Verizon is not pushing this Phone

[seanatsb]

lol, thats a good point....

That and the price shoulda been cheaper then. Its funny but thats what a guy on this forum that works for Verizon said too. He'll be pushing it as a starter phone...I dont get it...

Well it is offered cheaper in a way with BOGA. You can buy a Fascinate and get an X or an Inc or another Fascinate for free.

 

[makemehavefun]

--- Lost my original post. Not gonna try to rewrite it verbatim. Not the first time it's happened to me. It sucks. ---


It wouldn't surprise me if Verizon were implementing a SPIF program to prevent the Fascinate from doing any potential/perceived damage to their flagship 'Droid' line. If any of you have ever worked in retail commissioned sales then odds are you've heard of SPIF; Sales Force Incentive Programs. If a product or service is being offered with 'SPIF' then what that means for the employee is extra $$$. Say the tv dept. manager tells his sales reps that a particular model of a 'Vizio' (or ALL Vizios) are now on SPIF. It could mean anywhere from $5 to $25 for every Vizio sale. Or, a particular brand of shoes are on SPIF. When this happens, typically, (and it's no surprise) any money hungry salesman will just try to unload that product onto any vulnerable customer with total abandon and disregard for the what the customer might or really wants. Honestly, SPIF only comes around once in a blue moon from my experience, but then I haven't worked in any kind of commissioned sales for years... thank God Almighty.

As far as the indifferent attitude, behavior and knowledge (or lack thereof) of the sales reps between different Verizon stores, you ought to really question whether or not you went to a "real" Verizon store; as in Verizon Corporate, not the 3rd party, "Premium Retailer". I'm sure a lot of you have noticed during the last few months of 'Android Frenzy' that Verizon pretty much keeps it's employees in the dark as far as knew products. Every single Verizon phone rep I've talked to up until a few days before Sept. 9th had no idea that Verizon was releasing a Samsung Android at all. They've never heard of it. On Aug. 30th, I went to a 'Corporate' Verizon store and wanted more info about the Fascinate. No one had a clue about it. There were a couple that didn't even know that Samsung even had an Android phone out. By that time, anyone and everyone who was into Android smart phones and was in the market for one and doing a modest amount of research pretty much heard about this "Galaxy S" series of Androids from Samsung. And if you were on Verizon, I'm pretty sure you asked your computer about it...
I was practically being forced to defend my assertions about this new phone called the Fascinate and it's predicted launch date. I can pretty much recall the entire discourse I had with all four employees but I won't do that here. I'll just tell you it was insulting... not just their ignorance but their attitude.
Anyhow, come Sept. 9th, I arrive back at the same Verizon store and there are already a dozen or so people in there just waiting to be helped. A few of us noticed each other specifically asking for the Fascinate and the rest were pretty much waiting to be helped on the Droids. It was almost getting borderline cramped in there with all the people and sales reps so we could all overhear all the "sales" going on... if you weren't there asking about a Fascinate then the sales rep wouldn't even mention it to you. They just kept pushing the Droids. I stood around waiting for almost 30 minutes just watching it. I gotta believe there was a SPIF or some kind of incentive$$$ to push Droids. Maybe not at EVERY SINGLE Corporate Verizon, but it wouldn't surprise me if a lot of 'em participated in something like that.

I'm sure Verizon wants this phone to be successful... but maybe 'successful' at the absolute, feasibly latest possible moment to allow their flagship Droids to continue to thrive as long as possible without being hindered by something else shiny and new.

Well, that's my take in a nutshell.

 

[substring]

lol, thats a good point....

That and the price shoulda been cheaper then. Its funny but thats what a guy on this forum that works for Verizon said too. He'll be pushing it as a starter phone...I dont get it...

I don't know where the poster gets such information and I want to see the documentation on that as proof.

I don't buy it that Verizon is pushing it as a non-high end phone. Based on the conversation I had at two different Verizon stores, it is being sold as a high end phone. As a matter of fact, they store reps couldn't confirm a week ago that the phone will be sold at $199 with 2Y contract. They afraid it might be at higher rate.

 

[Lodingi]

I was at the Massapequa, NY corporate store this evening. The employees there are doing a great job of promoting the Fascinate. I witnessed them steering quite a few customers towards this phone. There was a particular conversation that I found humorous. It went like this:

Customer: "I'm interested in a new phone".

VZ Rep: "Take a look at the new Samsung Fascinate".

Customer: "That's a nice phone but I need something durable. I am rough on my phones".

VZ Rep: "Well take a look at this". The rep then starts banging the front glass of the Fascinate against the corner of a display rack.

Customer: "Wow"!

VZ Rep: "You see that? That's military grade Gorilla Glass".

I lol'd.

 

[jroc]

I don't know where the poster gets such information and I want to see the documentation on that as proof.

I don't buy it that Verizon is pushing it as a non-high end phone. Based on the conversation I had at two different Verizon stores, it is being sold as a high end phone. As a matter of fact, they store reps couldn't confirm a week ago that the phone will be sold at $199 with 2Y contract. They afraid it might be at higher rate.

I dont think he meant he was directed to by Verizon, but that he personally would be offering it as a starter phone. I dont know tho...lol

If u read his posts in that thread, he seems to be a wee bit biased against the Fascinate. And claims the Inc is the best phone ever made...

http://androidforums.com/htc-incredible/118825-fascinate-vs-incredible-2.html#post1534136

 

[substring]

Yeah, I don't know why many of the negative comments on the Fascinate tend to be coming from within the family (i.e. owners of other brands of Android phones).

IMHO, all Android users are part of a large ecosystem and we should support each other.

 

[jroc]

Competition...thats all. As long as u can compare it to fav sports teams competition, it wont get to u that much.

And....I have seen more Fascinate (and EVO) commercials in the past few days than I've seen Inc ones since the Inc came out.

Again I dont know about in stores, but they are showing Fascinate commercials like mad in the DC area. I cant get that damn song outta my head now...lol

 

[The Saucier]

I stopped by a Verizon store yesterday morning to get a case for the Fascinate. The representative ringing me up asked me how I liked the phone, and I was happy to give a 'brief presentation'. After about five minutes the dude pulls a DX out of his pocket and casually mentions he will be upgrading to the Fascinate.

I honestly think this phone could take off once more people gain familiarity with it. It doesn't take a 'hard launch' for something to gain mainstream legitimacy. Honestly if Verizon wanted to do an ad campaign hyping the Fascinate, it would look like an iPhone commercial (but with widgets!); probably not a good strategy.

Hence the marketing conundrum surrounding this device. It's an Android device, so therefore 'it does; and at the same time this thing has an extremely polished look which sets it apart. A full 'push' for the Fascinate would force a departure in the current Android platform ad campaign (I can't picture Mr. Robot Hands using this phone).

So therefore the grassroots movement might be the way to go. Get this thing out in the wild (BOGO - doubles exposure) and see what happens.

-The Saucier

 

[tats_06]

Verizon has got some incentive deal with Motorola, so Moto products will be pushed over others...they even push those over Inc. They got to get their moneys back for the million dollar ad campaign and tv ads

 

[saps]

I was at the Massapequa, NY corporate store this evening. The employees there are doing a great job of promoting the Fascinate. I witnessed them steering quite a few customers towards this phone. There was a particular conversation that I found humorous. It went like this:

Customer: "I'm interested in a new phone".

VZ Rep: "Take a look at the new Samsung Fascinate".

Customer: "That's a nice phone but I need something durable. I am rough on my phones".

VZ Rep: "Well take a look at this". The rep then starts banging the front glass of the Fascinate against the corner of a display rack.

Customer: "Wow"!

VZ Rep: "You see that? That's military grade Gorilla Glass".

I lol'd.

Military Grade...I love it

 

[Rimzy]

I dont know, but my rep, well i met him when i went to check out the dinc so he knows i am a techy, when the DX came out and i came to see it, he was like "i was expecting you" haha. So when i went to check the fascinate, i literally walked into the store, and he's like, "hey you gotta check it out" seems like he is a techy too. I think that the reason the phone is not beign agressively pushed is because it is on every other network, there is no incentive to push it, i am sure vzw will much rather sell droids.

 

[Old Man]

I think they're slightly bitter that Samsung turned down their Droid branding.

Do you have a supporting source as I have been unable to find any.

"Droid" is a registered trademark of Lucasfilm, Inc. and VZW apparently pays for the rights to use the name for some of their products. I can envision the situation being that it could be either a Galaxy S phone or a Droid phone but not both, with Samsung refusing to remove the "Galaxy S" branding and Verizon not wanting to pay for or potentially dilute the "Droid" brand when it would be associated with a device also carrying another branding that is available from multiple other carriers.

 

[jroc]

ok.....the fact that I have seen a boatload of Fascinate commercials during national broadcasts in the last 3-4 days says they are pushing it....lol Definitely airing more commercials than the Droids right now.

These commercials are not free...that Fascination commercial is a Verizon commercial.

Compare that to the Inc that I have barely seen commercials for..

 

[CTMouse511]

ok.....the fact that I have seen a boatload of Fascinate commercials during national broadcasts in the last 3-4 days says they are pushing it....lol Definitely airing more commercials than the Droids right now.

These commercials are not free...that Fascination commercial is a Verizon commercial.

Compare that to the Inc that I have barely seen commercials for..

jroc - I agree - I have seen more commercials for the BOGA with a Fascinate purchase on all the football games - Nascar races etc this weekend......wife is watching Glee right now and have seen the fascinate comercial twice in one 3min comercial break.......they are really pushing it now.