Taiwanese economic minister gets involved in the HTC/Apple debacle
By now, most of us are aware that Apple has successfully delayed the launch of the HTC EVO 4G LTE in the US by claiming that the device infringes upon one of its patents. And while HTC claims that the issue has been fixed and is taking the matter to court in the hopes of getting it resolved sometime this week, Taiwanese Minister of Economic Affairs Shih Yen-Shiang has stepped forward to offer the company assistance with its foreign litigation, if it needs it.
Meanwhile, Sprint is instructing its front-line employees that preorder cancellations are no longer possible, and that it expects to begin shipping units to customers early next week.
The full text of Sprint's latest communication to its employees can be read below.
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.
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- '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.
