NOTE: This is a pretty lengthy post! NO PICTURES, as there was NOTHING worthy to take any pictures of - so string me up if you like; I don't care. Here's what took place:
My VZW buddy - I'll call him "Dave" - calls me this morning to say that the HTC rep will be in within the hour. He tells me that I should come in ASAP and to "act like a customer," and to kinda shadow him and the rep and eavesdrop as much as possible without looking too obvious. When I get there, I could tell that he was already there by the white, new Lexus in the parking lot - not too many of those around town. I walk in casually and am promptly accosted by one of those nitwit sales guys and of course I say I'm just looking. He tries to steer me in the direction of the Devour, which I thought was worth mentioning because he constantly referred to it as the "Detour." I thought to myself, "It's a detour, all right!"
At this point, I located Dave and noticed that we was talking to this fat guy in a suit and the guy was in the process of ripping into the quality of the HTC phones that were on display. They were dusty, the literature wasn't up to date, blah, blah, blah. It was like he was a Verizon GM, or something. I could tell immediately that this guy had a huge ego and a bad attitude. I thought, "Oh crap - how am I going to get any info out of THIS choad?" So I act like I looked interested in the Eris - so that maybe he might come over and talk to ME about the products that he represents. But what does he do?? He YELLS at the top of his lungs to the nearest hapless sales guy to offer to help me out - even though I didn't ask for any help! So the kid comes over, shaking like a leaf, and I act like I have questions - meanwhile doing all I can to overhear what he's talking to Dave about. After 15 minutes or so, he's done ranting about the displays, and he proceeds to vanish with Dave to the back room - where the infamous box is stored. I excuse myself from the sales guy and proceed to peruse the LG phone display which is located right next to the entry to the back room. They're back there, shuffling through some stuff and the rep suddenly says VERY loudly - and I quote - "What the sam hell is the 6300 box doing in YOUR store??" Dave explains that it arrived last Sunday, unnanounced. The rep then exclaims, "Why the f**k didn't anyone tell ME it was here? The 6300 box was supposed to be shipped to the Corporate store!!" By this time, he's irate as hell, and he's on the phone - he had an Eris, in case anyone's wondering - calling the Corporate store here, and then it SOUNDED like his next call was to someone back in Bellevue, WA., but I'm not 100% sure. He calmed down after hanging up but he was still pissed.
Dave is still trying to plead his case that he didn't know that he should report the box coming there, since it was shrouded in secrecy with the tape and all, and I am practically halfway down the hallway "admiring" some new age picture - eavesdropping as best as I can. Without warning, the rep bursts out of the back room, with the box in hand, and proceeds to take it out to his Lexus and promptly puts it in the back. My heart sank. Meanwhile, while he's outside, Dave runs up to me and says, "Try to talk to him if you want to find out anything - he probably won't stay here much longer." He comes back in and barks again at Dave, "You should have known that the 6300 stuff goes to Corporate!" I am standing right there and I ask casually, "Mind if I ask what a 6300 is, sir?" (Now I knew that it was the inventory number to either the Incredible or the SS, but my memory spaced out - Nash clarified for me, later, that it is for the Incredible). The rep got wide-eyed for a second, and I could tell that he was NOT expecting THAT question. He says, sarcastically, "I'm sorry, who are YOU?!" Then he turns to Dave and says "Who's this?" - pointing at me. I wasn't sure if he suspected I was up to something or not - I guess in his work, he is often suspect of a lot of people. Dave says, "He was asking me some questions about the Eris." At this point, the rep smiles broadly and says to me, "I have that phone - what do you want to know about it?" I am thinking to myself - it's now or never - so I say, "Well the screen is kinda small - do you have any phones coming that are like this but have a bigger screen?" (I was trying to play dumb). And I could see his eyes squint, as if he was weighing his next words verrrry carefully, and after a pause, he says, "We'll have some wonderful options coming out very soon." I said, "How soon?" He said, "In a few weeks, or so." I ask, "With a bigger screen?" He replies "Much bigger - and much faster, too. I know I'll be picking one up for myself!" I say, coyly, "Wow! Sounds incredible!" He got VERY suspicious then, and curtly says, "You'll see soon enough."
At that point, he may have thought that he said too much to me and excused himself to the restroom. He came out, asked Dave for directions to the Corporate store, just to be sure, as he hadn't been there yet, and then he left. The guy was a REAL peach. So, in summary, the box went to the Corporate store (I ASSUME, I wasn't there to see him unload it from his Lexus), just like kcoan's store, and there it sits. And from all accounts, it's got literature and maybe an Incredible in it. I'd bet the farm that it's released it the next 1-3 weeks. Hope this helps!