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Verizon offers $25 gift card as reparation for Incredible delays

Section: Communications, Cellphones, Cellular Providers, Smartphones

Verizon’s finally doing something good in this whole Droid Incredible saga.  Basically, if you ordered the Droid Incredible before or on June 28, you are eligible to receive a letter of apology from Verizon!  Hooray!  All sarcasm aside, Verizon will be giving you a $25 gift card “as a way of saying ‘thank you.’ ” The generic letter Verizon will be emailing can be read below:

Dear Valued Customer,

Thank you for your recent order of the DROID Incredible by HTC. Due to overwhelming demand for this innovative device, we are currently experiencing inventory delays. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and are working to resolve this issue.

If your order shipping date was June 28 or prior, you may experience an additional delay of up to 7 business days. We will send an update with tracking information once your device has been shipped. If you have already
received your device, please disregard this notice.

Your satisfaction is important to us, so we’re also sending you a $25 Verizon Wireless gift card which may be redeemed online or at any Verizon Wireless retail store as a way of saying “thank you” for your patience in
this matter. No additional action on your part is required – we will send the gift card to the address you provided with your order in the next two weeks.

If you have further questions regarding your order, please contact Verizon Wireless customer service by dialing *611 from your mobile or calling 800-922-0204.
Regards,

As we noted yesterday, the phone is now delayed to ship until July 28, which is pretty ridiculous.  Personally, I would prefer $25 in cash or even my phone delivered on time, but it is still a nice gesture by Verizon to offer some sort of compensation. 

Via [AndroidCentral]

Full Story » | Written by Natesh Sood for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »

Microsoft Kin One and Two UK launch killed

Microsoft has decided not to launch the Kin One and Kin Two in the UK – and has decided to scrap the whole project altogether.

TechRadar was present at the launch of the Kin phones in San Francisco in May, where Microsoft was very bullish about this new product category, which even had its name on it.

We’re now worried that we’re bad omens, as Microsoft has issued the following statement, confirming that the Kin phone project will be rolled into Windows Phone 7 amid rumours of poor handset sales:

“We have made the decision to focus exclusively on Windows Phone 7 and we will not ship KIN in Europe this fall as planned.

Rolling in the Kin

“Additionally, we are integrating our KIN team with the Windows Phone 7 team, incorporating valuable ideas and technologies from KIN into future Windows Phone releases. We will continue to work with Verizon in the U.S. to sell current KIN phones.”

The Kin One and Kin Two packed a lot of high-tech hardware into a phone that was primarily aimed at students and those in their early twenties… consumers Microsoft had decided were the most likely to be social network addicts, really.

Sales must have been awful for the project to be scrapped six weeks into launch – a shame we’re never going to get to see them over here then.

Popular iPhone games stay highly-ranked only for a few weeks

Clue is a renewable resource

Windows Phone 7 apps to have trial options

Microsoft will offer developers the option to implement a ‘try before you buy’ option on apps for Windows Phone 7.

At a recent briefing with Microsoft, TechRadar was told that one problem with free versions of applications on other app stores is people will install the trial, take a quick look then uninstall.

When asked to rate, the results are invariably low - therefore by placing both the free trial version of the app and the full price version together, the end rating will better reflect the quality.

Microsoft also promised us there would be ‘enough applications on day one of the Windows Phone [7] launch’ and that no longer would the phone interface simply be a ’sea of icons’.

Apple stranglehold

Questions were also raised about the stranglehold Apple has on the big brand-backed applications, from the likes of Tom Tom and Nike.

But Microsoft also moved to allay these fears, stating: “We’ve got many brands who we already have business with us on a very large scale [from other platforms], so we’re already connected to them.

“Now we’re focusing on mobile we can use those connections and many of these applications [from big brands] will be coming at launch.”

Microsoft is still stating a ‘pre-Christmas’ Windows Phone 7 UK release date, however we expect that to come perhaps a little earlier, with the end of October being rumoured.

This would make a lot of sense, given this is the beginning of the pre-Christmas rush, so we could be seeing new Microsoft-powered phones in four months’ time.