Wired: Palm Pre a big fat fail???

[twigg]

I think the Pre is a really great phone and i want it to succeed (even though im banking on getting the new iPhone). I just think that Palm and Sprint need to think a bit smarter. This phone will make or break them and i think that they arent really selling the Pre. I aldo believe that the Pre can be a buisness phone, if its not then *** is Synergy for?

[vga4life]

It's pathetic if the Pre doesn't support the same EAS features as the Centro and more importantly the iPhone.

Excuses wont save your company, Palm.

(The Treo Pro? Seriously? Go away. Yes, I'm angry about this; been looking forward to the Pre for months as a replacement for my dying Centro; now it looks like I'll be jumping carriers (and devices) to a crackberry.)

[Xyg]

Originally Posted by The Phone Diva

However who limted the Pre so it possibly can't be used by IT departments?

It can't be used by *some* IT departments *currently*.

[The Phone Diva]

I think I should have said "supported" instead of "used". But I do think that since many people in the US use one phone for both work and personal(especially on CDMA), they should have taken business support into more consideration.

[udratherbme]

funny thing is... out the door the Pre may not be a good company solution, the Iphone was not either.... the company i worked for was a sprint carrier and everybody had to have a blackberry, well recently they switch to AT&T and all the execs are carrying Iphones... when it is time to refresh those BB they will all have Iphones... so maybe it will come along Pre for business around the second or third iteration... I just need one for my personal use, hope i dont have to go to Sprint and act a fool to get my phone, with all them dumb questions they plan one asking

[nerdtalker]

Wired's logic doesn't make sense in the least. First of all, they predict that it will be a failure because they cannot afford to sell it to the wrong people (I still don't get what's so bad about this line), but neglect to mention that the iPhone still isn't business-centric enough to succeed by their own standards.

Let me get this straight, Wired. To be successful, it has to be a fully business-level smartphone? Ironic, considering many people don't even consider the iPhone a true smartphone since it lacks so many features that WM/Blackberry/even Palm OS has had forever, yet you failed to criticize it, and it's considered a huge success...

What a strange double standard. Most business-types I know don't care about the latest or greatest, they're still happy with their two generations old Blackberries. They aren't people buying new phones every year; consumers and enthusiasts like US are, so let's focus on this market segment instead.

I've read a lot of unfair negative hype coming from the WSJ and Wired, but their stock is back up to 11 bucks (still down 17% from 12-something).

[Xyg]

Originally Posted by The Phone Diva

I think I should have said "supported" instead of "used". But I do think that since many people in the US use one phone for both work and personal(especially on CDMA), they should have taken business support into more consideration.

Think for a second how hard it would be to test a phone for deployment on a large scale if isn't yet shipping.

[Gekko]

the Pre is just fine for lots of enterprise users. sure, it's no WinMob or BB, but with EAS, IMAP, POP, and Synergy, it's pretty good - pretttty pretttty good.

[The Phone Diva]

Nerdtalker, it's a double standard but the iPhone is in a class by itself in the US. No matter how crippled it is, people still make excuses for it because it's a fun phone to use with a cool screen.

[The Phone Diva]

Originally Posted by Xyg

Think for a second how hard it would be to test a phone for deployment on a large scale if isn't yet shipping.

There were no test units for corporations so IT departments could look it over?


I don't agree with the tone of that article, but one thing is for sure looking at that memo. Palm probably shouldn't discontinue the Treo line just yet, if medium to large corporations may have trouble with WebOS at this time.

[krische]

Originally Posted by The Phone Diva

Nerdtalker, it's a double standard but the iPhone is in a class by itself in the US. No matter how crippled it is, people still make excuses for it because it's a fun phone to use with a cool screen.

THIS!

[ADGrant]

Originally Posted by UntidyGuy

Why would I let anyone from the IT department in my company touch my personal smartphone? You certainly wouldn't want to use a company-owned device as your personal PDA. The next thing you know, they would want mandate some kind of login procedure for me to get to my calendar and prohibit certain kinds of content like video and music. Have you read articles where people who were terminated had to submit a request to the IT department to get personal info off of their company computer?

My company owned smartphone does require a password to access. It is also prevented from connecting to personal email providers such as gmail. In fact using it for personal communication is prohibited. Connecting a personal device to the company servers is also prohibited.

[ADGrant]

Originally Posted by udratherbme

funny thing is... out the door the Pre may not be a good company solution, the Iphone was not either.... the company i worked for was a sprint carrier and everybody had to have a blackberry, well recently they switch to AT&T and all the execs are carrying Iphones... when it is time to refresh those BB they will all have Iphones... so maybe it will come along Pre for business around the second or third iteration... I just need one for my personal use, hope i dont have to go to Sprint and act a fool to get my phone, with all them dumb questions they plan one asking

I think your company is unusual. BB is still the standard in the majority of companies. Apart from any other advantages, all major carriers have a couple of models available so a company can have one smartphone standard and multiple carriers.

[no1smartphone]

They always put the Iphone competitors up against the most serious scrutiny yet the Iphone passes all serious review - no multi tasking, bluetooth etc..

They leave out these major flaws and promote it like they have a vested interest. Whilst the true smartphones are labelled too ugly, don't play music etc..

The unfortunate part is that these commentators and reviewers really are not tech savvy or proficient they only know a world where MS etc is bad and Apple and Google is good.

[nerdtalker]

Originally Posted by The Phone Diva

Nerdtalker, it's a double standard but the iPhone is in a class by itself in the US. No matter how crippled it is, people still make excuses for it because it's a fun phone to use with a cool screen.

I couldn't have said it better myself, honestly. It's in a separate class of its own entirely because it doesn't fit perfectly in either the smartphone, dumphone, or featurephone categories.

Hopefully the Pre will be able to take what's best of the iPhone's "cool" factor (admittedly it is definitely a very cool, very well integrated platform, complete with its retail franchise) and also deliver what it's been missing that kept WM and BB users back. Namely multitasking, a total browsing experience with flash and java support (although at launch those are missing, sadly), the same level of ease-of-install application experience, e.t.c.

That said, for Wired to call it a failure before they've even had a chance to play with it purely because it isn't recommended for business clients and it isn't an iPhone is shortsighted at best, completely ignorant at worst. If I didn't know better, this is the kind of bogus FUD that I'd see spouting forth from an apple shrill, not Wired. I hold Wired in pretty high regards, but this piece of trash is a low for their writing.

[Xyg]

Originally Posted by The Phone Diva

[COLOR="Navy"]There were no test units for corporations so IT departments could look it over?

FFS, are you dense?

I'm starting to doubt people are actually reading the damn thing before commenting on it.

R > C > P

Originally Posted by The Damn Launch Guide people seem not to be reading

The Palm Pre is an easy device to use, but it may not be the
best phone for every customer.
Properly Qualify the Customer
The Palm Pre is best suited for non-IT Centric
business users.
Answer these questions to help determine if the Pre
or the Treo Pro is the right mobile device for your “IT
Centric” business.

•• Does your company have specific security and
manageability requirements for mobile devices?

•• Does your company have specific application
requirements?

•• Does your line of business require specific product
features on mobile devices?

•• Does your company centrally provision devices for large
deployments?

Answer Key:

•• If YES, then the Treo Pro is your best mobile device
option.

•• If NO, then the Pre is your best mobile device option.

We Can't Afford to
Sell the Pre to the
Wrong Customers.

Non-IT Centric

•• Businesses that do not require an extensive
set of security policies
•• Centralized mobile device control is not
required
•• Generally smaller (1-99 employees)
•• Mobile users who are not dependent on IT
infrastructure
IT Centric
•• Businesses manage devices through a
centralized IT department
•• Generally Medium to larger sized (100+
employees)
•• Have specific mobile devices requirements
and protocols

If you actually read the damn document, you can see why certain people shouldn't buy the Pre (for business use).

Example: Your enterprise has deployed WM and has app requirements specific to that platform. Betcha 10bux that your IT department won't let you use the Pre for business. In this scenario, the Treo Pro is the appropriate device.

THAT is what this page is talking about. They are encouraging their sales force to qualify potential customers, so they can prevent un-necessary returns.

[The Phone Diva]

I DID read it, but what I was trying to say was why didn't Palm provide test units so IT departments could look it over and see if they could work with it. Or maybe they did, I don't know.

Dont be a hole!

[decaren]

I love it when writers are allowed to construct poorly written articles filled with quotes blatantly taken out of context to influence a small, but substantial group of potential buyers that are simply trying to get straight and honest facts. But then again that is why my subscriptions to Wired, PC Magazine, Men's Health, Stuff, and Maxim all ended several years ago. Such is life.

[rwinn]

This wired piece doesn't even recognize that the document is Sprint's, not Palm's.

I'm likely going to cancel my Wired subscription.

If you want to vote on the quality of the article, you can do so on newscred.com:

Are You the Wrong Customer for a Palm Pre? | NewsCred, Quality Newspapers & Blogs

[Badandy127]

Wired is run by a bunch of amateurs who don't even know the tech industry. That article doesn't surprise me in the least.

Just last week they ran an article saying how the Pre had an edge on the iPhone in that Sprint's roll-out of a 4G network would be before ATT's...

They're absolutely incompetent.