[Joad]

Does anyone else find the name "Palm Pre" incredibly stupid?

"Pre" is a prefix, vocalizing the name it seems like the meat is missing. In fact, the "word" pre kinda hangs in the air waiting for the rest to come.

Maybe it's appropriate, as the device seems to be missing the "meat" of removable flash, direct desktop sync, compatibility with 13 years of legacy apps, and other things I thought would be no-brainers for Palm's recovery device.

Funny how the pre-announcement name "castle" (even Nova) seems a better name. Anyone else find "Pre" a weird and inappropriate name for this thing?

[DevilsRejection]

yes, a bit stupid, but they could call it Palm Purple ***** and you and I would still buy it.

[theog]

I read it and it sounded short for premium... heck, who knows.... who cares... long as it works, I don't care if they call it Palm DogCrap... with the tagline "Take pictures of your dog crapping and load it to Palm Pictures (r)!"

[zbop]

If nothing else, I don't know why any company would pick a product name that is not unique and easily searchable these days.

i.e. search for "Pre" AND "Release" in google and see what you find, or "Pre" AND "Software". Of course you can add qualifiers such as "Palm", but still... haven't these guys heard about the internet?

[minimalposter]

In the other Treocentral thread that discussed the name ... A poster pointed out that the Pre stood for Precognition. A tag line was used throughout the palm demonstrations: "Pre. The phone that seems to know what you want to do before you do"

[TurboTiger]

"Pre" sounds goofy to me.

[Zelig87]

If they bring out a larger form factor (with 480x800 screen), they can call it the "Palm Grand Pre".

[chestvrg]

Or the Windows Mobile version: The Pre W!

[Q]

In the other Treocentral thread that discussed the name ... A poster pointed out that the Pre stood for Precognition. A tag line was used throughout the palm demonstrations: "Pre. The phone that seems to know what you want to do before you do"

Love the concept and think it should be emphasized. Can't say I'm wild about "Pre" as a name, though--especially out of that context. "WebOS" doesn't exactly roll off the tongue either.

I'm especially disappointed by these given the marketing backgrounds of Ed Colligan and Jon Rubinstein. You'd think they'd put their team through more efforts there.

Then again, that won't stop me from buying a Pre once there's an unlocked GSM one (with US 3G) available.

[chestvrg]

I also like that concept of "synergy" or what they called out in the keynote presentation. Able to integrate all that is in the "cloud", such as facebook, mySpace, msn, yahoo, google, ect into one single account.

[B-model#CB]

yeah - name stinks

Storm
Bold
Pre ?

[chestvrg]

On the original TyTn II boxing, it clearly read "Pro" so and then HTC manufatured the Treo Pro, but what about the Pre, who designed it?

[jhoff80]

On the original TyTn II boxing, it clearly read "Pro" so and then HTC manufatured the Treo Pro, but what about the Pre, who designed it?

Palm designed it, its rumored Foxconn is manufacturing it.

[Slem]

Pre, Pri, Pro, Prum.....

[StickyGreen]

Palm should have called this phone the Neo. There are multiple connotations for this name. All of which are applicable. Neo means new. They described Pre as the Palm "New-ness". It ends with "o" like their other smartphones. Last but not least it reminds you of Neo from the Matrix who was of course "the one" to save humanity from certain destruction at the hands of the machines. While it remains to be seen, the Pre will almost certainly do the same for Palm.

[H_D]

I was thinking they named it "Pre" because its a "Prequel" of what's to come since they had said this is just the start and that they have many more ideas in store....

[ToolkiT]

I was thinking they named it "Pre" because its a "Prequel" of what's to come since they had said this is just the start and that they have many more ideas in store....

I think you could be right on this... but its not a very clear and obvious choice..
I prefer the 'Neo' too but the name might be copyrighted..

[BARYE]

Does anyone else find the name "Palm Pre" incredibly stupid?

"Pre" is a prefix, vocalizing the name it seems like the meat is missing. In fact, the "word" pre kinda hangs in the air waiting for the rest to come.

Maybe it's appropriate, as the device seems to be missing the "meat" of removable flash, direct desktop sync, compatibility with 13 years of legacy apps, and other things I thought would be no-brainers for Palm's recovery device.

Funny how the pre-announcement name "castle" (even Nova) seems a better name. Anyone else find "Pre" a weird and inappropriate name for this thing?

My guess it that they had wanted to call it the Wii -- but at the last minute discovered that that had been taken already.

Pre is a dumb name for all the reasons that have been posted. As has been said already by others, its also an unwieldy and awkward name when used in a search. Pre is also an actual suffix -- a word that can't be easily registered or trademarked.

Why not create a new word, or at least use an existing colorful term in a new, exciting, yet descriptive way ??

(FWIW, I and most everyone else also thought that Wii name was dumb when it was first announced. And it was ...)

[aviatordoc]

Or maybe this is not actually the release version of the phone. It may have a SD card, and other/more goodies. And Pre would stand for pre - release.

[cgk]

Or maybe this is not actually the release version of the phone. It may have a SD card, and other/more goodies. And Pre would stand for pre - release.

The name isn't going to change so it's unlikely to stand for prerelease..