So I'm throwing this in here, as I had originally posted in the HTC One forums about this. After posting there I realized it belonged here and needed articulation, as I was just sounding like an ***** spewing nonsense around. In the interest of transparency I'm going to put in some seemingly irrelevant conversation so you guys can judge whether or not the salesman was being truthful to me. I've obviously made up my mind. Here we go... make sure to read the starred part if you don't read all of it.
So a few days ago I wandered into a Verizon Corperate store. I was all ready to get another Note 2 right then, but for some reason or another took a look around at their lackluster lineup of horrible phones. After a salesman asked me if he could assist me I struck up a conversation with him about the payment plans and other things. I informed him it was a fair enough workaround for people like myself to keep our unlimited data, even though we're already paying a subsidy on a phone we don't have. If they're going to keep a bunch of horrible rules, at least they gave us a workaround, right? Plus $2.50 wouldn't be breaking anyone. We discussed some other off sales/mobile topics, and when we came back to Verizon related conversation I informed him I was considering buying another Note 2. I did own a Note 2, the AT&T varient, and really truely enjoyed the device. I told him I was using it on Straight talk to shop the carrier, and in the end I was wanting to use Verizon again. I pulled out the Galaxy Nexus I've been using for a few days and said I would like something a little faster, and with some sort of battery life. He reiterated what a great device the Note 2 was and how I should purchase one. So here's where I ask the big question.
I told him I really wished Verizon had picked up the HTC One. When he asked me why, the response was that I have a young daughter and the photo stuff looked really cool for a parent. Having the loud speakers wouldn't be much benefit, however the external design was amazing and I would love to buy that phone. The salesman told me he had spoken to a rep from HTC a few days ago, and they were there to inform the staff of the Verizon store about an upcoming handset from HTC. When I asked if it was the One, he responded pretty much. The internals would all be the same, the construction should be the same. He did say it would be a little different in a few ways, however. It would not be called the One, instead doing Verizon branding as the DNA Plus. Also he said it would be "designed a little different" which I took to mean recolored. Perhaps the red version that was seen or black with red trim similar to the OG DNA will be how they go with it. The last thing, and probably the best part of it was it would be a 32GB handset.
Digesting this over a few days, I have chosen to believe this due to a few things. On again and off again rumors about the Verizon HTC One or J-Butterfly 2 have been all over. There's probably a reason Verizon passed on the phone, and it probably relates to branding and exclusivity. Verizon is a carrier that wants everything to be about them, sort of like the annoying self-centered people we meet every day. The world revolves around Verizon (as they see it) and customers will pay them what they want for whatever service they choose to sell, and the same customer will be happy if they offer us garbage handsets. We will shell out all of our money for crappy phones on their service and love them for it. If HTC pitched the One to Verizon, and they countered with the same internals, retrimmed, and branded under the DROID moniker I'm sure HTC could make that happen no problem. They shoot some paint on it and make a special box, other than that it's the same phone. A move like this can strengthen the relationship between Verizon and HTC, which isn't a bad thing for either company.
Holding out for an exclusive varient of the One would also allow them to dodge AT&T's exclusive capacity arraingement with HTC. If the phone isn't the HTC one, they can sell a 32GB version no problem. Also, this would give Verizon the time they "require" to do all their extensive testing of the new device on their network.
One final thought on the advantage of this pertains to the Galaxy S4 launch being a big deal. Samsung is footing the bill for a ton of advertising that Verizon won't have to do. If we're to assume the big Verizon announcement next month is about changes to contracts, or VoLTE, or something of the sort, it's going to be a little better to announce that you can use these new services on their new lineup of smartphones consisting of the DROID DNA Plus and the Lumia 928. If I was in their shoes, I'd use that as icing on the cake for something else and not derail Sammy's marketing juggernaut.
**The big final reason I believe what this guy said is how we ended our conversation: Don't buy the Note 2 today if you want the HTC One, just wait a month or month and a half and buy what's going to make you happier. This guy gave up his commission for the sale (if they do commission for retail price handsets) to save me $700. I did make sure to get his business card and WILL be going to him to buy this phone. It was also pretty obvious from the looks of his co-workers that he was saying some things he probably shouldn't be telling customers. They didn't look too pleased.
The reasons to not believe this are very few, so here's what I've come up with. There isn't any FCC application for this handset yet. That's not to say they cannot make this happen in a 2 week window, but we'd think it would be in the works right now anyway, right? There haven't been any leaked renders (as far as I am aware) or anything other than some bluetooth thing and the codename DLXPLUS (which DLX was the codename for the DNA). I also haven't seen any leaked screenshots of SKU numbers in a database for this thing or really any hint of Verizon selling it in the near future. Nobody has seen any training documents from HTC or VZW about the phone at all.
Take this for what it is, just a rumor that I heard from a retail employee. I do believe he was telling me the truth, or at least what he believes to be the truth. He gave off no signs of lying to me, and in general seemed to be a nice helpful guy.
I hope he was telling the truth as well.
So a few days ago I wandered into a Verizon Corperate store. I was all ready to get another Note 2 right then, but for some reason or another took a look around at their lackluster lineup of horrible phones. After a salesman asked me if he could assist me I struck up a conversation with him about the payment plans and other things. I informed him it was a fair enough workaround for people like myself to keep our unlimited data, even though we're already paying a subsidy on a phone we don't have. If they're going to keep a bunch of horrible rules, at least they gave us a workaround, right? Plus $2.50 wouldn't be breaking anyone. We discussed some other off sales/mobile topics, and when we came back to Verizon related conversation I informed him I was considering buying another Note 2. I did own a Note 2, the AT&T varient, and really truely enjoyed the device. I told him I was using it on Straight talk to shop the carrier, and in the end I was wanting to use Verizon again. I pulled out the Galaxy Nexus I've been using for a few days and said I would like something a little faster, and with some sort of battery life. He reiterated what a great device the Note 2 was and how I should purchase one. So here's where I ask the big question.
I told him I really wished Verizon had picked up the HTC One. When he asked me why, the response was that I have a young daughter and the photo stuff looked really cool for a parent. Having the loud speakers wouldn't be much benefit, however the external design was amazing and I would love to buy that phone. The salesman told me he had spoken to a rep from HTC a few days ago, and they were there to inform the staff of the Verizon store about an upcoming handset from HTC. When I asked if it was the One, he responded pretty much. The internals would all be the same, the construction should be the same. He did say it would be a little different in a few ways, however. It would not be called the One, instead doing Verizon branding as the DNA Plus. Also he said it would be "designed a little different" which I took to mean recolored. Perhaps the red version that was seen or black with red trim similar to the OG DNA will be how they go with it. The last thing, and probably the best part of it was it would be a 32GB handset.
Digesting this over a few days, I have chosen to believe this due to a few things. On again and off again rumors about the Verizon HTC One or J-Butterfly 2 have been all over. There's probably a reason Verizon passed on the phone, and it probably relates to branding and exclusivity. Verizon is a carrier that wants everything to be about them, sort of like the annoying self-centered people we meet every day. The world revolves around Verizon (as they see it) and customers will pay them what they want for whatever service they choose to sell, and the same customer will be happy if they offer us garbage handsets. We will shell out all of our money for crappy phones on their service and love them for it. If HTC pitched the One to Verizon, and they countered with the same internals, retrimmed, and branded under the DROID moniker I'm sure HTC could make that happen no problem. They shoot some paint on it and make a special box, other than that it's the same phone. A move like this can strengthen the relationship between Verizon and HTC, which isn't a bad thing for either company.
Holding out for an exclusive varient of the One would also allow them to dodge AT&T's exclusive capacity arraingement with HTC. If the phone isn't the HTC one, they can sell a 32GB version no problem. Also, this would give Verizon the time they "require" to do all their extensive testing of the new device on their network.
One final thought on the advantage of this pertains to the Galaxy S4 launch being a big deal. Samsung is footing the bill for a ton of advertising that Verizon won't have to do. If we're to assume the big Verizon announcement next month is about changes to contracts, or VoLTE, or something of the sort, it's going to be a little better to announce that you can use these new services on their new lineup of smartphones consisting of the DROID DNA Plus and the Lumia 928. If I was in their shoes, I'd use that as icing on the cake for something else and not derail Sammy's marketing juggernaut.
**The big final reason I believe what this guy said is how we ended our conversation: Don't buy the Note 2 today if you want the HTC One, just wait a month or month and a half and buy what's going to make you happier. This guy gave up his commission for the sale (if they do commission for retail price handsets) to save me $700. I did make sure to get his business card and WILL be going to him to buy this phone. It was also pretty obvious from the looks of his co-workers that he was saying some things he probably shouldn't be telling customers. They didn't look too pleased.
The reasons to not believe this are very few, so here's what I've come up with. There isn't any FCC application for this handset yet. That's not to say they cannot make this happen in a 2 week window, but we'd think it would be in the works right now anyway, right? There haven't been any leaked renders (as far as I am aware) or anything other than some bluetooth thing and the codename DLXPLUS (which DLX was the codename for the DNA). I also haven't seen any leaked screenshots of SKU numbers in a database for this thing or really any hint of Verizon selling it in the near future. Nobody has seen any training documents from HTC or VZW about the phone at all.
Take this for what it is, just a rumor that I heard from a retail employee. I do believe he was telling me the truth, or at least what he believes to be the truth. He gave off no signs of lying to me, and in general seemed to be a nice helpful guy.
I hope he was telling the truth as well.
I still need to find a way to keep unlimited though...
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