RSSSamsung Instinct tops Best Buy sales
By Tim Conneally | Published July 10, 2008, 5:48 PM
Best Buy announced this week that the Samsung Instinct from Sprint has become the retailer's best selling handset of the last two years, apparently outselling all 95 other phones the retailer carries.
It's quite an understandable feat, though, since Best Buy is the device's exclusive non-Sprint retail provider.
This announcement echoes Sprint's of several weeks ago that said the Instinct had become the company's fastest selling EV-DO handset of all time. Unfortunately, neither of these announcements had accompanying numbers to provide a hard perspective.
With a two-year contract and accompanying rebates, the Instinct's $449.99 MSRP drops to $129.99 through Best Buy. The retailer also offers a setup and personalization program for those who want to have the device firing on all cylinders as soon as their purchase is complete.
The Instinct is being pushed hard by both companies, and an "Instinct vs. iPhone" viral marketing campaign attempts to illustrate various ways Samsung's device is superior to Apple's popular phone.
Commenters are quick to point out that the comparison is between a 3G and 2G device, at least for the next 24 hours, and the playing field will be level after Apple's new handset is released.
Since sales figures are currently unavailable it is difficult to gauge actual popularity of the Instinct. However, the 3,240-member Instinct-Samsung message board appears to be populated mostly by satisfied customers. Outside of reported issues with the onboard MP3 player, complaints are few.
I'm sure when they first see the device, they really like it.
I had a few minutes to try it while waiting for the sales person to search for something else and it's much better than earlier Samsung phones but it's still not anywhere near intuitive.
In the very broadest of views, it might target the same market, but it's a crude, inflexible look-alike of iPhone. What it has going for it is Sprint's data network because that reaches much, much, much further than AT&T's 3G network.
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|Two of my friends bought this thing and both have returned it. The thing is buggy and the usability is horrible.
They both are now buying an iPhone.
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|I also think same like pnutts
http://www.magnewin.com
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|I'm sure owners of this phone are happy until they call Sprint for support.
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|And you're basing that statement on extensive first-hand knowledge?
I have an Instinct, I'm very happy with it so far, and for the minor problem I had, I called customer service and they resolved the problem within a couple minutes.
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|Bob Johnson (Sprint's Chief Service Officer) just released a statement regarding customer service after the huge outcry they received.
http://forums.buzzaboutw...ments&thread.id=501
It seems that they've realized their mistake and they've made huge improvements. I can't vouch for recent customer service improvements. I know that when I've gotten an overseas CSR (or someone outsourced that's not directly employed by Sprint), it's always a horrible experience. If you get a US CSR, they generally go out of their way to help you and they usually know what they're talking about.
I really don't have to call CS a lot and I'm happy with my $49 plan that gets me unlimited texts, EVDO Rev. A, sprint to sprint calling, nights and weekends and 1250 minutes.
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