Just the other day we reported on rumors of the T-Mobile G1 coming to Wal-Mart and a lot of people were surprisingly mad about it although the device will be getting a lot more recognition. The rumors are true with the exception of the date that it will hit shelves.
The device will be on sale a lot sooner than expected, Wednesday morning the G1 will be available at a discount. The price has been confirmed at $148.88, which is over $30 cheaper. The G1 will blow many of the Wal-Mart’s current phone lineup out of the water. The question is, will this help or hurt T-Mobile?
Any cell phone enthusiast will not be very happy about this decision, especially with the G1 being the first phone to run Android. Many of our users are either very angry about the decision or cracking jokes at the thought of it. Either way this will bring the T-Mobile G1 to a larger market and will help with the one-stop Christmas shopping this year. There may be more of a chance to get a G1 in areas where there is a shortage of devices. We want to know what you think about T-Mobile’s decision to allow Wal-Mart to sell this phone.
Photo courtesy of Android Community member heyitsnan.
[Via CNN Money]
Another thing also, I don’t consider the Wal-Mart employees to be any good at educating the customers on what the phone actually does and does not do. I see allot of confused customers walking out only to have the phone not meet their expectations because they were mislead or just plain lied to.
I am happy for the fact that the G1 is getting exposure and increasing its popularity. The reason I say that is because that only means the market will be bigger and will be more of an incentive for a developer to develop and sell his apps to android users.
W
/elitist?
#1 - There is always a price for early adoption - Because I am a gadget freak I always pay full price, though those who wait a month, or months could get a used version for 50% off, or get the gadget on sale.
#2 - If Wal-Mart is doing something special (rebate or just simply taking a hit in the hopes of selling accessories or getting more people in for the new "it phone") - there isnt an awful lot T-Mobile or Google can do about it.
As the first poster said, most Wal-Mart employees don't know much of anything about their products. It is bad in electronics when buying HD-TVs or Gaming Systems (I've overheard a ton of incorrect info being passed from an employee to a customer) however you can say the same for some of the T-Mobile Retailers. There are posts here in the forums that are about how some employees at a T-Mobile store didn't know basic info about the G1, so you will get that everywhere.
Apps shouldnt have a real charge until they are def bug free.
No matter how endorsed an application is, if someone else offers an equally functional application for a lesser price, users will flock to that instead, thus forcing competitors to either lower their prices or suffer.
Has anybody else noticed that the sliding screen is starting to get loose and it feels like it moves alot now?
they supposibly buy bulk amounts of things to sell em at lower prices
&& yeah thy have no clue wht they are selling most of the time
bt if yew are going to spend money on a electronic, let alone a fone, yew shud research it before doing so to make sure its smthn yew want