So it is the eve of your company launcing a phone that has been highly sought after for the last 6-12 months and you are the first company who will launch it in the United States and possibly have an exclusive for a few weeks.  The device might be the most powerful Pocket PC on the market and your first 3G Power Business user phone.  Your company still hasn’t released a lot of official information.  On your website’s home page you have your featured pictures set to the mytouch 3G, Samsung Highlight/Comeback, Sidekick LX and a Motorola W490.  Bloggers and media outlets are confirming and speculating 5 different price points for your product.  Supposed confidentail internal memos and documents circulate the internet with varying information regarding pricing.  Something doesnt quite make marketing sense to me.  I know T-Mobile is not alone in having this approach that other carriers play. 

Here are a few thoughts that I have.  T-Mobile was rather organized with their launch of the myTouch 3G.  They announced in advance when there pre-ordering dates will be and even provided pricing.  They conducted their pre order period in an orderly fashion and had their release.  They kept control of the information.  It is clear they know how to do it right.  Building a stong marketing campaign ahead of time in conjuction with the manufacturer could go along ways in building more demand especially when you might have a situation where you have an exclusive for a short period of time.  Even the iPhone gave definitive informatin in the weeks leading into their launch.  Needless to say a lot of people out there like me who have been following the device for the last few months  sound exhausted and finally ready to just buy the phone and move on.   Below you will find an Unboxing of the T-Mobile Touch Pro 2 from Phone Dog.  You can also go to CNET for their offical review by Bonnie Cha. 

The FLAP bags start to arrive from WhiteAfrican on Vimeo.

As the clock ticks by I keep getting updates and rumors on when the Touch Pro 2 is going to be released. The rumors keep flying June, July, August.  The strongest rumor seems to be August 12 on TMobile’s network (originally it was suppose to be today July 22). This is somewhat surprising, considering ATT has been the carrier who often takes the lead on HTC’s high end phones. TMobile is aggressively keeping their name out there as the carrier who will release the phone first.

While I am eagerly waiting for the release, I wont be shocked if the release doesn’t happen till closer to Thanksgiving.  I know this would be very disappointing to many including me.  Unless HTC is changing things, I have usually seen about a 6 month waiting period from the European release versus US based release of their Windows mobile phones.  At least as far as ATT is concerned, Thanksgiving has been the time when they have historically had big splashes.  Carriers could also be waiting for Windows Mobile 6.5, so that devices can ship directly with this build. Consumers have been complaining about windows 6.1.

Lets hope I am dead wrong and we all have our 3G Touch Pro 2 phones by August 12.

For years now HTC has been making their phones with just a mini USB port. This basically meant it was a major pain if you wanted to use your normal 3.5 mm headphone. I have bought and lost so many mini USB to 3.5mm audio adapter over the past 3 years. This doesn’t include the many times the adapter was left at home or in a friends car leaving you without headphone use for the day.

HTC has now committed to including 3.5 mm audio jacks on future devices that are not already road mapped. This change comes after years of crying from many dedicated HTC customers.  A recent youtube video shows the a version of the new Touch Pro 2 with the 3.5mm audio jack.

My friend for got to shut his off and was horrified when I told him all the places he had visited that day. There are some people who like the idea of being able to monitor where your child is or what your spouse is really doing. There also situations where this could save someones life who is in harm. A more interesting question is are your movements stored somewhere somehow? If so, could these be used in legal case to prove guilt or innocence. I see many pros and cons.

I personally like this application. Google Maps with Latitude is an overall user friendly easy to use application with a great look and feel to it. The only thing needed here is turn by turn directions. This app blows Microsoft’s Live search right out of the water.