Since my other thread was closed (my bad, mods), I'll go ahead and add to this one...hope to help consolidate all the questions about pre-order.
My question/comment was and wasn't about pre-ordering. I can understand why VZW as a whole isn't taking pre-orders for the X due to the Incredible debacle. My concern regards online ordering...
What if someone wants to order their X online, like myself, thus sort of bypassing the rebate process? Will we have to wait till launch day to order online then wait an extra day to get the phone in-hand? Or might Verizon be generous and open the web site to online orders only on 7/14 which would allow for those folks that order online to get their's on launch day?
Maybe I'm just anxious/over-excited/whatever...I just remember Verizon did something like that for the Dare (which I currently have); they opened up the online orders a week prior to the in-store launch.
But the bigger thing is the rebate portion. Why pay $100 extra in-store then wait 2 months to get that $100 back on a gift card, when I could just go to the web site and have that $100 taken off to begin with in the instant online discount? In other words, if you go in-store and get the phone on a 2-year contract, you'll pay $299 (sans any NE2 discounts). Then you send in the receipts and all that, wait a couple months, and get $100 back in the form of a gift card. Whereas, if you go online, you order it and pay $199 for it right off the bat...that is, assuming it'll have the instant online discount just like every other phone listed.
I'm not a rebate person. If they're giving me the money back anyway, why not just do it up front? Eh...whichever. If waiting an extra day saves me $100, so be it.
There'd still be a ton of people that want to physically handle the phone and buy it that way instead of online.
