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 Originally Posted by Kupe
I still chuckle when I see this Ed Colligan quote:
'Palm is preparing for that day by positioning the Pre between the iPhone and the BlackBerry in what CEO Ed Colligan calls the "fat middle of the market."'
I guess Ed hasn't figured you that there's no meaningful market gap between those two phones since they are already greatly overlapped in features, capabilities, target market, and price point. Personally I think there's room for the Pre in modest numbers, but to call a non-existent gap in a marketplace "the fat middle" looks like more of the same old out-of-touch Palm.
Yeah, we've discussed this previously. For such a "fat middle", there seems to be disagreement on who that is exactly. It's even gotten to the point where palm has said they really have no idea who will buy it.
Some have said its between a Bold and an iphone. Others have said that middle is the dumbphone users who continue to step foot into this market.
For enterprise/business users, this phone is short a desktop sync and card slot. For heavy media users, this phone is short some storage space, palm branded media syncing/mgmt, and no straight forward method of buying media like itunes. (talking video here, not music). Yep, you can get media through 3rd parties, but its not as simple to do as itunes. People are lazy.
That said, webOS has nice (from what we've seen) multitasking, a capacitive multitouch screen, real kb, and what appears to be a browser on par or better than the iphone. Apps should quickly come over time. These are the real strengths. The masses aren't looking for an organizer as much as they want the internet in their pocket.
Believe it or not, the most important thing to highlight for palm may be the browser, along with multitasking. In doing so, they can show off multitouch or a few wow apps. The coolest part of synergy to me is the messaging app which combines it all and should appeal to the texters.
And finally price. At a risk to quality, Palm/Sprint needs to show how their plans are so much better at a MONTHLY level. "Saving 420 per year vs AT&T" doesn't do it. If economy is such a powerful influence today, then this needs to be pushed in the right way. I'd do the current SERO plans as the only plans...59, 79, and 99... and market away at 59 a month. They can try to upsell the 99 at point of sale.
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