For those of you who haven’t noticed, the Pre will launch two days before the WWDC keynote, traditionally a time of great nerdgasm when Apple announces some new products but, more importantly, has been recently been announcing new iPhone hardware and/or software. The Steve-less Steve-note will happen on June 8 while the Pre will excite and entice us on June 6.
There are three reasons Sprint and Palm could have chosen this date. The first reason is the most cynical: if they launch a dog the news cycle will quickly turn to Apple and they will be spared the sad and steady clamor of angry Palm zealots. Their stock price will fall, sure, but investors will move on from their sad stink of failure and instead drive up Apple’s stock price. Then the folks at Palm will clean out their desks and go home.
We at CG love the Pre and I find it hard to believe that this will be a dog – but we have been wrong. Palm could fall into the traps that the other iPhone-alikes fell into: wonky OSes over slow UIs that turn a great experience into a good one. Here’s hoping we’re wrong.
The second reason reeks of hubris, albeit of the well-deserved variety. As we’ve seen, Palm is pretty proud of their work, as they should be. They went from zero to hero overnight and they owned CES 2009. So why not take on the biggest kid on the block? By launching two days before anything Apple is launching, they could own the news cycle. There is no concrete proof that Apple is doing anything but launching a new iPhone OS at WWDC – since Steve left it’s gotten infinitesimally easier to grab leaks out of Cupertino than it once was, which isn’t saying much. However, with something as big as new iPhone hardware you’d assume some strange Chinese site would have something on it. However: bupkus. So maybe Palm is planning to own that week.
The third and final possibility is the least likely one: Sprint ham-handed this launch for Palm and essentially ignored all outside factors and just wanted to get something out on a nice Saturday – note that they’re launching on a Saturday in order to ensure long lines and plenty of ink – in June. Carriers know how to sell commodity handsets but this is the first time Sprint has ever gotten a Handset of Desire (TM) akin to the iPhone. Maybe they just don’t know how to throw a party?
Whichever it is, the Palm Pre better be as amazing as I think it will be or else I’m totally getting rid of the Palm V I’m using now and buying an iPaq.
I believe their effort to be extremely foolish regardless of the reason.
I don’t think so. Sprint wants to get full publicity all for itself.
so that u compare it with iphone 2, not with iphone 3!
we all waiting for iphone replacement.. no longer slaves!!!
That’s kinda my fear. Sprint already somewhat screwed over an okay device by trying to do a direct comparison with an old product. Remember the Instinct? They blew a huge marketing campaign comparing it to the iPhone, only to have the iPhone 3G come out a short while later. Sure, the iPhone 3G didn’t even come close to addressing all the features that the Instinct was parading, but that didn’t matter. Consumers immediately associated the Instinct with the old iPhone, which made the iPhone 3G feel like the newer, better device.
As long as Sprint lets *consumers* make the connection between the Pre and the iPhone 3G, I think it will do very well. Don’t make the mistake of specifically targeting a near-obsolete handset directly in your campaign again.
Who’s going to buy a Pre when there is speculation of new Apple iPhone announcements the following week. If the launch weekend for Pre is a dud, then no matter how great the Pre is, can Palm recover?
True or False: If Steve Jobs walks onstage during the keynote, Apple will dominate the headlines.
True.
Can Jobs walk yet? Maybe they will roll him in on a bed.
Definitely saw him walking around downtown palo alto over the last couple weeks.
jobs walks!
The plan to launch early is a good strategy actually especially Sprint wants to get a full attention or publicity for itself. Biggs, you laid out the reasons in a good order, however, deeper than what I had thought of. Thank you for the analysis.
Palm has 2 days of coverage and after it is all Apple.
If they launched it 2 days after then they would probably have far less coverage.
Still it sounds silly to me to launch that close to Apple next iPhone.
You fail to realize that with the Pre launching, every article on anything Apple after that will probably be mentioning its direct competitor.
something like: “this comes just two days after the much heralded launch of Palm’s Pre – which seeks to…” fill in the blank
+1 You’re right. Plus by launching before the new OS comes out, the Palm will be compared to the older OS — at least partially given Apple pre-announced the functionality of the new OS.
Best case, the Pre crushes it and owns the headlines through WWDC. More likely, the Pre is nice. It gets nice press up to WWDC and is then included in all iPhone WWDC press as a worthy adversary — especially for those looking for a physical QWERTY
I think this was a bad move. As much as the media seems excited about the Pre, I’m hearing *no* buzz in personal and professional circles. No excitement. No anticipation. No one waiting to get a new phone in order to order one (and I do have several friends waiting to upgrade their iPhones).
Everyone I know who has an iPhone likes it, flaws and all. No one is itching to jump ship. Same with Blackberry. I don’t get the sense from my Blackberry friends that they are aching for something new.
Palm may have had a chance two years ago with the Pre. But nothing I’ve seen says that it’s totally revolutionary. It may be *better*, but if it’s incremental improvements that will mean little. Brand loyalty and reputations have already been established. Incremental won’t cut it at this point in the battle, they would have to do something to capture the imagination.
And I think trying to go up against a 3rd gen iPhone is a mistake. I suspect they get 2 days of coverage, and then become a footnote. Apple puts on a show unlike any other company I’ve ever seen. Competing directly in a publicity battle is a fool’s errand.
While I love the iphone, I’m not one to deal with the overpricing of AT&T – so I can’t wait for a successful Pre-Sprint relationship
Because Sprint doesn’t screw you over with random fees and excuses with terrible customer service? Hmm, we must have had different Sprint carriers.
The steaming donkey turd that is Sprint will decimate the potential of this phone… got that in a fortune cookie last night,
The idea may be to release a product that they like and stand behind. Then, when the iPhone comes 2 days later, most of us won’t be able to resist comparing them.
If the Pre turns out to be sweeter than the Iphone that might get them a lot of press and may change some peoples minds.
Also, it is very likely that the media will report Palm having released their Pre two days earlier in many reports about the new iPhone. End result: it seems to be Pre or iPhone. That way they don’t attack Apple, but give Android a beating.
It better be good. I haven’t heared about Exchange. For many that will be the dealbreaker.
The Palm V?!
Ah, how I miss that simple and elegant machine.
Bring on the competition! I really hope the Pre isn’t all hype like all other “iPhone killers” out there… It’s about time we got another smart phone with a comparable (better, fingers crossed?) user experience to the iPhone.
The Pre will be as smooth to the touch as the iPhone OS is. From what I have gathered the software developers that worked on the iPhone OS also worked on the touch side of the Palm Pre OS. So in short it will be as smooth as the iPhone and hopefully a helluva a lot cooler since I have been with sprint for ever.
If you get a pre-release device, are you going to break embargo and give us the skinny?
you’ll never get us to admit to that, sprint spy!
Well its already been admitted.
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/12/17/death-to-the-embargo/
I believe the most important reason for launching Palm Pre just before WWDC is that most of the original/first iPhone users are almost done with their 2-years AT&T contract and its a good idea to poach them before they sign-up another 2-years contract extension!
I would say that this is a smart move by Sprint/Palm. If the phone is good enough then this might be considered as one of the smartest move made by them.
I appreciate the guts shown by Palm/Sprint. Hope it lives upto the hype/expectations. We definitely need some serious competition to iPhone.
BTW: I’m a iPhone user.
Probably they just simply realised they didn’t have many options. If Pre is better than iPhone, better to hit them directly. If not, Palm will disappear as a company no matter when they release Pre.
You are a real jerk. Jesus is an important, sacred icon too many, why are you making it an adjective? Do you have a point to it? Rhetorical question, you are all having a contest to see who can bring TC down the lowest in standards.
I know, I have done a lot of complaining on here about content. It must be my time to quit. I am very sorry the direction of this blog is turning downward in quality and professionalism.
Stop reading it; and by all means stop posting your comments.
Jesus was a Jew. The iPhone is a jew-el… God that was corny.
Your handle suits you well earthworm. The object of this website is to get a lot of readers, not see how many they can insult or offend. TechCrunch has strong ties to Israel, which I have no problem with. If they adopt a policy of officially bashing all Christians (or any faith), they speak for Israel too. If you want readers to stop reading, be up front and state your bashing policy so there will be no surprises.
I thought we’ve been through all we needed, learned the lessons of the holocaust and persecutions of history, but maybe ignorance has doomed us to repeat it.
You do know what earthworms eat, right? Good, lets see what large percentage of readers you can offend next, and get this back to just a small-time blog of you really cool, enlightened elite readers.
The new CG motto: CrunchGear – Strong Ties To Israel
Make jokes and wise cracks instead of removing that photo and an apology. That a sure sign of what?
I’ll see what your sponsors think of it. The sad part is you probably think I am a zealot of one type or another. I am not. I just learned respect for other people, cultures, and beliefs when I was a little boy, and your behavior is despicable.
lmao
Eh, smart move? Probably. Risky? Very much so. If the phone is good, it won’t matter. If its only so-so, then the iPhone announcement two days later will hurt its momentum big time.
Palm is launching with a mail-in rebate as part of the pricing plan.
A$$holes!
I f#cking HATE mail in rebates, and I bet you can’t find a single consumer that likes that kind of bu11shit marketing practice.
I plan to buy my first iPhone once the 3rd gen comes out, and I was going to actually give the Pre a chance. By making a mail-in rebate a requirement to get the introductory price, they have already lost me as a potential customer.
HA! I have a few Palm Vs at home. The V is why I bought the Treo 300, 600, 650 and 700 before going to the Blackberry and finally the iPhone. My heart still pines for Palm. I hope they crush it on June 6. If they do, I might have to give my wife the iPhone and pick up a Pre.
It’s very simple for me – if the pre gets favorable reviews, I’ll buy it over the iphone once I come back from my summer vacation.
Like many, I was always a huge fan of the palm, esp. due to their open philosophy with regards to apps. They sold you a machine to use – no app stores, etc. If the palm pre turns out like that, and it works fine with no real problems, I’ll be quite happy to purchase one.
Right now the Pre is all hype. The media interest is surrounding it’s release. Once it hits the market, people won’t be as interested. Just look at Android, it was all the buzz before it’s released, now it’s not as hot a topic any more. It doesn’t matter when Pre comes out, before or after WWDC. Apple is just better at PR and making products and hype that dominates the media. Also, Pre and all the other handsets are competing with the current iPhone, and many of them are just on par if not a bit above at most. You have to think that since the iPhone hasn’t seen a major revision since it’s initial release that within the next year we’re going to see a pretty dramatic upgrade that is going to edge a lot of these handsets out. Also, by choosing Sprint, there’s no way Pre will be able to do any kind of blockbuster sales off the bat.
I’m pretty sure had the contract for the i-phone been with Sprint and ATT was releasing the Pre you’d be saying the same about ATT. ATT owes a large part of its success to the relative success of the iphone. If the Pre is a good phone people will grab sprint as their carrier if not they won’t. People seem to be gravitating towards the hardware over any love for the carriers. As everyone has had bad experiences with almost all carriers at one point or another.
AT&T dominated the market even before Jesus made a phone and prepended it with an ‘i’.
I don’t care if the Pre makes blockbuster sales. I’ll speak for myself: If it is as good as it’s hyped up to be, I’ll get one as soon as my AT&T contract is over.
“Right now the Pre is all hype. The media interest is surrounding it’s release. [...] Also, Pre and all the other handsets are competing with the current iPhone, and many of them are just on par if not a bit above at most. You have to think that since the iPhone hasn’t seen a major revision since it’s initial release that within the next year we’re going to see a pretty dramatic upgrade that is going to edge a lot of these handsets out.”
So, on the one hand, the Pre is all hype and we shouldn’t waste our time until it’s released. On the other hand, even if the Pre is better, just you wait for Apple to respond with their next version which will blow the Pre out of the water.
In other words, ignore the hype for the Pre but pay attention to the hype for iPhone 3.0.
Personally, I think your reason #2 is the right one. We all like the underdog, so they’ll get plenty of attention. All Apple will be announcing at WWDC, regarding the iPhone, is vaporware. “Yeah, our next revision to the iPhone will be out at the end of the summer (unless there’s some unforseen delay) and we’ll have all those things that the Palm has today.” Even if Apple brings in new phone hardware (“Look! Shiny!”), it’ll still be running iPhone OS 2.2.
Now, if Steve was giving the keynote, Apple would be able to get away with all of this. But with Phil and Co. doing it, the lack of RDF will certainly cause some uncomfortable comparisons between iPhone and Palm.
Sir, you are a poet!
“However: bupkus.”
Not sarcasm. Made me laugh.
I had to wait over an hour in line to get one of the last Samsung Instinct’s when that iPhone-competitor launched at Sprint.
Any of the reasons are probable. Though there was too much time between the Pre announcement and product release. Had it been released within a month of announcement, there would have plenty of time to make adjustments and updates before WWDC. They could’ve even worked that into a campaign “here’s what they promise – and we all ready have it!” that sort of thing.
The problem as I see it is that if the Pre is a hit, it won’t be a hit for long. WWDC will suck the Pre air out of the news and it won’t come back until the hands-on head-to-head comparisons of the latest smartphones begin. Good Luck Palm!
Yeah it should launch a few days early. After iPHone 3.0 and when the new hardware is released, the Pre will be quickly forgotten. This way they have a few days to rack up some sales. Hopefully enough to keep them afloat after burning all their money in advertising.
I don’t know… has anyone at CG used the pre? As far as I can tell everyone thing has been hands off to date. That screams UI and usability problems.
I hate AT&T as a service, dropped calls all the time frequently lies about the signal strength, edge is garbage and getting worse all the time. then I have little love lost of Apple notification service years late… the constant bullshit with the app store random censoring and control freak attitudes (as a consumer I get tired of hearing that shit and it makes me think less of apple), poor battery life, poor reminder/nag functions,
Despite all that,I’m kind of ok with my iPhone yeah it utterly fails as a PIM, particularly the crappy lack of nag functions for reminders and notices (so lets see the phone makes a tiny beep and wiggle and then goes black? very helpful you could have 16 emergency notices and not know it). BUT… I do have a bit of money into some apps, apple has a new something coming out and the Pre…
Well the Pre is $299 and then they are asking their customers to play roulette with a mail in rebate?! Fuck that shit. If nothing else, this shows that Palm/Sprint dose not ‘get it’ and are totally out touch with not only their existing customers but potential customers. That bodes really poorly. That to me screens they skipped on QA, hardware (recall the treo screen debacle? I had 6 different units with different screwed up screens) and god only knows what else is not finished. If you can’t figure out why 299 is a joke and why people will burn you at the state for a mail in rebate scam then you probable can’t be bothered to make a device that works right out of the box. Harsh? Unfair? Untrue? Weill I’m sure we will be finding out pretty dam soon.
I guess I’m in the wait and see camp. If they had come out a month or two back it might they could have built up a wave but now everyone is going to wait on apple and find out what and when is the next over hyped device. If apple doesn’t have a huge lag time the pre could still birth and if the palm SDK dose not totally rock they won’t get the dev support to make it fly (they are all ready sucking air for game developers, again with the not ‘get it’).