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Verizon S4 Pre-orders begin 4/25 - Release 5/30 [ UPDATED:release date changed to 5/23 ]

I finally pre-ordered mine. After weeks of contemplating, I ordered it from Wirefly for these reasons:

1. $180 for upgrade w/o rebate (Amazon and other retailers were charging $200)
2. $12.50 cash back w/fatwallet
3. Wirefly will refund difference if the price drops within 30 days of purchase (& prices usually do drop within the 1st month)

All in all, I saved $32.50 so far (probably will be more cuz the price match). The only downside is it will probably take 4 days for shipping. Hopefully, they'll ship it tomorrow so I can get it on Thursday.

Oh, BTW, it does state on their website that they will ship the phone at "Verizon's release date". Also, you can cancel your pre-order as long as they haven't shipped the phone.
 
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I finally pre-ordered mine. After weeks of contemplating, I ordered it from Wirefly for these reasons:

1. $180 for upgrade w/o rebate (Amazon and other retailers were charging $200)
2. $12.50 cash back w/fatwallet
3. Wirefly will refund difference if the price drops within 30 days of purchase (& prices usually do drop within the 1st month)

All in all, I saved $32.50 so far (probably will be more cuz the price match). The only downside is it will probably take 4 days for shipping. Hopefully, they'll ship it tomorrow so I can get it on Thursday.

Oh, BTW, it does state on their website that they will ship the phone at "Verizon's release date". Also, you can cancel your pre-order as long as they haven't shipped the phone.

It'd be awesome if the price does drop within that 30 days and you can get more money back.

I was a cheapskate upfront, and went with the cheapest option I could find which was Newegg (Simplexity - which owns Wirefly, also handles the orders so it's supposed to ship on launch date as well). But I couldn't pass up the $159 with no tax and free overnight shipping.

I am hoping it actually ships sooner!
 
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nope. it won't. it's easy to come up with a general idea of how most android users use their phone. just look at the top selling apps in the playstore and that will give you a really good idea. you're in a bubble if you think the large majority of android users need more than 8gb of space for apps. even the 32gb king, rush, acknowledges this.

add to that, an sd card is said to be included which will provide space for media so it's not taking up internal memory.

if sales were going to be hurt by lack of 32gb device, we would see that already. the fact is it hasn't hurt sales at all.

people disappointed by lack of 32gb. even the media is making somewhat of a deal out of it, but the reality is that most people aren't heavy gamers or loading huge apps.


that said, my 16gb is on the way and my 64gb card is in the process of being loaded up with all my media as we speak. :)

You can say whatever you want, but I'm an average customer with average needs and I won't buy a 16 GB model.
 
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You can say whatever you want, but I'm an average customer with average needs and I won't buy a 16 GB model.

and that's your prerogative. however, if you use more than 8gb of app space then you're incorrect in thinking you're a avg android user. not arguing, just stating the obvious.

good luck finding a device that fits your needs or patiently waiting for the 32gb s4. if i were you i wouldn't hold my breath though. :)
 
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and that's your prerogative. however, if you use more than 8gb of app space then you're incorrect in thinking you're a avg android user. not arguing, just stating the obvious.

good luck finding a device that fits your needs or patiently waiting for the 32gb s4. if i were you i wouldn't hold my breath though. :)

This is a common thread with friends and co-workers. This issue comes up frequently. We are all average users. Just because you say it isn't so doesn't make it true.

Like I said, the 16 GB is barely sufficient while a droid X 2 years ago was more than so. In another year, this will effect far more people than it does now and it effects enough that Verizon should be very concerned....except that they probably know this. My guess is this is intentional as a way to coerce upgrades given that the average user with a 16 gb model will be running out of app space in another year or so.

I think Verizon knows exactly what they're doing and they figure the incremental business they'd get now would more then be offset by the repeat business that they wouldn't get a year from now as those who have to upgrade but otherwise wouldn't had they bought the 32 GB version up front.
 
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This is a common thread with friends and co-workers. This issue comes up frequently. We are all average users. Just because you say it isn't so doesn't make it true.

it's not statistically possible for everyone to be an avg user.

storage sizes grow not because of app size, but because people are storing more media on their device. with the advent of high def cameras on mobile phones those pics and vids are also using up more space. people are storing more music on their phones. app sizes aren't growing exponentially and actually show signs of getting lighter with better development, not heavier (with the exception of games). and even in regards to games i expect developers will be forced to accommodate sd storage for databases and such at some point. mainly because sd storage is cheaper than buying a phone with higher capacities.
 
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It'd be awesome if the price does drop within that 30 days and you can get more money back.

I was a cheapskate upfront, and went with the cheapest option I could find which was Newegg (Simplexity - which owns Wirefly, also handles the orders so it's supposed to ship on launch date as well). But I couldn't pass up the $159 with no tax and free overnight shipping.

I am hoping it actually ships sooner!

I canceled my Wirefly order & ordered through Newegg. The free overnight shipping is what got me. That along with it being $7.50 cheaper.
 
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Folks, look at it from Verizon's point of $ view (though it sucks for customers):

Let us assume for easy math Verizon can sell 1,000,000 S4 16gb, but could sell 10% more if they added a 32gb. That would be 1,100,000 total units, but then the current pricing would stand out. They would adjust the prices down accordingly, where if they just sold the 16 (as they are), they could (are) be charging a higher price for a super hot phone and their coverage map to draw people in. If we consider the net gross margin after average customer rebate claim rates, Verizon will make millions more selling just the 16gb, in spite of 10% less. The 32gb weight would have to be a lot bigger than 10% to alter anything.

Long term, it would make more sense to focus more on the extra 100,000 and the mix of new customers in that total, but Verizon is increasing their install base already. Better then to focus more on the device margin instead. AT&T are opposite, since their actual weighted install base is stagnant to declining. For them, it makes more sense to offer the larger model to hopefully draw in more customers for the long term. This is also why they are getting devices like One and the LG Pro. AT&T is bringing in premium devices to draw in and keep premium service customers. They are hungry for customers and Verizon is milking theirs.

Of course, considering Sprint and Tmo's plight, you would think they would do the same thing. Perhaps there is some accuracy that the 32gb available for launch were already allocated.
 
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I canceled my Wirefly order & ordered through Newegg. The free overnight shipping is what got me. That along with it being $7.50 cheaper.

I did mom's through Wirefly because I noticed that Bank of America's Add-it-Up had $50 cashback with upgrades... took a screenshot to be on the safe-side. It's all the same though, goes through Simplexity -- same company that powers a lot of retailer's websites for cell-phone sales. (i.e. Radio Shack/etc)

I saw mention of free overnight shipping via Newegg, but when I continued through the pages, standard shipping was the free option, 2 day and overnight were still more. For mine I actually paid full retail pre-ordering from Verizon since I'm constantly going over 2GB of data...

Edit: Just saw that I have a tracking number for my full-retail phone ordered yesterday (5/18) around ~4 PM Eastern, and due to get it Wednesday afternoon :) Interesting logistics.. they even did a Sunday FedEx pickup @ 1:35 PM in MEMPHIS, TN
 
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I saw mention of free overnight shipping via Newegg, but when I continued through the pages, standard shipping was the free option, 2 day and overnight were still more. For mine I actually paid full retail pre-ordering from Verizon since I'm constantly going over 2GB of data...

That's strange that it wasn't offering you the free overnight shipping through Newegg. It was definitely free of charge for my orders, and going through the pages now (even after clearing cookies) it has the "Free Overnight Shipping" badge and when you go to the actual page it still says "Next Business Day by FedEx - FREE"

I'll be upset if I find they sneak on shipping fees when they do the credit card charge.
 
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That's strange that it wasn't offering you the free overnight shipping through Newegg. It was definitely free of charge for my orders, and going through the pages now (even after clearing cookies) it has the "Free Overnight Shipping" badge and when you go to the actual page it still says "Next Business Day by FedEx - FREE"

I'll be upset if I find they sneak on shipping fees when they do the credit card charge.
Odd, I'm sure if yours said that you're fine. It's possible that when I went through I still had some old cookies from the Wirefly or Walmart version lingering and perhaps it got confused on my end. Going back and looking at the Wirefly receipt it does show the $50 BOA Cashback as a line item, so that's always a good sign.
 
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Edit: Just saw that I have a tracking number for my full-retail phone ordered yesterday (5/18) around ~4 PM Eastern, and due to get it Wednesday afternoon :) Interesting logistics.. they even did a Sunday FedEx pickup @ 1:35 PM in MEMPHIS, TN

Are you saying you ordered a Verizon Galaxy S4 through Wirefly yesterday, and it shipped out today?
 
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FedEx has scanned my phone 7 times and it has not left Memphis yet. It was scanned 3 times Sat, 3 times Sunday, and once Monday. The first scan said "picked up". Then there are two "in Transit". The one from Monday morning says "shipping information sent to FedEx.". I wonder how many more times it will be scanned before leaving Memphis.

And my delivery time slipped from Wed 430 PM to Wed 7 PM. Thanks FedEx :(
 
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FedEx has scanned my phone 7 times and it has not left Memphis yet. It was scanned 3 times Sat, 3 times Sunday, and once Monday. The first scan said "picked up". Then there are two "in Transit". The one from Monday morning says "shipping information sent to FedEx.". I wonder how many more times it will be scanned before leaving Memphis.

And my delivery time slipped from Wed 430 PM to Wed 7 PM. Thanks FedEx :(

Mine is exactly the way you described it.

Now Wednesday by 7
 
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FedEx has scanned my phone 7 times and it has not left Memphis yet. It was scanned 3 times Sat, 3 times Sunday, and once Monday. The first scan said "picked up". Then there are two "in Transit". The one from Monday morning says "shipping information sent to FedEx.". I wonder how many more times it will be scanned before leaving Memphis.

And my delivery time slipped from Wed 430 PM to Wed 7 PM. Thanks FedEx :(

Exactly the same thing for me...my "Package Buddy" app gave me those "updates".

I prefer UPS over FedEx BTW. Are they doing Moonshine in Tennessee??
 
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FedEx has scanned my phone 7 times and it has not left Memphis yet. It was scanned 3 times Sat, 3 times Sunday, and once Monday. The first scan said "picked up". Then there are two "in Transit". The one from Monday morning says "shipping information sent to FedEx.". I wonder how many more times it will be scanned before leaving Memphis.

And my delivery time slipped from Wed 430 PM to Wed 7 PM. Thanks FedEx :(

Mine is the same way. I don't mind the time changing so long as the date doesn't get pushed back
 
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From a gross margin stand point on the their P&L they certainly are making more money. Positioning the 16GB at the current price point means they take less of a hardware hit, which means they make more money ;)

device cost is probably a capex for the carriers. cost is spread out and depreciated over time. not necessarily a hit on their p&l.

so it's more like they're selling it at less of a loss over time than selling for a profit. this is why the contract and services are more important. they incentivize the customer to sign up to get the phone cheaper, and they get their money back (and then some) with what we pay in contract fees. of course, if you're paying outright to keep your grandfathered unlimited data then all of this is moot. :)
 
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