[reminiz]

Their game plan as far as releasing both companies savior is like watching 10 monkeys make love to the same football.

You watch that type stuff? How'd that work out for ya?

[PedroTheGoat]

a month ahead, everybody will wait to see what apple comes up. how is that gonna help sales?

after WWDC? media needs time to recover from it.

One day ahead? Brilliant. Head to head comparison by EVERY media is the best way to push pre out. Apple's products are largely sold by its marketing team, no realistic comparison at all. Think over it, thorough and fair comparison is exactly what apple is always avoiding in any of its products.

Of course sprint/palm will start airing ads on TV one to 2 weeks ahead of time.

I will agree to disagree with you friend.

I think it is a horrible decision by Palm and Sprint.

The general public has no idea what the Pre is. Even an advertising blitz at this point (That would actually advertise the Pre and not how many rubber ducks are being manufactured... NOW) will not do too much good.

Now I do understand that iPhone users are not the only market that Palm needs to take a bite out of, but they ARE both pretty smartphones that share A LOT of the same features. So I do believe that we are shooting ourselves in the foot with the "Fat Middle" that will make a decision to buy the Pre or possibly go for the new iPhone.

iPhone is a household name. The Pre is not... Why is it a good idea to release the Pre against something so well established?

History will give us all the answer.

[PedroTheGoat]

You watch that type stuff? How'd that work out for ya?

A barrel of fun my friend... A barrel of fun.

[PedroTheGoat]

I just don't see the big deal.

2 or 3 weeks out if you are even remotely interested in the Iphone you would wait regardless.

I think you're overestimating an average American's attention span.

[reminiz]

I know this sounds stupid, but when you decide to do your blitz on tv, it's gonna have to be on shows or events that people will want to watch live.

I myself, I DVR 98% of the things I watch. So if I'm a regular consumer, even if there was a commercial I probably wouldn't catch it.

[asforme]

I know this sounds stupid, but when you decide to do your blitz on tv, it's gonna have to be on shows or events that people will want to watch live.

I myself, I DVR 98% of the things I watch. So if I'm a regular consumer, even if there was a commercial I probably wouldn't catch it.

Even if I want to watch live, I start watching 20 minutes after the show starts, then I skip the commercials and end the show at the same time as everyone else. But TV Advertising is still pretty expensive, so you and I must not be regular consumers.

[Craig S.]

The point some are trying to make is that there are some people out there that don't own a smartphone AT ALL, and are going to make a decision to buy one in the near future. Especially if it's touchscreen.

We want them to choose Palm, not Apple.

Palm needed to have the spotlight all to itself *BEFORE* any news of any iPhone.

[PedroTheGoat]

I know this sounds stupid, but when you decide to do your blitz on tv, it's gonna have to be on shows or events that people will want to watch live.

I myself, I DVR 98% of the things I watch. So if I'm a regular consumer, even if there was a commercial I probably wouldn't catch it.

It will be everywhere. I imagine Sprint will redesign their Pre page to give a lot more info on the phone. (Possibly put positive reviews up and such) '

The ad blitz will be on a lot of homepages and probably even in theaters like the Instinct was. There are a lot of blockbuster movies coming out so that will be a good facet. As well as TV, etc.



By the way... I do understand that I'm being an armchair CEO. This advertising campaign may be a complete success. Along with choosing to release the phone right next to Palm's biggest potential competitor. But as far as my limited chess skills go... I don't see this working out too well.

[reminiz]

The point some are trying to make is that there are some people out there that don't own a smartphone AT ALL, and are going to make a decision to buy one in the near future. Especially if it's touchscreen.

We want them to choose Palm, not Apple.

Palm needed to have the spotlight all to itself *BEFORE* any news of any iPhone.

I agree, and I hope Sprint/Palm can effectively target these type of people.

So if I have never owned one, maybe shoot a week of commercials showing people the basic features the Pre can do, for one; maybe even start with the videos at palm.com.

If I am a general consumer, as I once was in the past, I would buy whatever phone is out or I know is going to be out real soon. If Palm starts their videos two-three weeks out, I would say most of those people can wait, and they might not even know the new product Apple is working on. Most of my friends with iphones have no idea about even 3.0.

[reminiz]

I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't start for the finale of Survivor on May 17th.

[showson1]

Hmm.. this would kind of explain why they wouldn't let anyone have a true hands on experience with it..

[Aridon]

I think you're overestimating an average American's attention span.

The average american has no clue what WWDC is and if they haven't bought an Iphone yet they probably don't much care. Its been 2 years after all.

Another thing is the 3g Iphone came out a year ago and MOST people upgraded that way as was indicated by the fast sales directly from AT&T shortly after release of the new phone. Many if not most of the Iphone users are on contract still so focusing advertising efforts on them is a waste IMO.

Sure some of them went the Ebay route and swapped SIMS but for the most part people bought the phones from AT&T or Apple.

Regardless there are still plenty of Verizon subs without a decent phone options (the storm is a joke) and the Pre should appeal greatly to them and anyone else that wants a large touch screen with keyboard.

I just don't see the issue. Regardless if the release in mid may or not they still compete with the Iphone as the first wave of buyers are goign to be people like us that know what we want and have made a decision already. Those that do buy early will still be able to return it and wait for the apple one regardless because of the 30 day trial.

I don't see Sprint gaining anything by having to take returns on the Pre if Apples does drop a bomb. I also don't see Apple dropping a bomb so this should be a win win.

As for their marketing, we'll see what happens. They are getting to the point where they need to start doing some hype building 2 to 3 weeks out which is quickly approaching. Hopefully they will start the advertising soon.

So in short, if they could have gotten it out in April or earlier I'd agree with you. The difference between mid may and first week of June is so minimal I don't think it makes a bit of difference.

[reminiz]

Hmm.. this would kind of explain why they wouldn't let anyone have a true hands on experience with it..

are you talking about considering how much they let Dieter play with it at CES and how much they let no one play with it at CTIA? Maybe a couple of revisions between the couple months?

[PedroTheGoat]

The average american has no clue what WWDC is and if they haven't bought an Iphone yet they probably don't much care. Its been 2 years after all.

Another thing is the 3g Iphone came out a year ago and MOST people upgraded that way as was indicated by the fast sales directly from AT&T shortly after release of the new phone. Many if not most of the Iphone users are on contract still so focusing advertising efforts on them is a waste IMO.

Really good retort. I sure hope you're right.

Maybe a lot of my mentality has blossomed from how frustrated I have become with the whole way they have handled the release so far. I've been following the Pre VERY closely for what seems like a long time now. I grow frustrated with the secrecy and lack of advertising so far.

I am a fan of Palm and Sprint. But I still believe that all of this has been handled badly so far.

[reminiz]

Really good retort. I sure hope you're right.

Maybe a lot of my mentality has blossomed from how frustrated I have become with the whole way they have handled the release so far. I've been following the Pre VERY closely for what seems like a long time now. I grow frustrated with the secrecy and lack of advertising so far.

I am a fan of Palm and Sprint. But I still believe that all of this has been handled badly so far.

I think it's frustration because of how long you've been following it.

How long did you know about the Storm coming out?

For me, I found out when the commercials started popping up, and I didn't even think to go to the internet to actually see it.

[Aridon]

Really good retort. I sure hope you're right.

Maybe a lot of my mentality has blossomed from how frustrated I have become with the whole way they have handled the release so far. I've been following the Pre VERY closely for what seems like a long time now. I grow frustrated with the secrecy and lack of advertising so far.

I am a fan of Palm and Sprint. But I still believe that all of this has been handled badly so far.

I hear ya man. BTW the 10 monkey's on a football made me LOL for a few minutes

[PedroTheGoat]

I think it's frustration because of how long you've been following it.

How long did you know about the Storm coming out?

For me, I found out when the commercials started popping up, and I didn't even think to go to the internet to actually see it.

I actually was an avid crackberry fan for a long time. I migrated to here from Crackberry.com after learning about the Pre. I think I knew and followed the Storm closely for about 6 months before it's release. Once I found out that the Storm was not going to have multi-touch is when I became extremely disinterested. (Thank goodness for that, otherwise I imagine I would be kicking myself everyday for buying that phone)

[PedroTheGoat]

I hear ya man. BTW the 10 monkey's on a football made me LOL for a few minutes

Well I'm sure glad I could make you laugh.

I'm really not a regular antagonist as far as these forums go.

So now that my venting is done...

Can the Goat Haz Pre now?

[jbg7474]

iPhone is a household name. The Pre is not... Why is it a good idea to release the Pre against something so well established?

Precisely because the iPhone is a household name and the Pre is not. This is in the "it's so crazy it just might work" category, and I know all the business/marketing folks in here disagree, but articles concerning the alleged new iPhone will almost invariably include the Pre. So the name recognition of the iPhone will draw attention to those articles, which will in turn draw attention to the Pre. Pre comes along for the ride. This might be doubly true if some reporters say, "We can't believe Palm would be so stupid, but they just released their new iPhone competitor, the Pre." People love to hear about corporate stupidity. People also love an underdog. The David vs. Goliath angle here is huge. I think it buys Palm and Sprint a lot more press than they might otherwise get.

[prereferee]

I think you're overestimating an average American's attention span.

This is why I think there is plenty of time to generate the ad blitz and it is not a problem they haven't started yet.