Earlier this month, Motorola contacted Cingular alerting them to a problem with the RF Performance of the Motorola V600, though they categorized it as minor in nature. Cingular responded by halting all V600 orders until Motorola presented them with a plan to have all V600s updated.
Apparently, Motorola is unwilling to promote a product-wide recall, and considers this a warranty/firmware update issue. In addition, Cingular saw having to restock the V600 as dragging into the product’s end-of-life stage. So, as of today, Cingular simply discontinued the V600. They plan to replace it with the V551, identical in features to the V600, it adds EDGE and video camera support.
This is yet another example of a product being discounted and existing customers left to pay large amounts of money to have a “free” firmware update installed. Cingular, like all other GSM carriers in the United States, does not offer firmware updates in-store. GSM carriers in the United States consider firmware issues solely a manufacturer concern, and in the end, all sides agree, the customer loses out.
