1.5 million T-Mobile G1s already pre-ordered
By Darren Murph 
posted October 12th 2008 1:26AM
posted October 12th 2008 1:26AM
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posted October 12th 2008 1:26AM
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2009 is the year of the linux phone!
2009 is the year of Tegra.... and maybe, maybe Android.
Let's hope for both.
You apple fanboys will make any excuse huh? Cant compare the G1 with the original iPhone because of the different price point? Cmon, that IS the point. Apple could have sold it cheaper (a la the 3g) but Steve requires his "Apple surcharge"...so much so, they gave partial REFUNDS and lowered the price not a month into the sales, remember that? So don't try to use the price point as an excuse since the price didnt stay that high for long..Apple themselves knew they were overcharging. And all you fanboys are just mad that you got suckered.
There is no denying the phones capabilities are very similar, the price is just another factor of the phone as a complete package. You think the $179 price point for the G1 was pulled out of some sales guy's butt? No, I guarantee you the $199 iPhone had a LOT to do with it being $179 and not $199. Bottom line is price is not a disqualifier for phone comparisons, it's part of the package as a whole and should be used accordingly.
".so much so, they gave partial REFUNDS and lowered the price not a month into the sales, remember that?"
Um, actually I *don't* remember this happening less than a month into sales. But nice try.
But yes, I *do* remember Apple giving me $100 of that price drop back. I'm *sure* Google/HTC/T-Mobile will be giving you partial refunds when the G1's price drops too.
Anti-Apple fanboys are even more annoying than Apple fanboys.
P.S. A whopping $20 less for 7 GIGS less storage? Guess who's getting suckered?
I know I wont see a partial refund if/when the G1 price drops. The point is Apple was overcharging to begin with. Has any other manufacturer EVER issued a partial refund (not a rebate that was known about pre-purchase) to customers for something they already bought? Again, the point I was making is the price point difference doesn't disqualify the iPhone and G1 sales comparison.
And for the record, I have an iPhone. Bought it used so I'm not locked into a contract and I'm on a cheaper unlimited data plan. It has its good points and bad points. I'm not looking foward to going to a thicker phone, but I do a lot of email and the virtual keyboard and lack of customization control (and the horrid mail app) has me looking to the G1. So no sure I qualify as an anti apple fanboy.
for doubter, fanboys, and naysayers, chew on this a bit:
this is the arrival of not just a new device, but the arrival of T-Mobile USA's 3g network. add to this, the first smartphone that utilizes that network, much less the first new qwerty smartphone from T-Mobile since the Blackberry Curve, which was preceded by the T-Mobile Wing. top it all off with the excitement from the nerd community over Google Android, and you have the perfect storm.
considering much of T-Mobile's customer base are true "die hards", living with EDGE and wi-fi patchwork to get by until 3g finally arrived, you have a base that was starving for something, anything on the 3g front.
if you consider the NPD's numbers stating that 13% of all phone sales are smartphones, and apply that to approximately 31 million subscribers, you have around 10 million T-Mobile subscribers alone who are remotely interested in the G1. imagining 15% of those actually buying one isnt so far fetched once all factors are taken into consideration. granted, there may be a lot of dissatisfied customers, but realize again that T-Mobile tends to have a higher percentage of "early adopter types" amongst their consumer base due to their target demographic being younger combined with having a higher percentage of die hards due to their slow adoption of 3g.
it should all make sense. it's a perfect storm: desperate, die hard customers, innovative device, excellent price, arguably mediocre hardware. plus, it has a real keyboard so as not to shut out a large segment of serious users and a much lower smug factor.
...Constantly referring to the 'smug factor' makes you sound smug.
Looking forward to getting this phone and USING BOTH iphone and G1
I'll believe it when T-mobile issues a press release. Numbers seem a bit high.
I love the phone and open source, I really do hate apple, but i will be getting a jesus phone for the following..
1. T-MOBILE SERVICE SUCKS!!!!!!!!! ATT isnt THAT much better but compared to T-mobile it is. T-mobile just has the most horrible coverage.
2. No multitouch.
3. Iphone= more games.
Multi touch is possible... just need the developers to use it.
Maybe it sucks in your area..but in my area it is the best coverage and Tmobile has the fastest 3.5G network in America. How about that.
Will Gurney: the point is to consistently use UI metaphors. If one app uses multitouch "pinching" for zooming, another for a context function, another to change the hue, it's lost all its value. I really hope Google has a plan to keep the metaphors consistent. This is maybe the reason iPhone doesn't have cut and paste (the other I can think of is they want it to be a rich clipboard consistent with the NeXT roots and standards on other OSs, and weren't quite there yet).
T-Mobile stores have them... or at least the demo handset. I suckered up to staff there and they gave me a play with it.
Made a phone call nice and clear (good speaker phone), responsive screen, good marketplace/internet speed even though I wasn't on 3G just EDGE, keyboard nice and usable.
I'm number 7 on a waiting list at my local store... praying I get to pick one up on the 22nd.
That's pretty impressive, considering how fugly both the UI and actual phone itself is.
mainly to geeks and freetards, IMO.
how on earth can 1.5m people want this ugly brick of a phone? Didn't know that many people have such bad taste!
because only douche bags pick their smart phone based on how cool they think it will make them look.
yea i have to say it also, this is one ugly phone. we know that google was never into the looks of things but i thought this was the reason to have htc make the phone, not bring out an 2008 3/4 sidekick with a curved up bottom. i mean the os is gonna be hot next year but come on people are all about the sexiness now with phones. this thing looks like it was made in 2003
apparently you are wrong.
This will be the biggest product launch flop ever. The phone and OS look clunky, ugly, and boring, and Google never gets its software right until the second or third release. These companies and consumers are nuts - Google is going to destroy its credibility in the mobile market with this debacle.
Time for your Chemo, Mr. Jobs.
I want one of these. Someone wake me when they come out with a cdma variety.
man, is this going to be offered in canada? damn companies, we always get things like a year later. by that time ITS OLD!!!
I'm kind of surprised the G1 is taking off so well. I guess people just want android that badly.
Wow.
I have an iphone and yes it's pretty n all that but I cant take it anymore this virtual keyboard is just too annoying. I type really fast on it but it's super easy to hit the wrong key. And why wouldn't I wana pay 80 bux a month with t-mobile instead of 100 with AT&T for 3g that's everywhere but is really slow. And let's not talk bout mms n copy n paste
ummm, any source besides the other guy's blog saying they did it?
i pre ordered mine the very first day possible, thinking that it wouldn't be that big. when i saw "1.5 million" i almost shat meh pants. thats HUGE!
I find it funny at people calling an electronic device "ugly". It does appear it's coming from Apple fanboys.
They all thing the Iphone is the only smartphone that could be available for the entire Earth population.
Jealousy is not a good thing.
thing = think
'Apple fanboys' is not a synonym for 'appreciates good design.' This device has mediocre industrial design. Better design is being done elsewhere and better design was hoped for here. Hence, it has been deemed an 'ugly' device. That should clear up some of that 'funny' for you ~
I was hyped for the G1, then it came out and i was a little underwhelmed by the design. Now every time I see a picture of the phone it looks better and better. I'm just not sure i can afford the $70 a month and I'm worried about the switch i would have to make from Verizon to T-Mobile. My Verizon service has always been perfect.
An iChallenger?
Who knows...
i have been using this phone for a couple of days and im loving it. This phone will do great things for tmobile!
Can any of you propellerheads remind me of how GOOG will make money off this PoS? At least MSFT and AAPL both know how to make money from their software + services.
Another non-monetized product by GOOG out the door, kudos.
the million people on the google staff and all the 500,000 who have tmobile. lol
Give it more marketing and some time and this can blow the crapPhone out of the water.
What it means is that there are hoards of geeks who absolutely love the iphone and it's usability/potential/etc but knew that no other phone out right now can even come close, but they are too ashamed to buy apple products because they've flamed apple fan boys for liking apple. Therefore, they are signing up for version one of the only even close competitor - which at this point may not even be a close competitor. Enjoy the beta test fellas.
Likely the single greatest post on engadget.
A strong and concise argument against buying anything but an apple product
Good post, honestly.
+1 for you.
I know I'm buying this phone for three reasons:
1. Keypad
2. It's on T-Mobile
3. It's not on AT&T
android please just give me a UMA calling and I am on board. it will be hard to give up my blackberry but I need the 3G,
You wont have to wait for T-Mobile or Google to add UMA calling, Third party developers are already working on it. You are gonna have to change the way you think about phones with this. The developing community is creating solutions that are for unique users needs. That is what an open source phone operating system is all about. So as with Video Recording, the answer is for UMA calling is "Not out of the box" but more than likely a 3rd party app. T-Mobile fully supports UMA and uses it to upsell its @home services, so if the G1 can do it through 3rd party app, we'd love that!
I am more hype by the possibility of installing Android in any HTC phone. I am pretty sure XDA Dev Community will be very busy in the coming days and weeks trying to port Android in their WinMo phones.
Being open source, the possibilities are endless.
@CB17
I don't know why you keep bringing up price differences, and inventory shortages. It's completely fair to compare the launches.
These are all apart of a successful product launch. The Jesus Phone was expected to be huge yet they charged what they wanted and couldn't keep up with demand. They didn't prepare for this and it was their own fault.
The G1 on the other hand, was a toss-up despite Google being behind it. Even without advertising they've sold WAY more than projected and they've kept up with it rather well.
Over time it's fair to do a month by month analysis, but the success of a launch should take all this into account because it all comes down to how a company handles it. I.e. The G1 has had a more successful launch so far.
I'm not buying these numbers just yet. The figure is supposedly based on the amount that T-Mobile expected to sell for 2008, not how much they initially ordered for the launch. I doubt they already had all 500K on-hand for pre-orders and launch, and then just ordered up another 1M with the expectation that their supplier would be able to manufacture that many between the two rounds of pre-orders and the launch.
If they really did hit this, I'm sure there'll be a press-release or something to that effect.
I have an iPhone 3G and am quite dissapointed with it.
the old iPhone's battery life was way better. I can't go anywhere without a battery charger and hope the g1 doeS come with an extra. Also the iPhone OS is a piece of shit.
I do enjoy the virtual keyboard on it but it's still laggy sometimes.
Also apps crash like he'll and I am on 2.1.
I live in Europe and don't see this phone for over atleast a year but when the time comes I will look into it.
I don't want a phone that looks as nice as the iPhone of as beautifull.
The open scource power will show itself and the community has the most power in their hands.
They will decide of this device will make it scince they will have to develope apps for it.
Steve
I'm excited for the success of the G1 as an Iphone user. If nothing else, it may help coerce Apple to release it's strangle hold on the potential of it's device, and push innovation on all fronts. Maybe, rather than every provider and phone manufacturer trying to copy the iphone, we'll see some real advancements.
I don't have much brand loyalty to apple, and hopefully when my plan is up, this competition in the industry will have pushed the possibilities for these devices to the point that I have several good options.
Those numbers are high. I think what was meant is we are "optioned" with HTC for 1.5 million devices... Seeing how we have a customer base of 5-6 million don't you think those numbers are out of whack? 1 in 5 have ordered a G1? No way. Our first order I've heard was 300,000 which is *gone*. Store inventory and preorders ate it up. Our second order of 300,000 is almost gone. That being said it still dwarfs the iPhone for similar sales time frame.
Sorry that was wrong, we just passed 30 million customers, http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2008_May_8/ai_n25406552 ,
which is 1 in 20 preordered (if 1.5 million is correct) 5-6 million was smartphone users on our network currently or those using data plans.
Can anybody point me to a link that tells me what sensors the G1 has? I know it has digital compass but does it have proximity sensor and temperature? Any help would be appreciated.