November 08, 2003
What's the story with the Treo 600?
The much anticipated Treo 600 was released on October 8, 2003; however, if you are like me and most of other previous owners of the Treo smartphone, you might be still waiting for the Treo 600. Existing Treo owners were excited to learn that you could get your new Treo 600 for $399 if you decide to upgrade with any one of the carriers. However, the caveat is that most carriers do have a hefty penalty for breaking your existing contract; so, if you do not want to pay the penalty, you are stuck with your current carrier.
Interestingly, if you check any of the Treo specialized websites such as Treocentral, you will also notice that there are a lot of frustrated customers out there. So, what's going on?
One of the problems is that it looks like Handspring and carriers have decided to do a staggered rollout for the different versions of the device, and also the upgrade is only available for 3 weeks after each version is released. So, only Sprint version (CDMA) was available from Oct. 8 (10/8 to 10/29 for upgrade), and now Handspring is offering Cingular version (GSM) starting Nov. 3 (11/3 to 11/24 for upgrade). There is a rumor going around that T-mobile version will be available around Nov. 24. Perhaps AT&T will follow suit after T-mobile, and general unlocked GSM phones will be available sometime early 2004(?). I don't know who is to blame for this "moronic" scheme--Handspring or carriers, but I'm getting to a point where I'm going to pass on the Treo 600, and wait for the next version. Perhpas when my T-mobile contract expires next March, I'll get one of the Bluetooth phones (Nokia or Ericsson) to use with my T3 instead of the Treo 600.
To make things worse, even though Cingular version was released on Nov. 3, Handspring won't be processing orders till Nov. 17, and I've been hearing a week to two weeks delays for customers who ordered the 600 earlier. This seems to suggest that Handspring has a real problem meeting the market demand (whether it's manufacturing or supplier issue I don't know). So, perhaps this staggered rollout is nothing more than Handspring's way of resolving the supply issue. Handspring has done a great job creating a lot of hype for the Treo 600, but in this case, it might backfire on them if they make their customers frustrated or leave a lot of customers out in the cold.
What's been your experience, or what do you think?
Posted by Ken | PermalinkI have a Samsung I300, and I have been waiting for a decent upgraded Palm phone, and was eagerly waiting for the Treo 600. Unfortunately, once I found out that it isn't hires, I lost interest. There aren't any promising Palm or PocketPC phones on the immediate horizon, so I gave up. I think a Bluetooth phone and an update Palm (Zodiac, actually) will be the answer to my problem.
I would prefer to keep it in a single device, but there are still too many compromises, and at least Bluetooth avoids the biggest problem with two devices: cables...
Posted by tpancoast at November 8, 2003 09:40 AMI'd be very hesitant at laying blame at Handspring's feet -- the introduction of the treo600 is (almost) completely at the discretion of each carrier offering the device.
I'm a two-device kinda guy (Zodiac and SE T68i) but from what I've heard of the 600 it sounds like a fantastic 'smartphone' and a significant upgrade to the first generation (treo 180/270/300) which are fantastic "communicators" .
The lower resolution I don't mind, but the lack of Bluetooth (for headset use) is a real disappointment and could affect European sales. I have a feeling it will do very well regardless.
Posted by Dan at November 10, 2003 12:24 PMI think the trend I've seen is folks bending over backward to defend Handspring while blaming the carriers. I wonder why--perhpas their past experience dealing with each party? I think the blame should be spread around to both parties, not just one. In other words, I think HS could have done a better job clearly laying out the roll-out plan up front, and meeting the initial demands, and then managing carriers' demands or requests (even if that meant delaying the introduction a few weeks).
Posted by Ken at November 10, 2003 01:01 PMTalked to a company that began to market the Treo 600 for T-Mobile; it was pulled back because of firmware incompatibilities, according to them. It will be out first or second wek of December, they said.
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