Originally Posted by
Oofa Help me understand the whole "pre-order" of a phone. First off, it bothers me that "pre-order" is a jumble of meaningless words. How can you order something before you order it? It's as dumb as "pre-qualifying" for credit.
Couldn't agree more.
Next, why would someone want a phone that they haven't even seen or even read any day to day use reviews?
To be 'hip', or 'cool', or whatever you want to call it... To be the first among their mates to have got the latest and greatest. It's a pissing contest out there...
And the Samsungs, Apples, HTCs, Motorolas, Sprints, ATTs, etc., out there are all laughing all the way to the bank.
What if the phone ends up with a horrible problem (like most phones do when first released)? I buy a lot of phones but I wait until I can get a clear picture of bugs and quality issues from users, not from bloggers that un-box a phone and claim good or bad based on 2 minutes of usage. I must be missing something because the whole pre-order thing is very popular.
I think it is more popular among manufacturers and suppliers than among users, because manufacturers and suppliers can chalk up sales, and bank it!, even before shipping the stuff. And they use the pre-ordering thing as a way to generate advance publicity. To hype it. A.k.a. 'PR', public relations. It's (a
lot) cheaper than advertising.
And like the others said: you can return it if necessary. And you get normal warranty and service.
But you pay, or at least
commit before delivery, possibly even before physical manufacture. And that's all that counts in bookkeeping. On paper the dough is already in.
