It seems that the launch date for the HTC Thunderbolt at Verizon is once again slipping. But this time it isn’t due to bad battery life or any other technical issue. We’ve been able to confirm what we reported yesterday that the delay is actually the fault of Apple and it’s March 11th launch date for the iPad2. Apparently, it’s problematic to launch two major platforms at the same time due to staff training. And since Apple’s date isn’t likely to slip, the Thunderbolt will have to wait.

This isn’t the first time Thunderbolt fans have had to wait for their 4G Android phone. We reported here that the Thunderbolt’s delay has been caused by problems extending the phone’s dismal battery life. But our report last night also focused on issues that Verizon has had switching from 3G to 4G as they roll out to over 200 cities this year. The date has slipped several times and now it looks to launch next week after the Apple faithful line up for the Jesus Tab.

It’s probably best. Mixing Apple fans and Android fans and tossing in long lines could be a recipe for disaster. And that’s not even including activation issues, returns, and the like. And having two events with long lines would always be preferable to one.

[via Droid Life]

59 COMMENTS

  1. So fucking annoying. At this point, I’m over it. I’m getting a $25 flip phone and Steve Jobs and Ivan Seidenberg can kiss my ass.

  2. So fucking annoying. At this point, I’m over it. I’m getting a $25 flip phone and Steve Jobs and Ivan Seidenberg can kiss my ass.

  3. I think that this is the most ridiculous excuse that has been made public yet. Why would a phone release have any effect on a tablet release? They need to get this phone out as too many people have been waiting for it and it will likely piss off many customers of HTC and Verizon. I personally just switched from AT&T to Verizon but with all these problems I am actually thinking about going back to the slightly worse reception issues.

  4. I think that this is the most ridiculous excuse that has been made public yet. Why would a phone release have any effect on a tablet release? They need to get this phone out as too many people have been waiting for it and it will likely piss off many customers of HTC and Verizon. I personally just switched from AT&T to Verizon but with all these problems I am actually thinking about going back to the slightly worse reception issues.

  5. I still dont see why they cant launch the two products at the same time. The freaking Thunderbolt can come out Thursday and the Ipad2 can launch on Friday. I am sure that they will run out of Thunderbolts by the end of business on Thursday anyway. I am going after work to get my deposit back from Best Buy and just wait for the Bionic now. Verizon better learn from this experience if they want to keep customers.

  6. so why does this effect best buy to release the htc thunderbolt earlier than verizon since they said they were a national retailer exclusive

  7. i agree. i was only getting thunderbolt because it was being released early. at this point i’m pulling my pre-order from best buy and waiting for bionic. very poor on verizon’s part. i would be fuming if i were HTC. Verizon shoulda stayed away from apple. i liked that they didn’t have them.

    • Same. I was waiting for the Thunderbolt but now I may as well see what the Bionic has to offer. If they keep playing around, the iPhone5 will be here before we know it.

    • Well, I will never buy the bionic. I will never buy a motorola product. The Bionic is by no means at all any better than the thunderbolt. The only thing a little different is the dual core. But that’s it. It has nit kickstand or large speaker. The camera is nit even has good. The bionic is thick and just plain ugly. Who would buy that junk? Your weird goodbye sir.

    • Yeah, stupid Verizon. How dare they make money? Never mind that some of that money will be spent on infrastructure that will benefit all users of their service. Man, Verizon is so stupid.

  8. i agree. i was only getting thunderbolt because it was being released early. at this point i’m pulling my pre-order from best buy and waiting for bionic. very poor on verizon’s part. i would be fuming if i were HTC. Verizon shoulda stayed away from apple. i liked that they didn’t have them.

  9. I don’t think any of you have any idea what you are talking about, including the author of this article All your comments are based on speculation and rumor.

  10. I have a very hard time believing it will be next week. I cant imagine one week is enough time in between the thunderbolt and their precious Apple products. Verizon thinks this is 4 years ago when Apple was the only thing that was important. they no longer care about us android users.

  11. Total BS on VZ’s part to push off one tech for another. Might as well have a sign that says We Love Apple Fans and you Android followers blow it out your pieholes. The thunderbolt has lost its luster for me, especially considering it’s still going to be a single core processor and now we find out that full functionality is not going to be active on release. Thanks Moto Xoom for setting a rush to market precedent on new devices that “will someday soon” function as advertised. Bionic is looking good, but so’s going to another carrier for an Evo. Marketing sucks.

  12. I’ve just confirmed why the Thunderbolt is delayed. Has nothing to do with battery life, skype, 4g or the Ipad. The entire shipment that was on the way from Nevernever Land to Verizon and Best Buy was hijacked by one purple one-eye lesbian octopus aliens.

    This is the truth as you know it.

  13. I really find all this anguish and anger amusing. Like a bunch of kids – “I WANT IT NOW, I WANT IT NOW!” Don’t you have phones that you can communicate with each other, and are working fine? If so, what difference does a month or two make?
    Get over it people. Just think back to the days when there were no cell phones.

    • I could care if we had the phone this month all I want is anrelease date from verizon. I’m tired of them keeping quit. I have spent over 75k to verizon in the past 11 years and I’m bout to switch becuase of this.. I’m using the V that came out in 2005

    • world doesn’t function that way anymore. i need a phone that works for my job. its crazy to lock ppl into 2 year contracts on hardware. i work in a very harsh environment. my phones do not last very long so when my contract is up i need a new phone and not paying $200 for a year old phone. and when best buy puts out pre orders making everyone think that its coming soon over a month ago, it makes ppl angry. should have never been pre order, should have never been ads on tv until a confirmed release date. all this did was cause all this hype and make ppl mad.

    • No, actually i had to buy a prepaid phone and put my SIM card in it just to get by until this phone comes out because i do not want to buy an outdated phone(even though its looking like i’ll have to). The phone i have now i can make calls on but I need to be able to get my work emails on my phone which this phone does not let me do. so to answer you question, no not all of us have other phones that are working fine. i have seen several other people in the same situation as me.

    • It matters because the longer they wait to release this phone, the more ancient it becomes. A month or two equates to years in the tech world. I find it strange that you are even on this blog, because if you didn’t care than you wouldn’t be reading this. People who have been anticipating this phone have invested a lot of time and research and have been promised release date after release date.

      Don’t be a jerk off.

  14. If I was HTC I would not release another phone on Verizon. They have to be pretty angry to be shunned by Big Red because of the iPad. I would be asking VZW, why not show us the love we showed you all those years the iPhone didn’t want to be on your network? You would think VZW would realize by the poor VZW iPhone sales (in the sense that they have not lived up to expectations) that the Apple luster has worn…

    • Actually Adam, Verizon was offered the iPhone before AT&T, they just turned it down because they could predict the troubles of the network overload that AT&T received. So, Verizon didn’t want the iPhone on their network, not the other way around…

  15. ipad 2 can suck a fat one. ipad users can use there regular ipad. im dying to change my blackberry to a thunderbolt. i really hate apple anything.

  17. The Thunderbolt is falling into the same problem as the Iphone. Both are out dated the day there released. There is already talk of T-mobile getting the HTC Pyramid which is suppose to 1.2ghz dual core snapdragon and that’s coming out in May. Also the fact that it is 4G doesn’t mean too much to me considering some areas where I live are still not up to 3G, and probably won’t see 4G until 2013 down here. I’m thinking of time to save my money and wait to see what else Verizon has coming out in the first half of this year, as I have no other choices for service in my Area.

  18. The Thunderbolt is falling into the same problem as the Iphone. Both are out dated the day there released. There is already talk of T-mobile getting the HTC Pyramid which is suppose to 1.2ghz dual core snapdragon and that’s coming out in May. Also the fact that it is 4G doesn’t mean too much to me considering some areas where I live are still not up to 3G, and probably won’t see 4G until 2013 down here. I’m thinking of time to save my money and wait to see what else Verizon has coming out in the first half of this year, as I have no other choices for service in my Area.

  20. I love that everyone gets their panties in a bunch over Verizon continuing to “move” the release date. Verizon hasn’t officially given a launch date- they said the Thunderbolt would arrive in the first quarter. I have been waiting and waiting to dump my palm for the Thunderbolt, and I would have loved to see that phone in my hands back in February, but I’m not going to get upset because a bunch of bloggers and “inside sources” have given me a new speculative release date daily! Thunderbolt is worth the wait. Bad ad execs/ Best Buy lackies for showing commercials and taking pre-orders before an official release date announced, but sheesh… we will all have our Thunderbolts by the end of this month.

  21. I would like to know who you confirmed it with. Am unofficial source? Sounds like yet another rumor being spread. And like all previous rumors, the majority of the public are lapping it up as it was the word of god. Get I grip people! There hasn’t been any delays. Until we hear DIRECTLY from the horse’s mouth of a firm date, then these passings of rumored dates aren’t delays. The only official statement was that it was coming in Q1 at the CES in Jan. Guess what folks? Q1 isn’t over yet. They’re still allowed to make refinements and corrections. Would you have rather them release a buggy phone early? Maybe they haven’t officially issued a release date because they dul don’t know yet. Think about it people, do you think V really want their new flagship phone sitting on the shelf collecting dust?! Believe me, they’re smarter than that. And you all should be too!

  26. “June 30th” is what’s known as a “placeholder”. Seeing how the official date for Thuderbolt’s release is the “first half of 2011” and June 30th happens to be the last day of that first half. While Verizon may claim there is no official date, that doesn’t explain why ads have been popping up (like on the back of last week’s Entertainment Weekly) or the Best Buy pre-orders. I’ve been needing a new phone for sometime now (mine is still of the “dumb” phone variety) and had set my sights on the Thuderbolt over the IPhone. I’ve about waited long enough though. I’ll give it two more weeks. If this thing isn’t out by Friday the 25th I’m picking up an IPhone on my lunch break that day.

    • I’m in the same boat. Stuck with an enV Touch, my 2-year is up and I’ve been waiting forever. Battery on this phone (which I’ve had to have a certified replacement 4 times) sucks, It will have a full charge, I unplug it, check my email, and it’s down to 1 bar if not blinking. I’ve been waiting for the Thunderbolt for way too god damn long!

  27. “June 30th” is what’s known as a “placeholder”. Seeing how the official date for Thuderbolt’s release is the “first half of 2011” and June 30th happens to be the last day of that first half. While Verizon may claim there is no official date, that doesn’t explain why ads have been popping up (like on the back of last week’s Entertainment Weekly) or the Best Buy pre-orders. I’ve been needing a new phone for sometime now (mine is still of the “dumb” phone variety) and had set my sights on the Thuderbolt over the IPhone. I’ve about waited long enough though. I’ll give it two more weeks. If this thing isn’t out by Friday the 25th I’m picking up an IPhone on my lunch break that day.

  28. Yeah for those of you waiting for this …forget about it. go out an get the Droid x like me, its a nice phone an you have to think 1500mh battery+4G LTE=BIGG NO NO!

  29. Yeah for those of you waiting for this …forget about it. go out an get the Droid x like me, its a nice phone an you have to think 1500mh battery+4G LTE=BIGG NO NO!

  32. Its not the 4G and 1500Mah battery. Its the 3G and 4G radios and only a 1500Mah batter. This is going to drain your battery quickly. The fact that you will have to keep both radios on in order to get 4G data and voice over 3G. If you decide to only use 3G on this phone you will probably get as good or better battery life as the other droids.

  33. That is a suprise. I thought it was really going to be released on the 11th. I also, thought we were going to be out of Iraq soon. Rumsfield said we would be out of Iraq in nine weeks. That was ten years ago. Oh ya, and Pres. dumb ass Bush was claiming victory. I’m sure Verizon has a handle on everything. WTF.

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