Rumor Watch - Motorola Q9h Getting Cheaper and Possibly Replaced?

[Rocco Augusto]

http://www.wmexperts.com/articles/r..._cheaper_g.html

"The Motorola Q9h is still one of our all-time faves here at WMExperts HQ... between the Q9h and the BlackJack II: the Q9h is more expensive. Looks like that last part is getting slightly better, as we're seeing the after-contract price on AT&T's site down to $149 after rebate compared to the BJII's post-rebate price of $99. What about that first downfall? Well, we're hearing a funny little rumor courtesy of Eric: apparently some AT&T stores are not only running out of stock on the Q9h, the manager is actually telling folks that it's been discontinued. It's a long shot, but we know that the Q9h has appeared before with WiFi: supposedly some pre-release models had it and BGR's Q9h has it for sure. So dare to dream this Monday morning, but don't dare too much, we don't see this happening quite yet."



As someone who has worked on the floor slinging phones for many years, you can most likely chop this one up to the rumor heap. I wouldn't expect to see the Motorola Q9h discontinued anytime soon and more often than not the less ethical individuals on the sales floor will tell you whatever pops in their pretty little heads so you will purchase one of the phones in their store and not run off to another store to buy your new handset. This is one of the sad dirty little facts of the cellular world in the United States. Almost all sales associates are paid on commission so if you do not purchase something from them it can directly affect how much they make.

Now if AT&T suddenly drops the price of the Motorola Q9h to about $49.99 after mail-in rebate or lower then I would suggest worrying as that was Cingular's old mantra for getting rid of handsets that were going to be discontinued. At the current price we are seeing for this handset indicates that they are not expecting to push these out the door as quickly as possible or make room for an upgraded model… Though a Wi-Fi enabled Motorola Q9h would be most appreciated.

[Rocco Augusto]

http://www.wmexperts.com/articles/r..._cheaper_g.html

"The Motorola Q9h is still one of our all-time faves here at WMExperts HQ... between the Q9h and the BlackJack II: the Q9h is more expensive. Looks like that last part is getting slightly better, as we're seeing the after-contract price on AT&T's site down to $149 after rebate compared to the BJII's post-rebate price of $99. What about that first downfall? Well, we're hearing a funny little rumor courtesy of Eric: apparently some AT&T stores are not only running out of stock on the Q9h, the manager is actually telling folks that it's been discontinued. It's a long shot, but we know that the Q9h has appeared before with WiFi: supposedly some pre-release models had it and BGR's Q9h has it for sure. So dare to dream this Monday morning, but don't dare too much, we don't see this happening quite yet."



As someone who has worked on the floor slinging phones for many years, you can most likely chop this one up to the rumor heap. I wouldn't expect to see the Motorola Q9h discontinued anytime soon and more often than not the less ethical individuals on the sales floor will tell you whatever pops in their pretty little heads so you will purchase one of the phones in their store and not run off to another store to buy your new handset. This is one of the sad dirty little facts of the cellular world in the United States. Almost all sales associates are paid on commission so if you do not purchase something from them it can directly affect how much they make.

Now if AT&T suddenly drops the price of the Motorola Q9h to about $49.99 after mail-in rebate or lower then I would suggest worrying as that was Cingular's old mantra for getting rid of handsets that were going to be discontinued. At the current price we are seeing for this handset indicates that they are not expecting to push these out the door as quickly as possible or make room for an upgraded model… Though a Wi-Fi enabled Motorola Q9h would be most appreciated.

[ajwalker]

I agree Rocco;

SInce the Q9h hasn't been reporting any serious design flaws or performance issues (no exploding batteries, etc), it wouldn't make sense to discountinue the phone less than a year after introduction.

[mdrob70]

I love the Q9h tremendously and have been stopping by AT&T stores frequently to see when the WM 6.1 update will finally arrive. I was shocked when I went into my local store today to find that the Q9h had been pulled from the demo lineup. When I asked where the phone was, I was told that it was officially discontinued.

There was sliver of hope for it's return when the clerk said a new model may (and I emphasize "may") be replacing it at the end of the year.

A Q10? One can only hope . . .

[ajwalker]

Originally Posted by mdrob70

I love the Q9h tremendously and have been stopping by AT&T stores frequently to see when the WM 6.1 update will finally arrive. I was shocked when I went into my local store today to find that the Q9h had been pulled from the demo lineup. When I asked where the phone was, I was told that it was officially discontinued.

There was sliver of hope for it's return when the clerk said a new model may (and I emphasize "may") be replacing it at the end of the year.

A Q10? One can only hope . . .

Never, EVER, EVER trust what a rep says in a store.

They are historically the least informed and/or chronically misinformed people in the mobile phone business.

You'd be better off asking a random stranger on the street.

Instead of giving an honest "I don't know" they will say whatever comes off the top of their head that sounds good in the hopes to make another sale.

Motorola has a page on their site for when the download goes live to WinMo 6.1 and, if you are signed up with AT&T to get e-mail announcements, do this:

The day the upgrade is released, visit your AT&T store and ask them has it been released yet?

[dizz]

ye, it costs that money. but I better wait a little bit more...