I'll try to begin poking at this again this week...
Probably the key questions now are going to be more about competitive offerings, given others are looking at roughly the same product cycle and the need to meet consumers needs in the period leading up to the holiday shopping season... So, both an issue to consider in the "feature wars" and an issue of timing in delivery of a product as opposed to timing in announcing one.
I think it will prove true that about the only people paying attention to the timing of announcements will be the trade, the media, the competition, a few tech geeks, and those like us who are also market focused. Consumers are going to be divided into the "geeks" who keep on top of what's out there... but, the early adopters are opinion leaders and aren't going to be the difference makers in the value in the trade... compared to those who will walk up to the counters at the stores cluelessly, where there will be a line up of a dozen or more different choices... and sales staff (who may well be the more aware tech geek types) will guide them to what they think makes most sense.
I agree with you on the 808 functionality being eye popping...
I tend to think that the standalone single function, even if they had it in the flagship product, isn't really going to sway the majority of consumers, who will be looking for "the whole package" and its overall functionality rather than a strong showing in a particular feature...
I also think that the NOK issues in the market right now are perhaps still being underplayed... as a function of my anecdotal experience in trying to keep a finger on the pulse...
I noted in a prior post that I'd stopped by my local Walmart to ask the guys behind the counter to point me toward a Nokia phone... which they did... with a look of scorn that was barely and ineffectively suppressed. They had one option among a line up of around two dozen choices. It wasn't an 808 but a 900.
Did the same thing this week... and was told, first, that, no, they didn't have ANY product from Nokia... and, then, there was some mumbling about how NOK were expected to be coming out with a new line of Windows phones some time soon... but, there wasn't any excitement or conviction in the mumbling. The stunner, to me... was that they said the other NOK products that they had carried before... had been withdrawn and RECALLED... in anticipation of the new product release.
The fluffing of the numbers in the run up to the shareholders meeting we've discussed... ? Seems it may not be sustained in the period immediately following the shareholders meeting... if my experience at the local store is anything like a valid indication of what's happening in the market as a whole...
The half price sale we saw occurring might have been expected to bump the numbers and clear the channel of product that was otherwise not going to be moving... but, there's a difference between pushing out the outdated product line to make way for the new one... without having created a useful overlap in market presence... and having to actually pull product back ? Or, if it's not "having to"... then... what is happening in the market now ?
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