Delay -- Engadget Mobile

delay posts

Nokia N900 not coming until some time in November

by Vladislav Savov posted Oct 22nd 2009 @ 5:45AM

We've just heard some pretty sour news. Peter Schneider, head of Maemo marketing, has waxed official about the N900's release and quite casually noted that it'll "start shipping during November 2009," which as you very well know is a whole month later than originally expected. An interesting tidbit to his post is that he notes Nokia had lent out 300 pre-production units to the community, and he stresses the importance Nokia places on the feedback received. Connecting the dots might suggest that feedback wasn't quite as hot as Espoo had hoped, and a few last-minute refinements are now being applied. Either way, you're gonna have to refill your patience for potentially another month of waiting.

[Via Chronicles of N900; Thanks, Habib Q]

Nokia Comes with Music US launch smartly pushed back to 2010

by Thomas Ricker posted Sep 1st 2009 @ 4:58AM

Not that most Americans could care, but Nokia is pushing back the US launch of its DRM-laden Comes with Music service into 2010. CWM, you'll recall, is Nokia's "free" all-you-can-eat music service that bundles the 12-18 month music subscription cost into the inflated handset price -- although like any DRM music scheme, solutions already exist to break the CWM shackles. The delay is probably a wise move considering the weak state of Nokia's US partnerships required to offset consumer costs, lukewarm response to its latest handsets, and the fact that most US consumers share a broad distaste for DRM music. We'd rather see Nokia launch late but with a compelling proposition than launch now in blind adherence to a timeline.

HTC sees revenue falling due to "delays in product launches"

by Darren Murph posted Aug 3rd 2009 @ 2:28AM

HTC's been on somewhat of a hot streak here lately, but word on the street has it that the aforesaid outfit may not be able to ship all of its forthcoming handsets on time. A new Wall Street Journal report on falling revenue in the HTC camp notes that an undisclosed amount of delays, a larger-than-anticipated drop in contract orders and lower-than-expected sales in China could lead to drooping income in the short term, and some analysts are pointing out that the company's average selling price per phone is sliding due to looming Android competition from the likes of Motorola and Sony Ericsson. Aside from the Touch Pro2 that'll probably never, ever land on Sprint, HTC has about a gazillion other rumored handsets on the horizon, but it's hard to know for sure which "product launches" are expected to be stalled. So, is HTC secretly retooling a smattering of its handsets in order to stay one step ahead of SE and Moto? Or are old fashioned supply chain inefficiencies to blame?

Garmin "getting very close" to a US Nuvifone launch... or so it says

by Darren Murph posted Jun 5th 2009 @ 5:41PM

If you've a proven track record of delivering solid products to consumers (much like Garmin has), we'll cut you some slack for awhile if you happen to hit a snag or two along the way while bringing a completely new device to market. But after more delays than we care to count and a 1.5 year gap between announcement and right now, the benefit of the doubt vanishes. To that end, we couldn't be happier to report that Garmin's president and COO Cliff Pemble feels that it's "getting very close" to a carrier launch (AT&T, perhaps?) in the US. Said statement was given at a shareholders meeting today, and he also mentioned that the Asian market would see the Nuvifone "this month or in early July." We appreciate the update, but at this point, the burden of proof is squarely on you, Garmin.

[Via Electronista]

Sprint CEO expects Palm Pre shortages, sleeping bag sales skyrocket

by Thomas Ricker posted May 20th 2009 @ 7:26AM

Know the best way to guarantee long lines outside of Sprint stores on June 6th? Have your CEO announce that he expects a shortage of Palm Pre handsets at launch. According to a Reuters transcript of Dan Hesse speaking to investors,

"We don't intend to advertise it heavily early on because we think we are going to have shortages for a while. We won't be able to keep up with demand for the device in the early period of time."

If true, if troubled Palm can't meet demand then this is certainly bad news for investors in a white-hot smartphone market with plenty to entice rejected Palm hopefuls this summer. Then again, Nintendo drove gamers nuts (and some would argue, artificially inflate demand) for almost two years with its chronic Wii shortages. Problem is, Palm isn't as fiscally solvent as Nintendo was in 2006... by a long shot.

[Via everythingpre]

Garmin delays Nuvifone G60 yet again, Q3 launch now planned

by Laura June posted May 10th 2009 @ 12:09PM

Hey, remember the Nuvifone? Sure you do -- it's Garmin's entry into the wide world of smartphones. You know, the company's Linux-based, proprietary OS phone that's heavy on GPS integration? Well according to a recent report, plans to launch the device in the first half of 2009 have stalled, with the company stating that it will be pushing the window back towards something closer to Q3. President and COO Cliff Pemble expounded on the difficulties of building a smartphone from scratch during a conference call with analysts, noting "Smartphones are complicated and bringing one to market that's built totally from the ground up on a custom Linux platform is not an easy task." If you'll recall, the original announcement of the Nuvifone was way back in January of 2008, with a planned release in Q3 of that year -- placing this new launch a full 12 months out from the intended street date. We're all for competitors in this market, but it seems like maybe the folks at Garmin jumped the gun with all these dates they've been dropping on us -- missed launches don't exactly promote confidence.

[Via PMP Today]

Acer says US smartphones won't arrive until 2010

by Donald Melanson posted May 7th 2009 @ 6:42PM

Acer has been busy showing off one smartphone after the other over the past few months, and making promises about at least one Android-based device, but it now looks like folks in the US will have to wait a bit longer than expected to actually get their hands on 'em. While complete details are a bit light, according to Gearlog, the phones are being held up as a result of some snags with US carriers, and the first phones now likely won't make their debut until some unspecified point in 2010. Presumably, that means the phones are still on track for a release overseas this year, and there's no doubt at least a slight chance that the situation could change over here before the year is out.

[Via Phone Scoop]

Update: That "slight chance" just got a little greater. Acer has told SlashGear that a fourth-quarter 2009 release isn't out of the question; we're figuring it probably depends more on how carrier relationships work out than anything else.

Nokia E71x misses rumored launch date on AT&T

by Chris Ziegler posted Mar 25th 2009 @ 11:33PM

First we had a solid rumor that the long-awaited Nokia E71x would finally go on sale come March 24th, but that day -- yesterday -- sadly came and went without a single handset hitting shelves. The latest intel suggests that a last-minute bug discovered in the phone's email app was the monkey wrench that brought the whole Rube Goldberg machine of a launch process to its knees, and sadly, the thousands of units already produced are just going to sit around while they await a firmware update -- an update that's several weeks out, the story goes. Though the idea of a subsidized E71 that carries over most of the original's openness and throws in a dose of S60 3.2 for good measure is an enticing idea indeed, the unlocked models have been around since July of last year, so the scary question becomes: will this product still relevant by the time AT&T finally manages to get it out the door?

AT&T pushing back Nokia E71x launch?

by Chris Ziegler posted Mar 24th 2009 @ 4:47AM

Word is that a last-minute bug discovered in the hotly-anticipated Nokia E71x's firmware involving email -- which, let's be honest, is one of the top two or three reasons to own a device with this form factor -- has pushed back the launch by several weeks while all the parties involved scramble to cook up a fix. That sucks, considering the E71 has been out in North American flavor since last July and we've been hearing about the existence of AT&T's oh-so-special version even longer than that, so a delay is just about the last thing Symbian faithful around here were hoping to hear. The good news is that the delay might be accompanied by a price break, apparently, bringing the device down to $149.99 on contract after rebate at launch. This whole sitch is still in the rumor phase, but look, AT&T, we're going to hold you to it anyway -- The People want this for under two bills.

Sprint Treo Pro getting delayed into a bleak, uncertain future?

by Chris Ziegler posted Feb 9th 2009 @ 6:31PM

Last we'd heard, that aborted Treo Pro launch on Sprint had been pushed back to mid-February, but according to some fresh dealer docs floating around, that launch is now "TBD" -- and more often than not, we find that "TBD" actually stands for "too little, too late." In the face of the impending Pre launch, it seems like it's getting harder by the second to justify sinking any significant marketing revenue into making folks aware of the Treo Pro's existence -- and while we totally buy Sprint's statement that it's the testing process holding up retail availability, we're wondering who's going to come rushing with cash (or plastic) in hand when this sucker is sitting next to its webOS-powered sib a few months down the road. Anyone?

Verizon CEO joins AT&T in backing digital TV delay -- as long as it's short

by Richard Lawler posted Jan 19th 2009 @ 6:32PM

After initially opposing the Obama administration / Jay Rockefeller digital TV delay -- pushing the analog TV shutoff date back from February 17 to June 12 -- Verizon CEO Ivan Seiderberg has jumped on board with competitor AT&T in support of the plan. Considering Verizon just dropped $9.63 billion on the soon / not-so-soon to be vacated airwaves for its 4G wireless rollout this is an interesting position to take, but it appears that as long as the delay is a mere 115 days he can join AT&T ($7 billion or so invested) in waiting for the DTV converter coupon program to work itself out. Of course, if anyone wants to take advantage of the extra time to subscribe to FiOS or U-verse, we're sure that wouldn't be problem either.

BlackBerry Storm shipments delayed due to apparent version glitch

by Tim Stevens posted Nov 22nd 2008 @ 1:34PM

If you're one of the many, many BlackBerry Storm buyers who cleaned out inventories at Verizon stores on Friday, all that time spent waiting in the cold just became a bit more worthwhile. Online orders are being subject to shipping delays and, while you might think this is just another case of holiday supply versus demand, many are calling shenanigans. Supposedly the Storm was set to launch with OS version 4.7.0.82, but due to a last-minute security glitch every last handset had to be downgraded to .65 -- a surely time-consuming task that resulted in many fewer handsets in-store and online for release. Right now Verizon is indicating that orders placed before noon on November 21 should ship on the 25th, those received after noon will ship on December 5, and anything received on November 22 or later will not ship before December 15. That's close enough to a certain major holiday to make BlackBerry-loving kids of all ages nervous. If a Storm is high on your Christmas list you might just want to plan a few extra good deeds on your schedule to boost your placement on the "nice" list -- nobody wants a 7100i in their stocking.

[Via CrackBerry]

White T-Mobile G1 not coming until after Thanksgiving?

by Darren Murph posted Nov 15th 2008 @ 11:44PM

Oh sure, a few remarkably lucky and / or well connected individuals out there are yapping it up on a white T-Mobile G1 right this very moment, but for the bulk of us, coming across one is basically impossible; in fact, the white G1 isn't even listed on T-Mobile's website currently. TMO News has it that the lightest hue of the HTC-built handset isn't expected to ship until at least the US Thanksgiving holiday, meaning that you've still got some serious time to kill before wrapping your paws around the increasingly enviable mobile. Rumors have been rampant that a paint chipping issue is at fault, and while we've yet to hear any confirmation of that, we have seen problems with white paint throw a wrench in the production plans of other mega-corps in the past. There's always the black G1 + Colorware if you're really impatient, you know.

Manufacturing delays said to be slowing XPERIA X1 sales

by Donald Melanson posted Nov 4th 2008 @ 1:04PM

As you might have noticed, there's already plenty of Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1s out in the wild by this point, but there's apparently not quite as many as SE would like, and it's laying the blame on some slightly mysterious manufacturing delays. According to IDG News, Sweden, Germany and the U.K. have been hardest hit by the delays, but Sony Ericsson isn't about to get much more specific than that about the matter, saying simply that a lack of "certain materials" is causing the shortages. The company has said, however, that more phones should be shipping into Sweden in the next few days, with the U.K. and Germany set to get additional shipments in the next few weeks. It also says that planned launches in other countries like Switzerland, France, and Singapore, to name a few, won't be affected by the delays, and that the phone is still on track to be released in the US sometime in November.

[Via the::unwired]

Sprint delaying HTC Touch Pro by a little bit

by Darren Murph posted Oct 17th 2008 @ 12:20PM

Bad news, Sprint users. That HTC Touch Pro you've probably been waiting for won't be ready for your soft, delicate hands on Sunday. According to an undisclosed contact at the carrier, the outfit is expected to "slightly delay [the] launch of the Touch Pro by HTC to ensure it has adequate inventory in all channels before making the device commercially available." If you're looking for specifics, we're told that consumers can expect the handset "in select national retailers by the end of the month and then in all Sprint sales channels (including online at www.sprint.com and Sprint stores) by early November." It's not that next month is really that far away, it's just that next month isn't on Sunday. Bugger.