Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock for the last month or so you should know that the Samsung Galaxy S3 has been officially unveiled in London at the beginning of May. Ah, I remember the horror when people were throwing claims left and right suggesting that the handset will hit the market on that very same day, and I still haven’t recovered from that…
Samsung Galaxy S3 at Verizon
Nevertheless, let’s get back to more important matters and of course I’m talking about the availability of the Samsung Galaxy S3 in the US. Interestingly enough, at first we pretty much thought that, despite their cancellation of the Samsung Galaxy S2, this time around Verizon will jump all over the Galaxy S3, and would be the first to release it in the US.
Despite the fact that some early rumors were indicating that Big Red could have a limited exclusivity over the handset, T-Mobile’s version of the S3 is the one that keeps poking its head out of the shadows more often than other variants, boasting a rumored June 20th release date.
Samsung Galaxy S3 at Verizon: Very Limited Or No Exclusivity At All
Truth be told, we haven’t heard too much about the Verizon Galaxy S3 recently, except for that time when it appeared on the Bluetooth SIG website as model number SCH-I535. Nevertheless, judging by what we’ve learned so far, Verizon is still in the books, and the limited exclusivity is still not out of the question completely, but considering what a senior Samsung exec had to say concerning the availability of the device world-wide, Verizon’s exclusivity is now even less possible.
Long story short, Samsung plans on minimizing the gap between the various global launch dates of the Galaxy S3 and in fact they intend on making the handset available for purchase almost everywhere within a month after the European release, which translates into “by the end of June”.
That being said and if T-Mobile will indeed launch their Galaxy S3 on June 20th as the latest rumors suggest, Verizon can’t actually have a limited exclusivity over the handset unless they intend on launching it even earlier than June 20th. So, to break it down for you, either Verizon will not have limited exclusivity rights over the handset, despite early rumors, or they will have a very limited exclusivity if they plan on launching the device in a week or so.
Well, judging by how “active” the blogosphere has been recently in regards to Verizon’s Galaxy S3, I’d say our best bet at this point in time is still T-Mobile. Nevertheless, it all remains to be seen. We’ll keep you posted.
Kudos to Pocket-lint for the heads-up regarding the Samsung Galaxy S3 release world-wide.
