By 
A new internal screen scooped from Best Buy is showing some distressing info about the HTC Thunderbolt. No, it has nothing to do with a delayed or not delayed launch that could happen on February 14th or 24th. Instead, it concerns the average retail pricing of the Thunderbolt off-contract. Best Buy has this pegged at a steep $749.99.
That just about tops most other off-contract smartphones, but there has to be hope this figure isn’t the actual retail price. Again, they are calling it the average retail price. Of course, we don’t know Verizon’s idea on pricing out their 4G devices in plans just yet, so this could become a new standard on Big Red. Here is a tip: buy it on-contract and you won’t even have to worry about that ugly looking $749.99.
[via AndroidPolice]
Ahahahaha, ahahahhahahahahahahahahahahaha. K I’m done.
WOW that’s an expensive price! Good thing I’m upgrading my 2 year contract to get my Thunderbolt.
Woaaaaa! Is a $500 laptop dock available too?!
Yeah, they try charging that for the Thunderbolt and I’ll be returning my “deposit” gift card .. NO way I’m paying that price outright. And I don’t have an upgrade until July. If that’s the price that is. Who knows WTF the price will be as it’s all leaks and speculation at this point.
Lol this is right, i just looked in our system it shows the same thing.
That’s probably just Best Buy, they have the Evo still priced at $599 of contract. It was $449 at sprint day 1
ok?! what is the “on contract” price?
Seriously..Screw this. I am not locking myself into another 2 yr contract with a Verizon version of an EVO.
I will wait a few more months and stick to my shitty BB Curve.
If you look it still shows an in-stock date of 2/14 on the bottom left corner.. or maybe I’m being too hopeful :)
So just about the same price as a Xoom? wow….just wow.
whoa, i guess i will be getting my money back from Best Buy.
Wow it is an expensive phone, it’d better be able to cook food for me.
This is not the htc thunderbolt this is something else
it says brightstar not HTC
this is a fake i mean, dont look at my first post.
wrong id number for the phone
thanks for the laugh
Thats just suggested retail it wont be anywhere near that price ! come on people ???
This getting more hilarious by the day.I thought the Android software was meant to be free,so wtf are they charging so high for these devices..Someone pls explain to me,or are my missing something.
wow, what an absolute joke. This phone better be able to give bj’s and brew the world’s finest beer for that price.
Assuming the other figures on that screenshot are correct, then there is no way it will release at $749. If cost is $385, that is a nearly 200% mark up. If employee cost is really $404.25, there is not a chance it will release at $749. It will be priced out of the market and will not sell.
WTF!! Wait for it…wait for it….I am getting a premenition….Extra!!..Extra!!…..Best Buy files for bankruptcy………..LOL
Holy sweet bajeezus! Doesn’t seem to hard to believe though considering the VZW price for the iPhone outright is $650! Thank God I’m on T-Mobile where ALL of their phones are under$500
Maybe it’s to catch all those iPhone 4 Verizon users who missed the return window because VZW pushed the Thunderbolt back but their Apple users so they have cash coming out of their ears and they’ll gladly pay $750 for a faster phone than the 3G Verizon iPhone and one that can do voice and data at the same time…
It says it will be on stock on February 14th!
Check out the Wirefly webpage too. In the q&a about pre ordering the tbolt it says it will ship on the 13th which they say is the official verizon launch day. But they do say it is subject to change.
What the eff David blaine!
I wish I thought id pay that for a phone that cost more than the brand new laptop I’m buying this weekend with a 640gb hard drive and 17.3 inch monitor… Fools done lost they mind somebody better tell them there are other carriers…
Sprint will probably sell the phone for about 600.00 without contract. Best Buy probably knows a 500.00 price point doesn’t discourage people from buying the phone outright but 750.00 will. Just another underhanded tactic to get people to buy the phone on contract.
Who the F pays 750 bucks for a cell phone that will be outdated in 6 months? Do people actually do that? Is signing a contract that hard for some people? I guess some folks have money that I cant even fathom.
That’s in Xoom over-priced territory. Good luck with that.
i side with Dude,
how old is that screenshot? saw the same thing on Androidcentral–with a good observation that since it still states the old StreetDate, it’s probably estimated pricing.
i’m still holding out for $199/$249.
pipe dream? possibly…i don’t care
Here’s a better tip, pull the sales guy aside, hand him $50, and tell him you want the $404 off contract employee price. Walk out with the phone for $454 AND no contract.
If you didn’t want to be locked into 2 years, why wouldn’t you just buy it on contract for 250, pay the ETF ($350?) when you want to cancel, and still be $150 ahead of this price?
ha this is hilarious if this is indeed the full retail. You can get a pretty damn good laptop for that price smh
@nyr I think ETF for Verizon is $175… so good idea. You can probably sell the phone on eBay for $200 by then.
Just left my local BB store. The manager (who I’ve known for over 3 years) said they will be selling the Thunderbolt on Sunday 2/13. She also said that the iPhone isn’t selling NEARLY as well as they forecasted!!! She had all her employees come in today and sent all but two home early because there was no big rush of people like they were expecting!!!!
I spoke with one of my good friends who happen to work at best buy and he assures me the release date for this phone will be the 14th.
This is what happens when someone get’s an exclusive.
The HTC Thunderbolt needs to be available from other brick and mortar retailers for the “average” retail price to drop.
Somebody correct me if I’m wrong, but does that mean you will get 60% of that back with the bestbuy buy back program if returned in the first 6 months? So about $449? If so I could live with that considering the buy back is free this time.
I wonder if this is just that price in the Best Buy system to prevent stores from selling it early. From my retail experience, companies sometimes do that for stuff that isn’t supposed to be released until a certain date. I remember a couple of $100 items being listed at $999.99 until the day they are allowed to be sold.
bby discount ooh got someone that works there
As with every other new phone that comes out, wait a few weeks and the price will drop by half, or after a month be offered at wirefly for a penny on contract. That price is a joke, especially since LTE is only available in a few select markets at the moment.
if i remember correctly, this doesn’t even have the dual core in it does it? if it doesn’t then it’s not worth the money. i understand that these phones are becoming more and more like computers, doing just about everything a computer does. however, the one perk about them was the price, but at 750 a pop, that has gone out the window. hell, even a tab isn’t that expensive. the prices of these phones are getting to be a little bit ridiculous. unless they offer a good price on and off contract, they won’t sell as many as they would like. it won’t beat the droid phones at that price.
Wirefly’s pre-order price guarantee is the best, but notice they pulled down any reference to launch dates :-(
U guys do know in Nov 09 the og droid’s retail was 749.99
@ Jim:
Just can’t get the iPhone off your brain can u??? Lol!
Hahahahaha. Oh man *wipes eyes* $750?! Sure its an LTE phone, but $750?! How much are the dual and quad core phones going to cost? $2000? What the hell are they smoking? I could see $600 off-contract, refurb OG Droids are still $550 on vzw’s site, but that still doesnt justify $750. As others have mentioned, you could just sign the contract and pay the ETF. That cant be right unless verizon is going to raise the ETF to $500. If that happens, good luck with new customers – no matter how good your network is.
buen dia una pregunta. cuando venden celulares sin contrato, ¿los celulares son desbloqueados para cualquier operador? o luego yo tengo pagar para desbloquearlos
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good day a question. when they sell phones without a contract(off-contract), do the phones are unlocked to any network? and then me I have to pay to unlock
So it costs them $385 and they are selling it for double the price?
^ Apple sells its old hardware, more than tripling its $187 cost.
^ Apple sells its outdated hardware, more than tripling its $187 cost. So what?
Wow, I could build another gaming computer for that much money. It better wipe my ass, cook dinner and do some other amazing crap for that price. Phones are truly getting ridiculously priced in general, not to mention the retarded required voice plans for anything reasonable when I just want it for data only and can use skype mobile or something similar for 3/month. Sad anybody fuels these companies and their pricing schemes, but that’s consumerism! Especially in the good ol’ US of A.
Curious question, best buy does price matching so if Verizon retail is less than best buy then do u think they would price match. I am stuck with buying from Verizon otherwise I would just get it from Verizon.
Correction stuck with buying from best buy not Verizon
I spoke with Best Buy this morning. They do not know when they will actually get the HTC THUNDERBOLT. Was the 14th but delayed by Verizon due to iPhone 4 push. Best Buy will take pre-orders but the lady on the phone was not sure of price of $250 vs. $299.