Release date is July 31st

[KnowProblem]

Manufactures and service providers plot timelines for releases, and product lines on a carrier WILL influence release dates.

Sprint and Motorola know exactly when they want the Photon to hit shelves, and the formality of FCC cert is already written into the equation. They are not holding their finger to the wind and leaving it in God's hand.

The Photon is not going to drop anywhere near the Evo3D, or the SGS2. Expect 25-50 days between each release.

I still say the Photon will drop in late July to early August.

In theory yes, the carriers and manufacturers have a a general timeline they are shooting for, however, to say that the FCC is "just a formality" is total BS. With so many radios on one device, going through the testing and certification is by far no simple feat, and this would be particularly difficult for the Photon because not only do they have to test emmisions on CDMA/EVDO and Wimax (plus bluetooth and wifi) like most of Sprint's smartphones, but also for GSM and WCDMA.

Sprint and HTC wanted to release the EVO 3D at the beginning of June (one year past the original EVO) but because they couldn't get the device past certification, they had to postpone release by 3 weeks so even the best laid plans can't get past the "formality" of the FCC and that's why you're not seeing a hard release date for the Photon yet. Once it passes I expect you'll see one leak shortly thereafter.

That said, assuming it gets certified sometime over the next few weeks, late July to early August sounds reasonable.

 

[drexappeal]

In theory yes, the carriers and manufacturers have a a general timeline they are shooting for, however, to say that the FCC is "just a formality" is total BS. With so many radios on one device, going through the testing and certification is by far no simple feat, and this would be particularly difficult for the Photon because not only do they have to test emmisions on CDMA/EVDO and Wimax (plus bluetooth and wifi) like most of Sprint's smartphones, but also for GSM and WCDMA.

Sprint and HTC wanted to release the EVO 3D at the beginning of June (one year past the original EVO) but because they couldn't get the device past certification, they had to postpone release by 3 weeks so even the best laid plans can't get past the "formality" of the FCC and that's why you're not seeing a hard release date for the Photon yet. Once it passes I expect you'll see one leak shortly thereafter.

That said, assuming it gets certified sometime over the next few weeks, late July to early August sounds reasonable.

Just curious, do you work at the fcc?

 

[KnowProblem]

Just curious, do you work at the fcc?

No, I don't.

If you want to see what delayed the EVO 3D you can see it on page 3 of this document: https://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/eas/GetApplicationAttachment.html?id=1475330 . They had to retest the device two times. By the time they were done, it was too late to do a June 4 launch. BTW, that's just one document of many describing the plethora of very complicated testing these devices have to go through. If you want to see the full list you can see it here: https://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/oetcf/eas...e=N&application_id=434952&fcc_id='NM8PG86100'

 

[viber]

Bureaucracy is the definition of formality.

Furthermore, it's entirely too easy to speak from a position of pseudo authority when one's position is entirely rooted in unavoidable government bureaucracies. That's not even speculation, that's just a given.

When is the next Avatar 2 coming out? Not until the MPAA gives a rating!

When is HK releasing a new pistol? Not until the ATF certifies it!

When is Nestle releasing a new candy bar? Not until the FDA gets nutritional information!

When is Subaru releasing the new Impreza? Never unless it gets past customs!

Where is the value in any of these sentences?

Since the bulk of your posts revolve around the FCC, I wont be missing anything I want to read about or even casually speak about, so you'll be the first person I am adding you to my ignore list.

 

[drexappeal]

I have another theory that likely rules out the Photon being released anytime before July 22.

There's a promotion that's been going on for Sprint that is allowing people to enter for a chance to win an EVO 3D. That promotion ends on July 22. You can enter every day until that date. They're giving away 32 EVO 3D's. I received an email about this promotion on June 13.

Once July 22 comes around, release for the Photon would be all dependent on how involved that particular promotion will be (e.g. Just like the EVO 4G had people that won EVO's blog about their experiences with the phone).

Let's live in the Present Tense

My new guess would be late August for the Photon 4G. We'll just have to see when the device clears through the FCC, but that's my official guess now. IMO, late July is not as realistic as I thought based on this promotion.

 

[twospirits]

I keep forgetting to do that contest

 

[drexappeal]

I keep forgetting to do that contest

I've been entering every day, but not necessarily to keep the phone...LOL...especially after seeing it and using it at the store.

 

[Androidalltheway]

It could be 7/24/11, one month after the Evo 3D, or the SGSII might be the 24th, one will release July, the other August

 

[burgertime]

I have another theory that likely rules out the Photon being released anytime before July 22.

There's a promotion that's been going on for Sprint that is allowing people to enter for a chance to win an EVO 3D. That promotion ends on July 22. You can enter every day until that date. They're giving away 32 EVO 3D's. I received an email about this promotion on June 13.

Once July 22 comes around, release for the Photon would be all dependent on how involved that particular promotion will be (e.g. Just like the EVO 4G had people that won EVO's blog about their experiences with the phone).

Let's live in the Present Tense

My new guess would be late August for the Photon 4G. We'll just have to see when the device clears through the FCC, but that's my official guess now. IMO, late July is not as realistic as I thought based on this promotion.

Just from a marketing perspective I'm not sure the Evo3d marketing would really have any effect on the Photon. This is due to the fact that it appears they will push it heavily as a business phone. Since the 3d is more of a younger tech crowd phone, the photon won't really be segmented to that demographic...I would think anyways. Now you're probably right, it will more then likely come in August, but I could see them piggy backing on the success of the 3d (if it is a success) just to really push Sprint's overall image and hope they can make claims of "dominating" the competition with new phones.

 

[drexappeal]

Just from a marketing perspective I'm not sure the Evo3d marketing would really have any effect on the Photon. This is due to the fact that it appears they will push it heavily as a business phone. Since the 3d is more of a younger tech crowd phone, the photon won't really be segmented to that demographic...I would think anyways. Now you're probably right, it will more then likely come in August, but I could see them piggy backing on the success of the 3d (if it is a success) just to really push Sprint's overall image and hope they can make claims of "dominating" the competition with new phones.

Oh, I completely agree about the marketing demographic on the 2 phones (definitely different age groups they're trying to focus on for each phone). And you could be right with regards to their piggy backing on the EVO 3D's success (or even lack thereof, if it doesn't hit the anticipated numbers they laid out). That's a tough one though because they'd have to come up with a well thought out marketing strategy that would maximize profitability of the EVO 3D, while still being able to push for big sales on the Photon 4G's demographic.

As of right now, the only definitive thing they've told us is the phone will be released this summer. Summer ends on 9/22, so we realistically could be waiting that long until the phone is actually released, simply based on the "summer" info (although, I don't think it'll be until late September before the phone is released).

If it passes through the FCC sometime within the next 2 weeks, then we could be looking at a late July or Early August release.

In the meantime, I love speculating and trying to throw in as many logical avenues of thought behind a potential release. Ultimately, the Sprint Corp. is going to go with what they feel would benefit them the most, which for me (looking at an overall sales perspective), mid-late August seems the best time for this phone to be released. That would give 1 month of sales to the EVO 3D & 2-3 weeks of marketing hype for the Photon 4g release.

To throw another loophole into all this, the recent talk about the Epic 2 and the SGS 2 makes me wonder how they spread those releases out accordingly. There still hasn't been a "formal" announcement about the SGS 2 or the Epic 2, so that makes me believe that the Photon 4G releases prior to those phones.

 

[burgertime]

They certainly have a busy 6 months ahead of them with all these releases...I would be equally elated and depressed if I were over marketing looking at that sort of slate. That is a lot of planning to do!

I'm with on the mid to late August release date, I think it gives them more time to work out the bugs and gives them some breathing room in planning everything out.

 

[drexappeal]

They certainly have a busy 6 months ahead of them with all these releases...I would be equally elated and depressed if I were over marketing looking at that sort of slate. That is a lot of planning to do!

I'm with on the mid to late August release date, I think it gives them more time to work out the bugs and gives them some breathing room in planning everything out.

Hahaha...I can definitely imagine the stress in their marketing department. Unless, of course, they just hire an outside company to do their marketing for them. I don't know if Sprint outsources or not.

 

[drexappeal]

Just noticed one of Motorola's replies on Sunday (6/26) on their official Twitter account. There were two replies that said:

Motorola PHOTON 4G will be available from Sprint later this summer. You can find full specs here: Motorola Mobility, Inc. - Media Center - Fact Sheets - Motorola PHOTON? 4G Fact Sheet

End of August or maybe even the beginning of September seems more likely than I was hoping, now, since they mentioned "later" this summer.

 

[Jceinc]

I checked out that link. What do they mean by quarter high definition?

Also love the way the volume rocker and camera button looks!

 

[drexappeal]

I checked out that link. What do they mean by quarter high definition?

Also love the way the volume rocker and camera button looks!

Quarter High Definition is the full term for the acronym (e.g. QHD)

 

[burgertime]

Hahaha...I can definitely imagine the stress in their marketing department. Unless, of course, they just hire an outside company to do their marketing for them. I don't know if Sprint outsources or not.

My guess would be that they outsource to one really big firm who's work is probably 80% devoted to Sprint but they have a marketing team internally who calls all the shots (not that this is like news or anything). The problem with a September release is that there isn't much of a tie in marketing wise. I mean you're stuck in that area of right after Summer season and just before Christmas. I wouldn't be shocked if they held it up to closer around Thanksgiving to push it as the phone for the "Dad on the go" and play into a whole "for the Dad who has everything and runs his own business". They would probably do this anyways, but I'm just worried that they will want something to play into advertising wise and nothing works better than Thanksgiving and Christmas. Marketing wise it's not hard to spin late summer into Christmas.

 

[burgertime]

Just noticed one of Motorola's replies on Sunday (6/26) on their official Twitter account. There were two replies that said:



End of August or maybe even the beginning of September seems more likely than I was hoping, now, since they mentioned "later" this summer.

Also I wouldn't put too much stock in that. The company I work for is currently going through the woes of a new product release. We pretty set everything up for the latest date possible while giving no definite dates and now we're a little worried we still won't hit it because of manufacturing issues. Just working closely with this there is a ALOT that goes into making simple electronics. I can only imagine a cell phone.

 

[drexappeal]

My guess would be that they outsource to one really big firm who's work is probably 80% devoted to Sprint but they have a marketing team internally who calls all the shots (not that this is like news or anything). The problem with a September release is that there isn't much of a tie in marketing wise. I mean you're stuck in that area of right after Summer season and just before Christmas. I wouldn't be shocked if they held it up to closer around Thanksgiving to push it as the phone for the "Dad on the go" and play into a whole "for the Dad who has everything and runs his own business". They would probably do this anyways, but I'm just worried that they will want something to play into advertising wise and nothing works better than Thanksgiving and Christmas. Marketing wise it's not hard to spin late summer into Christmas.

All of that wouldn't surprise me either and solid points. Maybe that really does push the urgency to August, right before school gets in and lots of businesses start to pick up again, prior to the last quarter of the year. If the demographic focus is truly going to be with regards to people who need a device for the best combination of business and pleasure, August does seem to be their best bet.

 

[drexappeal]

Also I wouldn't put too much stock in that. The company I work for is currently going through the woes of a new product release. We pretty set everything up for the latest date possible while giving no definite dates and now we're a little worried we still won't hit it because of manufacturing issues. Just working closely with this there is a ALOT that goes into making simple electronics. I can only imagine a cell phone.

I can understand that as well. The company I work with, I'm directly involved with a lot of projects tied into marketing and there are SO many factors that have to be considered, prior to a project moving full steam ahead.

Deadlines can be pushed back plenty of times because of different reasons.

 

[burgertime]

All of that wouldn't surprise me either and solid points. Maybe that really does push the urgency to August, right before school gets in and lots of businesses start to pick up again, prior to the last quarter of the year. If the demographic focus is truly going to be with regards to people who need a device for the best combination of business and pleasure, August does seem to be their best bet.

Yea I keep going back and forth on that. If they are doing mainly a business push it doesn't really matter when they release it, since the marketing message wouldn't need to be tied to some seasonal holiday or other event. I would think August as well works best just because like I said earlier you piggy back on the EVO3d success and with all the other phones coming out you have to have a little bit of downtime in between. Hopefully it doesn't get pushed back to a Thanksgiving/Christmas release.

 

[drexappeal]

Yea I keep going back and forth on that. If they are doing mainly a business push it doesn't really matter when they release it, since the marketing message wouldn't need to be tied to some seasonal holiday or other event. I would think August as well works best just because like I said earlier you piggy back on the EVO3d success and with all the other phones coming out you have to have a little bit of downtime in between. Hopefully it doesn't get pushed back to a Thanksgiving/Christmas release.

I also wouldn't be surprised if they made a big push to market this phone towards people that work in my industry (Entertainment). Talk about an "ideal' phone for the Entertainment Business, including Sports, News, Film, TV, Music, etc...(which is part of the reason this is my top choice for upgrade). You can view and edit any kind of business docs, view/listen to any entertainment related work files, hook the phone up to a TV monitor or laptop for presentations, go overseas and still be able to be connected (via phone)...I could go on and on, but these are the main points that are driving the sale home for me.

Another thing to consider would be how they market the phone "outside" of the target demographic. Do they just settle for whatever "extra" sales they get based on their target demographic marketing push or do they create additional campaigns for those that may not identify with needing a phone that seems more ideal for business types? Outside of the target demographic, how do they go about selling people on this phone vs. the EVO 3D or the Nexus S or even the upcoming SGS 2 and Epic 2? To me, that seems like the most challenging aspect of marketing this phone. It's not the business-types that we'll be a hard sell for them because the specs of this phone alone are enough to make any business-type realize it's ideal for them to accomplish what they do on their blackberries AND more.

Right now, the EVO 3D is getting a lot of exposure. Sprint is the main sponsor for the show THE VOICE on NBC. Last week, they were highlighting the EVO View 4G to be able to vote and go online to see comments and results about the show. Last night, they were highlighting the "recently released" EVO 3D and being able to see all kinds of "cool things" in 3D through the phone, without using glasses. How does Sprint go about marketing to the common folk, non business-types, that don't really care for 3D, but also want a "fun" / "entertaining" phone? And do they even try to do that with the Photon or do they market the SGS2 as the other "fun" smartphone, if people don't like 3D?

I could go on and on all day about stuff like this. I love it!

 

[burgertime]

I love talking this stuff as well. If it were me (and my opinion is worth about as much as rusty penny you find on the ground) I would really push this as the first real Android business phone. Now you can have everything you like about the "other" business phones (Palm, Blackberry) AND have Android. Why not like you said go after the tech savvy businessman? I mean you could easily do a "grownup" type campaign where you compare the other phones to "no care in the world" folks, teenagers and slackers, but this phone is for the adult who can be a slacker/teenager on the weekend! You could catch both of your main demographics that way. Or maybe you do something like, "Just because it's Android doesn't mean it can't be serious" and have someone doing a business presentation through his phone only to move on to Angry Birds after he is done. Or something like that. I mean I really think this is one of those phones they can do a lot with marketing wise.

The business sector is a HUGE demographic that Sprint hasn't really been able to parlay into sales since when Nextel? Well this thing has the potential to bring them back in as contenders.

 

[burgertime]

Don't know if it's been mentioned but I just saw that otterbox has a SKU for the Photon 4g case....is this an indication it may be coming sooner rather than later?

http://us2.campaign-archive1.com/?u=fb6f8571cd94fcf1b742b0794&id=5aeb1c6ae0

 

[drexappeal]

Don't know if it's been mentioned but I just saw that otterbox has a SKU for the Photon 4g case....is this an indication it may be coming sooner rather than later?

http://us2.campaign-archive1.com/?u=fb6f8571cd94fcf1b742b0794&id=5aeb1c6ae0

Yup. Started an accessories thread. Amazon is already selling:

http://androidforums.com/motorola-photon-4g/355584-accessories-photon-4g.html

 

[twospirits]

I might start placing all the accessories that pop up into a spreadsheet much like what I did for the NI Adam tablet, to keep things organized.

TS