March 5 (Bloomberg) -- Palm Inc.’s new Pre smart phone will lure customers away from Apple Inc.’s iPhone when subscribers’ contracts start expiring in June, Palm investor Roger McNamee said.
“You know the beautiful thing: June 29, 2009, is the two- year anniversary of the first shipment of the iPhone,” McNamee said today in an interview in San Francisco. “Not one of those people will still be using an iPhone a month later.”
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“Think about it -- If you bought the first iPhone, you bought it because you wanted the coolest product on the market,” said McNamee, 52. “Your two-year contract has just expired. Look around. Tell me what they’re going to buy.”
McNamee is a co-founder of Elevation Partners, the investment firm that agreed in December to pay $100 million to lift its stake in Palm to 39 percent from 25 percent. His firm, whose partners include U2 singer Bono, invests in four other companies, including Forbes Media LLC.
Palm is “by far” Elevation’s largest investment, said McNamee. “I’m there about three times a week, mostly with the engineers,” he said. “We have seven people who work on Palm, three of whom do nothing but work on Palm.”
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Originally Posted by Beanis
