Samsung Instinct Shortage Sends Sprint Scrambling

"The record pace of Instinct sales has led to temporary shortages of the device at some locations across the United States," Sprint said in a statement. "Sprint and Samsung are diligently working around the clock to increase inventory in all sales channels. Samsung has increased efforts to deliver new supplies of Instinct on a daily basis, and manufacturing plants are operating at full capacity to keep up with demand."

While the shortage of devices is a setback for Sprint, it's also an illustration that the wireless carrier has hit gold with Samsung Electronics' new Instinct, a touch-screen device that many industry analysts said could potentially be an iPhone killer.

The shortages can also be seen as an indicator that the smartphone-hungry masses are scooping up the Instinct. According to Sprint, since the mobile device hit store shelves it has become the fastest-selling EVDO handset in Sprint's history. Sprint said the Instinct was first made available to current Sprint customers on June 19, breaking records for the initial launch of any Sprint product. The following day, the Instinct was released to all customers and brisk sales continued. Sprint said the Instinct broke Sprint's record for the first week of sales for any device in its arsenal.

"We had high expectations going into the launch so our initial order to Samsung was the largest for any Sprint EVDO handset to date," John Garcia, president of Sprint's wireless division, said in a statement.

Sprint announced the Samsung Instinct in April at the CTIA Wireless show, looking to draw some attention away from the Apple iPhone's reign among touch-screen mobile devices. The Instinct is one of a number of devices released recently that fall into the bucket of iPhone clones; others include the Palm Centro, the HTC Touch Diamond and the rumored-to-be- up-and-coming BlackBerry Thunder from Research In Motion.

The Instinct is a full touch-screen device that uses Sprint's broadband network and EVDO Rev. A., which Sprint has said "speeds up the user experience like no other touch-screen phone," an obvious jab at iPhone's domination in the touch-screen space.

With the EVDO Rev. A network, peak download data rates can reach 3.1 Mbps and peak upload rates can hit 1.8 Mbps. Average download speeds on EVDO Rev. A can hit 600 Kbps to 1.4 Mbps and average uplink speeds between 350 Kbps and 500 Kbps.

While sales of the Instinct have been building steam, it remains to be seen whether it will cause a dent in the iPhone's dominance when Apple officially releases the 3G model of its iconic mobile device July 11. The Instinct does have an edge when it comes to price, with the Instinct coming in at just less than $130 with a two-year contract and $100 rebate and the 8 GB model of the 3G Apple iPhone carrying a $199 price tag.

To "experience the full capabilities of the device," however, Instinct users must activate an unlimited data plan with Sprint, which start at $69.99 per month for 450 minutes, the company has said.

In the statement Sprint said early indicators show that many Instinct users are buying the handheld mainly for e-mail access, Web browsing and GPS navigation with Live Search for Sprint to get access to directory information on the go. Along with those functions, the Instinct offers interactive maps, one-touch click to call access, picture sharing, live television and commercial-free radio.

Instinct also boasts other advanced features such as Visual Voicemail, which lets users listen to messages in their order of preference and manage them with a screen tap. The Instinct also features Bluetooth 2.0, SMS voice and text messaging with threaded text, picture caller ID, a 2.0 megapixel camera with camcorder, haptic feedback, expandable microSD memory of up to 8 GB and Sprint Mobile Sync.