HTC EVO 4G LTE - 5/25 Official Launch

Just as tens of thousands of you are peeking out your windows watching for the UPS truck, as your phone is out for delivery today, we have received official confirmation:

Tomorrow, Friday 5/25/12 WILL be the official national launch day for the HTC EVO 4G LTE.

UPDATED AT  AM

This has been assumed since yesterday, but could not confirm until just now.

 

@CustomsBorder Twitter blows up 9,900% - Makes News!

Apparently some government worker was overheard saying "OMG they're talking to us on twitter - what do we do!"

Thanks to a tip from a fan, OhMyGov is reporting...

Last week the US Customs and Border Protection, a branch of theDepartment of Homeland Security, created some online controversy by locking down all HTC EVO 4G LTE and HTC One X mobile devices as the agency investigates if the devices are still breaking Apple patents.

The US Customs investigation dates back to an order by the US International Trade Commission (ITC) last December that found HTC guilty of violatingApple patent 5946647 - a patent related to detecting data items within otherwise unformatted content. However, it appears that the patent wars have just started.

In the past few days tech savvy Twitter users have been airing out their frustration with Customs and Border Protection, creating much buzz around the otherwise unnoticed agency. Campaigns were started on Twitter using the hashtags #FreemyEVO and #CBPevo, encouraging agency to release the phones.

Mentions to the US Customs Twitter handle, @CustomsBorder, were up 9,900% yesterday over Thursday because of the lock down, skyrocketing from 26 mentions to 2,600. Unfortunately for @CustomsBorder, most of the mentions express frustration with the agency versus praise.

So, YES, we were noticed.. just in case you wondered :)

 

HTC EVO 4G LTE: Cleared by Customs

It would appear that customs has cleared the HTC EVO 4G LTE. According to the TaiPei Times:

"In a twist to the US’ import ban on various HTC Corp (宏達電) smartphones, the company yesterday said some of its products blocked by US customs because of patent-infringement concerns had been allowed to enter the US market after passing the customs’ review."

I have not seen anything internally yet as far as shipping dates, but I would expect to have that info either later tonight or super early in the morning. I do know there were several plans drafted based on when they would be cleared, so I'll get that info and match it up and see where we're at. Hang tight, it's going to be a fast paced next 24 hours! :) And who knew customs worked on the weekend for commercial stuff!

Thanks to about 200 people that sent me this article! I was out at brunch and having drinks with some friends on a lazy day, and had no expectations of anything breaking today :) At least now I've got some snooping to do.

 

So, you want to cancel your pre-order of the HTC EVO 4G LTE?

This is a question that I've gotten a lot in the past couple of days - How can I cancel my pre-order? Normally, that would be a very easy answer, because in any other normal situation, you really couldn't 'cancel' a pre-order other than refusing shipment once it's arrived. But these are certainly not 'normal' times, are they? Never before in the many years that I've been here have we ever found ourselves in this situation. So for that reason, things have changed multiple times over the past few days regarding how cancellations are handled for this particular situation. And they could change again, but for the time being, you're witnessing a huge corporation do something that it rarely does - make changes based on customer need/response in near real-time (trust me when i say these changes would normally takes weeks or months to roll out). For you that's probably boring and not the point, but for some of us, it's history in the making. If nothing else, I hope we will have learned a few things from this ordeal as a company, and make some changes to both policies and communications. Maybe I'm dreaming. But anyways.. onto why you're here.

So... if you realllllly need to cancel your pre-order, you can now do so. But before you decide to do that, let me say that I fully expect this phone to be in our hands by next week. And I'm also waiting for my HTC EVO 4G LTE! So while I can make no promises, or give you any new info yet... If my mom asked me when she'd have her new EVO, I'd say next week.

But, if you can't wait, or have special circumstance, or are just really mad at the customs folks, there are ways to cancel your order. Here we go:

If you signed up for the DWL (Device Waiting List) at a Corporate Sprint Store:

• Customers who pre-ordered the device at a company-owned Sprint Retail Store purchased one $50 Sprint gift card to add their name to DWL for each device they wished to purchase.


• Customers can contact the store and request removal from the store’s DWL.


• Remind customers the Sprint gift card was a required purchase to be on the DWL. They are non-refundable, can be used to buy any device or accessory, and can be used to credit their Sprint bill.


• To recap, contact the store, they'll remove your name, and put the $50 towards your Sprint bill. 

If you pre-ordered for Direct Ship (sprint.com):

• Contact Order Support @ 866-789-8292 during the following business hours: Monday to Friday 8:00 am EST to 11:00 pm EST, and Saturday & Sunday 9:00 am EST to 9:00 pm EST.


• Explain you wish to cancel your pre-order, and you'll be warm-transferred to the escalations/helpdesk to process the request.
  
  
  
  • Should there be more than a 4 minute hold time for the esc desk, the agent should get their supervisor to email the request to a back office team that will handle the request.
  
  
  • Advise customer the credit card refund request has been submitted to the Refunds Department.
  
  
  • Once approved, the customer receives either an email or voice mail alerting them of the refund and the expected timeline. If not approved, the customer receives a phone call from Sprint
  
  
  
  

There you have it. I'm hoping that Monday we get some good news and I get to tell you good things, but I don't have a magic 8-ball into customs. I can tell you that I'll likely have knowledge of it as SOON as it happens, so you will be among the first to know :)

Federal Court orders Apple & HTC to Settlement Talks on 8/28/12

Thanks to Joey for the heads-up...  this morning, a Delaware based Federal Court has ordered Apple & HTC to settlement talks on August 28, 2012. Hang tight everyone, this could be a bumpy news day.

From Foss Patents Blog:

Today the United States District for the District of Delaware ordered the lawyers as well unspecified decision makers of Apple and HTC to meet in Delaware on August 28, 2012, to discuss a possible settlement. The talks will be moderated by Magistrate Judge Sherry R. Fallon.

I don't expect any major developments between now and the date set for this mediation effort that will put the necessary pressure on HTC to settle. HTC doesn't have to fear any major legal breakthrough for Apple (not counting preliminary rulings) for at least the remainder of this year, and it now has bigger problems than this litigation.

If the Delaware court really wanted to make a contribution to a near-term settlement, it should un-stay all those lawsuits except for those claims that are still pending at the ITC. Even if the court did that, the matter wouldn't be ripe for settlement by the summer, but then a mediation effort might succeed in early 2013.

Read the full post @ Foss Patents.

What's this mean for the near-term? Well none of us know what exactly went on in court this morning, and no one is reporting on the elephant in the room - but I do know that we have some sort of movement on the devices sitting in the warehouse - so as soon as I can confirm something in stone, it'll be here.

6AM Update: HTC Gets help from Economics Minister - & Warehouse Info

The sun isn't even up yet, so there's not any new information this early on the status, but there is one HTC update from overnight:

Taiwan Economics Minister offers assistance, if needed, to resolve current customs issues dealing with the Apple patent.

Taipei, May 17 (CNA) Minister of Economic Affairs Shih Yen-shiang said Thursday his ministry will provide smartphone vendor HTC Corp. with assistance, if necessary, to deal with the ongoing litigation on patent infringement brought against the Taiwanese firm by rival Apple Inc.

Shih told lawmakers at a legislative session that the ministry has kept in close touch with HTC to keep informed of the progress of the particular litigation.

Also, a question from the inbox overnight, asked by about 100 people...

Where is the sprint warehouse?/Do you have any info on the Sprint warehouse?

Those not in the industry may find this odd - but Sprint actually doesn't have a warehouse. At least not in the traditional sense. Our primary 'warehouse' is actually outsourced (as with almost everything in the enterprise) to UPS. It's UPS employees that run the operation, answer the phones, process the return kits, ship out your new phones, and yes they even do the basic phone repairs(Level 1-3). And it's almost entirely automated, in a 500,000 sq/ft space in Louisville, KY. And yes, there is a bonded customs area (foreign trade zone) within the complex as well, for international shipments(hint: think HTC). While I've never been there in person, I was able to find a couple of older articles about it, one of them cited "a highly automated UPS fulfillment system utilizing four pick modules which are three layers high and over 200 feet long.  Capacity is available to handle 65,000 orders a day". I'll try to dig around internally today and see what other info I can find on it, but as it's outsourced, I'm not sure just how munch info we have on the actual day to day operations, other than processes.

*UPDATE* Thanks to a tip from reader Dan - here's a video that gives a rare glimpse into the Sprint warehouse:
http://pressroom.ups.com/Video/UPS+Delivers+for+Sprint

Got a question you want answered? email it to me: inside.sprint.now@gmail.com

UPDATE: HTC EVO 4G LTE - Delayed Launch Status

As you know, over the past 24 hours we've been posting on the delayed launch of the HTC EVO 4G LTE.

as of 4:45PM, we are able to report:

• 'Pick and Pack' has now been completed on ALL pre-orders, therefore cancellation of orders is no longer possible.


• HTC has a judicial hearing scheduled this week, and we should have clearance to ship shortly thereafter.


• Unofficially, we should be shipping no later than the first of next week, likely sooner.

This is a very fluid situation, and we'll be updating throughout the evening as more is learned. Obviously a date can't be confirmed until the judicial review, however, internally the anticipation is a very quick resolution.

Previously:

Why you can't cancel your order / Full Launch Delay HTC EVO 4G LTE

Here's the official responses you'll get from care:

• Q: Can I cancel my pre-order?


• A: We can‘t cancel the pre-order at this time. Please wait for your shipment to be delivered. At that time you can either refuse deliver or call us for a return kit.


• Q: What do I do if the customer still insists on canceling their pre-order?


• A: Tell the customer we will try to have the shipment returned at the warehouse when shipping starts.
  
  
  
  • We are asking our Back-Office Escalations team to keep a track cancelation requests so that Return-to-Sender requests can be processed when ASNs begin processing.
  
  
  • If the RTS is unsuccessful we will have to arrange a call back to revert to an RMA with the customer.
  
  
  
  


• Q: When will HTC EVO 4G LTE be available to consumers?


• A:  We can’t provide specific timing for product availability at this time and we appreciate your patience as HTC works to get products on store shelves as soon as possible. Educate the customer to chek the HTC EVO LTE microsite (http://www.sprint.com/evo4glte) for the availability date.