Is the Touch HD the next Kaiser? (Longevity)

[Guest TheNerd]

I have my doubts that this will be the most popular phone ever, especially as it comes at a time when HTC have many offers on the table that network providers who have bought into will be keen to shift (e.g. Diamond Touch, Diamond Pro, Touch 3G...) and also with such similar high-end competition (iPhone 3G, Blackberry Storm...) However, after looking at this thread about Omnia owners being upstaged by the Samsung M8800, and ignoring other manufacturers (at peril) I wonder if HTC have produced a Kaiser replacement or not - i.e. will more people get and stick with the Touch HD because it has the best of the all round features HTC have to offer (for now) and therefore give it a large enough user base to mean it still has supporters in a couple of years time? Or will one more month mean all the difference because something better will be on the spec sheet again? (- Still trying to keep the specs of other manufacturers out of the arguement.)

It seems a decisive time... Christmas selling period, major producers have all released new(ish) models and HTC are fairly maxed out with releases. Can a strategy of multiple top-end devices work for HTC (unlike Apple's single offering albeit in two flavours) or will everyone go for the most gadget/feature-full top-of-the-range device. And why did the Kaiser get such a large fan base?

I'm about to give up my HTC Wizard, 1st generation (T-Mobile MDA Vario). It's got to the stage where I have no worries about if my new phone is the best, but whether or not I can still get ROMS, software and support for it in 3 years time?

Would love to hear peoples thoughts...

[Guest Dr Who]

My Vario II's are two and a half years old and still do the business. The Touch Pro and HD are the first phones since the Vario II that have made me want to upgrade and I will be getting an HD in the NY. I would imagine the HD will last me a similar time period - I used to upgrade every 9 months but I haven't really felt the need since getting my Vario II, the Kaiser didn't add enough to warrant an upgrade before 18 months (contract period) and after that the 'next gen' phones only started appearing a few months ago. Would have quite liked an original Touch but hardware didn't have enough wow factor to bother.

[Guest Kaaeed]

The Touch HD is pretty much the best "all round" device, I agree.

Longevity will depend on two factors for me:

Firstly, whether there are sufficient applications developed to run on this hardware "seamlessly" for example SPB Mobile Shell.

Secondly, whether existing owners of the HTC Touch HD will be offered a ROM upgrade when WM 6.5 is released but this of course depends on the functionality which will be available with the release.

Kaaeed