They are not "sandbagging" the release and they are not worried about lost sales with the razr, they are worried about diluting the market impact of each release. Think about it, when a high profile phone is released there is a high level of excitement surrounding it for a couple of weeks, then that excitement dies off. If verizon releases 3 highly anticipated devices in a short time span there will be a high level of excitement for a bit, but then verizon has no more high profile launches for the rest of the year and the excitement will wear off. If they space out the releases, they can keep a continually high level of excitement for the rest of the holiday season. It sucks for those of us who want the phone, as well as the manufacturers that want as much of the holiday season as possible, but it is great for verizon and when you release on verizon you go by their terms.