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If you are planning to pick up your shiny new HTC Thunderbolt from Best Buy, you will want to make it in to the store before the end of the week. Though the retailer has confirmed they will have the Thunderbolt in stock come March 17th at a price of $249.99 on a two-year contract, once March 20th rolls around the price jumps up to $299.99. It’s hard to believe anyone anticipating this handset will wait a few extra days after the constant teasing we have been put through over the past two months, but don’t say we didn’t tell you.
Best Buy® Confirms March 17 Availability for the HTC ThunderBolt 4G
MINNEAPOLIS, March 15, 2011 – Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) today confirmed that the HTC ThunderBolt 4G will be available to the public beginning March 17 in all Best Buy, Best Buy Mobile standalone stores and online at www.bestbuy.com/mobile. The HTC ThunderBolt 4G, a national retail exclusive for Best Buy, will be offered at a special launch price of $249.99 through Saturday, March 19, including all pre-orders. Beginning March 20, the price will be $299.99.
“The HTC ThunderBolt has generated a lot of excitement for us since it was announced,” said Scott Anderson, head of merchandising for Best Buy Mobile. “Customers have already spoken loud and clear – people want this phone, and we’re excited to deliver it on March 17.”
Best Buy Mobile has rapidly become a leading destination for mobile technology purchases with the most smart phones under one roof, and one of the largest selections of carriers, handsets and accessories available anywhere. In addition, Best Buy Mobile offers an array of services aimed at improving the mobile phone buying experience, including:
Upgrade Checker: A quick and easy service that gives customers the ability to see when they are eligible for their next phone upgrade. When the upgrade time is nearing, customers receive a complimentary reminder call, e-mail or text message.
Walk Out Working™: Free in-store smart phone setup by a Best Buy Mobile Phone Specialist who will sync personal email accounts, set up Bluetooth headsets, transfer contacts and activate other services to allow the customer to leave the store with a fully functional new smart phone.
Buy Back: Consumers can take advantage of the new Buy Back Program, which provides convenient access to upgrades with the help of a Best Buy gift card from “buying back” past purchases. Click here for more information on how customers can utilize the Buy Back Program when purchasing a smart phone like the HTC ThunderBolt.
For more information or to find a Best Buy or Best Buy Mobile standalone store in your area, visit www.bestbuy.com/mobile or www.BestBuyMobile.com.
They are out of their minds.
Ah, taking the Xoom strategy, I see.
“Well, people love smartphones and they’ll buy it even if it is $100 more than the standard!”
Yea right. They are just trying to get the pre-orders to come in ASAP and they are using fear to do it. No way do they increase the price when it’s cheaper to buy it at a verizon store. It’ll be $199 in 30 days.
ou can pre-order at wirefly for $199.99
you can pre-order at wirefly for $199.99 for thr TB
@ctd It is $199 with a 2yr contract on wirefly
Horrible idea. Personally, I think $250 is too much. For better or worse, $200 has become the standard for top tier smartphones.
GUYS…ARE YOU SICK AND TIRED OF TYPING IN THE NAMES OF 10 WEBSITES A DAY TO GET YOUR LATEST ANDROID NEW??? GO TO Android-alert.com TO GET YOUR ANDROID NEWS FROM ALL OVER THE WEB….THIS IS NOT SPAM ONCE AGAIN Android-alert.com THE TOP SPOT FOR ALL YOUR ANDROID NEWS
So I don’t understand. BB will match the price of any other store correct? So how does this $300 have any effect past the 20th if you can just price match verizon’s $250 price?
hey BB, F you!
Nice move, Best Buy. Just keep driving away your potential customers, it’s not like you are already facing a massive loss.
Dude it is just another EVO-lution Htc has rebranded so stop acting like its the end all – be all of phones. 300 is way too steep, but for Verizon its about right.
There is absolutely NO WAY should people should buy this phone for that price. It’s a $149 phone, $199 MAX. Especially since the DATA plans will be higher priced too. PLEASE everyone… be STRONG and hold out until they are forced to lower the price. Don’t be bullied. The INSPIRE on AT&T is only $99.00, the Atrix on AT&T is only $199, the Evo on Sprint is $199 (odd, it was cheaper 2 weeks ago). They WILL lower the price, it’s a gurantee… hopefully people will be smart enough to wait so they don’t get ripped off. Just keep reminding yourself how long it took them to release the phone and how they never addressed the delays with an official statement. I get that it’s a nice phone. I’ve been reading about it DAILY and wanting it for 2 months… but will wait even longer if I have to.
$299 for an Evo? Somebody needs to tell HTC they’re way behind the competition and nobody’s going to buy this pos.
For that price it might be better to buy the Thunderbolt outright and not bother with a contract, and save the upgrade for an iPhone5 or Bionic.
This device is an embarrassment to Android as a whole. From the lack luster specs to the outrageous price. Is there anyone out there that is excited at all about this turd?
For 256more ram and the new htc sense that means 249.00 on the 17th or 300.00 on March 20th this is NOTHING MORE THAN A WELFARE VERSION OF MY KING EVO 4G and verizon is a ”RIP OFF AS WELL”.. With the next wave of devices IE.. EVO 2,GALAXY S2, LG OPTIMUS G2X, LG OPTIMUS 3D, SAMSUNG INFUSE 4G, NEXUS S 4G.. Thunderbolt is OLD NEWS LAST YEARS NEWS TO BE EXACT….
CORRECTION… Verizon’s press release says the Unlimited 4g Data plan is still $29.99… plus there is a 32GB card pre-installed…. that card would cost $30 bucks if you had to go buy it yourself… so that knocks a little off the price. The Inspire comes with an 8GB only.
$299 = Fail
So refresh my memory, why would I be interested in this phone? Even $250 is too much for a phone, don’t understand the overpricing on this or the Xoom.
I thought about the Best Buy price match but looked at the fine print. Best Buy will not match online prices and will only match a lower advertised price, which means that Verizon would half to send out a newspaper add or other local print add in order for Best Buy to match the price. I agree the $199 should be the max and I would go with wirefly at that price, wirefly includes free shipping.
Just another battery hungry piece of SHIT. Just like the HTC Evo on Sprints 2G network.
It’s not an OLD news phone really. There is 1 dual core phone out, only 1. Sure, there will be more… but that doesn’t make the Thunderbolt OLD. There are phones from last year that are STILL excellent phones, the EVO, the Droid X, the Incredible to name a few. They’re STILL awesome phones that have had their kinks worked out and have proven themselves worthy. The Thunderbolt is going to be a great phone. The problem really is that it’s being priced as a major step up… but it isn’t really one. It’s got mostly the same specs as phones that are already out. It may have a few improvements over some, but it also has a few less features than some (WVGA screen, no HDMI, small battery). HTC makes great phones though. Calling the Thunderbolt OLD or outdated is just ignorant.
Well said, Rex.
The only spec on this phone that disappoints for me personally is the battery. Everything else suits me just fine.
screw all you Thunderbolt hatters
300 bucks for an updated Evo? Hahaha
How much was the Evo when it came out? I think I paid like $199 after a mail-in rebate ($299 before the rebate) for my Original Moto Droid and that was almost 2 years ago. The EVO is one of the BEST phones ever release according to reviews and sales… so it isn’t THAT far-fetched of a price. It’s $50 too much… but remember it also comes with the 32GB card already. That said… I’d still wait for the price to drop.
Okay folks. Best Buy needs to figure out their pricing as the link below shows that from Best Buy Mobile the price is $99.99 with a 2 year contract. Is there anyone that can confirm or deny this?
http://www.bestbuymobile.com/device/htc-thunderbolt-4g-verizon
Plus this is a second gen snapdragon which had been rated twice as fast a the processor in the evo. I get sick of people saying it is just an evo, it kill s the evo in bench marks. Personally I am holding out for a while as my droid incredible will hold me for a not longer.
just got to ebay. $50 best buy cards are selling for 44-47 bucks. You practically get your money back. I would recommend selling your preorder card on ebay and just pick the phone up on wirefly and save yourself almost 50 bucks and you are boycotting BB’s lame 300 dollar to scare preorders from buying. That just pisses me off that they would take advantage of people like that.
$300 is a rip off especially with contract, but you must realize that the vast majority of consumers are clueless when it comes to technology. They see people hypying up the latest and greatest gadgets and they want to fall in line and pay up. Why blame best buy just cause they are trying to squeeze some extra $ into there bottom line. Yes, you can get it cheaper online but most people want that feeling of taking that brand new phone home and showing it off, and best buy is charging for that premium. They are a business and trying to make money, so STFU and stop complaining. If you don’t like it buy online, nobody is forcing you to pay $300.
Spoiler alert:
This phone will not sell well.
HA HA how much better can this be from the Inspire. I got my Inspire for $99 and others are retailing it for as low as $49. This is highway robbery.
What’s the matter with you guys? Did you forget that this phone is 4g capable and it has 40gb of memory pre-installed hmmm.yep $250 sounds good to me. Last time I checked apple is selling their 32gb iphone with 2 yr. Contract for $299.00 so drop the issue with the price being too high you picky bastards
@whap… Benchmarks is not what makes a phone I hate people strung out on benchmarks… Please this IS NO EVO and neither is your incredible for that matter… The Evo 4g put 4g on the map and made people realize how great the granddaddy of 4g has been all these 10 months later… EVO RULES only thing that will ever be better is the Htc Evo 2…….NOTHING ELSE…… DEFINITELY NOT THUNDERBOLT
Shit is last years cream of the crop… Who wants to be locked in to a year old phone for two more years! -__- I’ll be rocking the evo 2 thanks.
Richard, learn what 4G is lol. Sprint and their highway phones aren’t 4g lol. Good luck getting a decent signal on a terrible network lol
And why are you people compairing the evo so much or praising the evo2? Its a phone on a different, much, much more crappier network
@Ddub amen brother
I thought the days of $300 for a subsidized smartphone (outside of Apple) were over. Oh well.
DDub, i wouldnt pay attention to richard, he cant spell the names of the other phones and EVO is simple enough for him to figure out. saying that sprint is the grandfather of 4g might be true in the sense that they were first to name a phone with the 4g tag. i keep asking richard this question here(dont think he is smart enough to read it) the question is:if clearwire and WiMax is so good, why is sprint trying to aqquire LTE? it a rather simple question, one that you cant avoid if you claim that Wimax is so much better. Verizon is already getting 12mbs down and over 5 up, and we aren’t talking theoretical speed, we are talking actual speeds here. I purpose this, richard, go take your evo, find a sprint tower, climb it, and see if you can touch 12 up or 5 down. ill eat crow if you can. other wise shit or get off the pot, either way just quit with the evo rules post. its not the best android phone out and will not be ever again. to say that the atrix doesnt murder this phone is pure stupidity or outright lies
oh and richard, you cant just come on here and say, take a screen shot, upload it, and post a link
LOL! Even @ $249.99 I wouldn’t buy this phone. The tbolt ALMOST got me to switch back to Verizon but I’ll definitely be passing now.
Oh corporate greed… Ironically, you have saved me money. Thank you. :D
@Richard– Dude you are obviously a fan boy tard. No network on the planet is true 4g least off all sprint. The only thing close is Verizon LTE. Anybody can sell a product and call it whatver they want. If I was sprint I can sell a phone and call it “8G” does not mean that it is, I just want fanboy tards like you to buy it and you do. Do us all a favor and go /wrist yourself right now!
Why all the hatred for the bolt? Other than games dual cores are not needed yet. I’m getting a bolt, switching from the evo and Sprint. Being in Detroit other than data rate the evo can handle anything I throw at it. I’m skipping dual cores, going for next years quad cores. They need to slow down the exponential growth of hardware and let software catch up.
Again .. just ignore Richards post. Stop feeding the troll
@ adam bollian
You sir is a smart man. Im doing the same. Get the thunderbolt, skip all this dual core bullshit, then get the quad cores at the end of the year.
$300?? Uh oh, looks like somebody has been importing people from Motorola’s pricing department…
Umm a 32 Gb micro sd card costs like $100 retail… stop complaining this is a 40 gb phone for $249… buy it at Verizon not Best buy…. also.. Verizon has not had a phone this great yet.. sooo please stop whining about it!
The way I see it:
Would rather have: Higher resolution screen, Skype out of the box, free mobile hotspot (then again…root, what?) larger battery as standard (Evo has been a tad painful in this regard…will 2nd gen help…we…shall…see…)
Do not care: dual core (not yet time for this without future Android version)
Psyched about: $30 Unlimited LTE, 2nd gen processor, jump to Verizon, simultaneous voice data on 3G and coming VoLTE, Netflix on my phone
Math: New 2 yr deal with V: $200 Tbolt from Wirefly + $33 tax + overnight shipping – $50 from selling 32gb micro SD (already have one) – $300 from selling used Evo – $150 Sprint ETF = total cost to Dom of $33.
Verdict: Yes, please, I’ll have one.
Wat. Is the diff between buying it at best buy or vzw
@ Adam bolian – Well said. I agree with you and a.k. 100%; I have no need for a dual-core phone at the moment, and I laugh when I read silly nonsense like “no dual-core? FAIL!” I don’t think most people understand what dual core is beyond that “it haz twice as many core things den teh old version so dat must mean iz 2x as fast, will play xbox360/PS3 games and project holograms”. It is defintely a great step forward, however, how many apps are optimized for dual-core? I’m going to give the TBolt a shot, if it doesn’t work well, or I hate it, I’ll give it back. If I like it, I’ll keep it, if something comes along that I think is really cool, I’ll just buy it, it’s really as simple as that. How many people are goping to hold out for quad-core when dual-core is more commonplace by the end of summer? As you mentioned; chances are, if you have a higher-end phone, it’ll probably handle anything you throw at it. I also thought it odd that no one brought up the fact that the TBolt is based on 45nm architecture in the whole “EVO vs. TBolt” crap. As for Netflix – I have LED TVs for that, I’m not watching a 2 or 3 hour movie on a 4.3″ screen, I don’t care if it’s running 7680×4320 resolution @ 120000Hz.
As a.k. mentioned, don’t even read Richard’s posts; I stopped reading them myself about a week ago. The guy is a 46 year-old differently abled person and posts his insane Sprint/EVO nonsense just to get attention. If we all just ignore him, hopefuilly, he’ll give up when he sees that no one gives a crap about his mindless drivel.
BB just called me to schedule an appointment on Thursday bc of all the crazy orders they’re getting!
I just fell on my EVO. Mommy take it out. I’m such a douche!!!!
Maybe Steve Jobs will hire me. I have no prospects in life.. my ego is about as big as his, and I’m sure to die of rectal cancer pretty soon.
Just call me Dick Yarrell.
Local Beast Buy has no information for my preordered t-bolt. I online chatted with Beast Buy mobile and even quoted the Beast Buy quote in this article. The chat representative told me that they were told today that Beast Buy still does not have a confirmed release date!
Wow this Richard Guy really has some issues with anything that is not an evo
~Snickers~ Well its always great to see the church of Evo going on strong. Lets see this is something like Evo being the father and Evo shift being the son and the Evo 3d be the Holy Ghost?.. So according to the Rev. of the Church of Evo, would the Thunderbolt be the Anit-christ as it is not on the Sprint network.
But in all seriousness people if they want something bad enough they will spend crazy cash for it. Heck for all we know it could be worth it in that it already has LTE going strong unlike Sprint who promised 4g and did not deliever, which was seriously not cool. But in the end like discussed P.T. Barnum had it right A sucker is born every minute.
Good news have you heard about or mighty and righteous shiny phone the EVO which has come to deliver us from the wireless sins and the pit of torment that would be any phone and network that is not in the protection of our Lord EVO 4g in the kingdom of Sprint.. Can I get an Can you hear me now from the choir? Now toggle in your apps and find the book Android Psalms chapter23 and say it with me.
HTC Evo is my shepard and I shall not want,
He gives me clearwire 4g and a multitude of apps over half I shall never use.
HTC maketh me to lay down at night and look at my notification bar to see if they have given me a new OTA update and I trust him that it shall not bricketh my phone.
Yay tho I walk through the valley of the shaddow of the internet I will fear no evil because the HTC Evo is immune to all.
The Evo is my key to salvation in the digital age…
If you are using any phone that is not the HTC Evo repent and get right with the HTC Evo.. the revival is coming daddy is comming home with the HTC Evo 3d.
Hail The reverend Evo Shift
Can I get an “Amen”?
Everyone should pay their tithes and respect to the Holy ones’ Thunderbolt!
——————————————–
for double that price, you could have gotten your very own iPad 2!
the 16GB iPad 2 3G with AT&T or just Wifi alone
jeez
Why all the hate on the EVO? I love how people say their 4G network is fake. Who gives a crap? It’s still pretty damn fast. I can download a song and open a webpage in seconds. So what if LTE is a few seconds faster on download. You guys are nuts. It’s just phones!!! If you think its worth it buy it. If not wait and the price will drop or another great Android phone will be released in a month or two.
Christ on a cracker!! Life is to short.
LTE doesn’t just mean fast dloads. It means the potential of watching live TV events on your phone. Never miss a game when you’re on the go.
When I got to #59, I was caught off-guard and the soda I was drinking came out of my nose. LMAO
@#61 John Boy, I don’t think anyone actually hates the EVO, it’s just that certain people like it so much, it’s actually creepy and weird. Sift thru comment threads for the past few days, you’ll see it.
GOT MY Att Atrix 4g for 199.00. Inspire 4g 99$ up next is the Infuse 4g 199.00. Think Verizon is Loosing their touch trying to sell their LTE 4g device. Even though ATT have yet to turn on the switch for 4g but I get good signal every where I go. I THINK Best Buy screw the consumer for not keeping the price@ 249 but CHARGE 299 WTF.
That richard yarrel guy is a fucking fan boy. Your network sucks go cry. Also atrix>evo by FAR
ORDERED: I bought from wirefly, $199.99, no tax free shipping. Ship’s the 17th
Called the local verizon store and getting it tomorrow at 9am.. I am currently have a droid x but kinda getting bored… been waiting for htc 4.3 phone from verizon and it’s about time! Only part I am worried its the battery life… lets hope for the best