizon Moderator

Kohld

I doubt that is the issue in this case as the 929 is definitely, as downgrades go, different enough to not violate any exclusivity agreement.

But if that is the case and Verizon will always play second fiddle on Windows Phone releases, we are definitely contracted with the wrong provider and it has nothing to do with the fact that they will not talk to us.

mrowmrif2

the 929 is a verizon exclusive... it has nothing to do with AT&T at all. in fact, according to the naming convention, it is an upgrade to the existing 928, not a brand new phone like, say, the 1020. component and OS enhancements but overall a very similar device. i just don't understand the holdup here other than some bogus marketing/inventory liquidation strategy.

and do note that the AT&T exclusivity contracts existed pre-sale to Microsoft... i sincerely doubt this will be the case going forward once MS has control and the contracts expire. MS was broad market saturation to compete with all other devices on every carrier... you have to think this was probably one of the reasons nokia struggled to begin with - exclusivity gave them money up front/guaranteed, but it also hamstrung them and limited their market.

Kohld

Yes, we need to get over letting the network providers control our hardware choices.

If Nokia could just sell me the 1520, as they designed it not as AT&T is releasing it, with support for the Verizon network I would happily hand over up to $750 without blinking and tie it to my existing number. It would end the network provider lock in and force them to compete on the merits of their network, not the devices.

You would think Verizon would like this as they supposedly have the best network.

As things stand though, the games they are playing almost(?) call for a RICO investigation.

jroeder

The 929 is a Verizon exclusive. I never said any model was exclusive. I stated all new Nokia W8 phones are exclusive to AT&T for 6 months, even if that exact model is not available with AT&T. So because of the agreement Nokia made with AT&T, when Nokia releases new phones to Verizon they have to rename them as to not upset the agreement with AT&T. You are correct however, if you are looking for brand new W8 phones, you are contracted with the wrong provider. Verizon will always be at least 6 months behind. Since Nokia released a new W8 phone to AT&T Verizon cannot release a new Nokia W8 phone even if its a different model, because Nokia won't let them.

Kohld

Hmmm... kind of ominous in how the rumor mill has gone quiet after Verizon did not release the 929. Perhaps we got played after all, but real or not I will not be buying any of the current crop of phones even if I have to switch back to an old feature phone I have in a drawer for emergencies.

Kohld

Finally a new rumor, Softpedia is claiming a December 6th release.

While I will likely still have no choice but to buy it, I get less impressed every day. But once I get this upgrade all my family phones will be on a new enough version, iPhone 5/HTC 8x/Grandma has a feature phone she can barely figure out how to use/and finally the 929, to let us ride out the contract termination dates for enough of the devices that I will be able to pay the ETF on the rest and bail for a more customer focused provider ASAP.

Hopefully by then we can get a movement to support device independence going that will end the ridiculous amount of control the providers have over our device selection and software updates.

primortal

There's a popular screen protector and their site also list's that the screen protector for the 929 would be released on 12/6 as well.

Kohld

/sigh

New estimate is December 20th.

While I still believe the most likely explanation is that Verizon is playing games with us, perhaps in the hope of pushing some old inventory for Xmas, we cannot entirely rule out the possibility of utter incompetence.

Either way I just get closer and closer to the day where I decide to ride it out with my current phone, open a new account with AT&T, move the phones already off contract and then slowly move the rest as they expire (or pay the ETF). Of course this will let me drastically reduce my 10GB data plan down to the minimum, the kids will have to deal with WiFi only for now, so the overall move might not cost me too much if I catch the device specials right.

Hmmm... I could get a Dell Venue 8 Pro then too...

Sounds better every day.

mrowmrif2

i wish there was a better place to voice this... but with all the leak pictures coming out, i wanted to raise my hand and ask politely to the informers to please stop using their flash on these leak pics... the glare coming off the face of a smartphone is horrendous and not only detracts from the quality of the picture, but it makes viewers immediately think "...really dude?"

steve330

i got a 929 by accident. my 928 was stolen. verizon insurance said they didn't have any 928s in stock and asked if they could send an alternate. the tech didn't know anything about it other than it was a comparable device. i needed it, they said i would have it the next day. 10 hours later ups delivered a 929. this is a super device. the screen is awesome. the speed great. every positive thing i've heard is there. two issues to resolve: no glance and to affect airplane mode you have to go first to settings. there is a software update referred to as "black" that supposedly will correct some of this.

biggest problem is verizon. their techs have NO knowledge of the phone. everything for it is hidden in the back of the store. i assume the software update will come out "whenever". i don't know if at&t is any better but nokia - microsoft has got to get into this or quit the market.

jsh17001

The Nokia Lumia Icon (formerly known as the 929) comes with the Lumia Black version installed. There are free apps in the Store that give you quicker access to settings like airplane mode, WiFi, blue tooth. The two that I use are Battery or Connectivity Shortcuts. Give those a shot.

I love this phone. I hope that at some point VZW will give more than lip service to Windows Phone. It is a great OS.

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