Source: Tom's Guide US | Keywords: Sprint, Palm, Pre, Shortage, Launch | Themes: 3GSM, Smartphones
Palm is doing its best to drum up all the excitement it can for the upcoming Pre launch. Unfortunately, you might be disappointed when you get to the top of the line on June 6.
According to Reuters, Sprint CEO Dan Hesse told investors at a conference yesterday that the exclusive carrier for the new Palm is expecting to run out of units pretty quickly.
"We don't intend to advertise it heavily early on because we think we are going to have shortages for a while," Hesse told Reuters. "We won't be able to keep up with demand for the device in the early period of time."
Sprint spokesman Mark Elliott added, "We expect this to be a popular device, high in demand and we're very excited about the launch. There has been a lot of buzz built around this unique device from Palm and Sprint."
With the iPhone launching anywhere from a couple of days to a few weeks after the Pre, letting customers know there’s a limited supply is incredibly clever.. It almost seems Sprint is trying to get across the point that if customers don’t buy a Pre right away, they might not get one for a while. In other words, don’t wait to see what Apple is offering, buy our product while you still can.
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Anyone remember what happened to the E.T game?
do palm and nintendo share the same marketing team?
do palm and nintendo share the same marketing team?
Maybe.. Clever marketing does get across people. I don't buy new products based on that. I buy them based on reviews. And I think most of us on TH does that but there are many that just follow the hype.
Sounds a bit like the PS3 launch where they only had about 10% the number of units they said they'd have available for purchase so as to generate "sold out" news etc. Honestly, this Palm Pre thing really doesn't seem like a big deal. The consumer only cares if its an iPhone or not.
of course they will do what nintendo did.
LIE about availability in order to gain sales.
maybe they will walk out every hour at best buy and say "LAST PRE"
I chewed out the best buy manager for doing that with the Wii
he didnt even care....
..."It is a phone, an iPod, and and internet communications device"...
Does Sprint actually have enough customers to create a hardware shortage? Their service is terrible.
Their service, fuser? Depends on the location, as with any other service, where I live verizon is tops and at&t is just crap. I wouldnt buy an iphone based on the complaints we get with the 40 at&t blackberry users at my work. Me being included in that 40. Sprints CUSTOMER service however can lick a donkeys...well you know.
"Sprints CUSTOMER service however can lick a donkeys...well you know."
does that mean they have good service or bad? I always thought they had bad customer service...but if they offer that kind of deal...I might rethink my position
First of all, I have Sprint and it is the best phone service I've ever had and for much less than I was paying with AT&T. The customer service from Sprint used to be horrible, but they have improved immensely over the last 2 years. Secondly, I don't think this is marketing hype at all. I think this is 100% accurate and I plan on getting a Palm Pre on launch day because I know if I don't get one at launch it could be a long time before I'm able to. The WebOS looks like the smartest phone OS I have ever seen and I cannot wait to get my hands on this thing. Also, word of advice, buy stock in Palm.
@The Schnoz
Sprint is great...until you change your plan. They always seem to mess it up.
Off topic, I live over by the headquarters and I always drop around there. Irony I guess.
First of all, I have Sprint and it is the best phone service I've ever had and for much less than I was payiAlso, word of advice, buy stock in Palm.
I doubt that would be a good idea. Palm's not exactly being well of late and the Palm Pre sounds like a last gamble at success before they call it quits. Honestly, I don't see how this is going to do well, no matter how good the software is. Blackberry dominate the business market and Apple dominates the consumer smart phone market and is growing. There just isn't enough space in the market. My guess is that it'll get some good reviews, some people will buy it, Palm may even play the whole "we can't produce enough for demand" card due to supplying limited stock but in six months time it'll just be a faded memory. Especially with the next gen iPhone looming on the horizon. So, word of advice, don't buy stock in Palm.
Cell phone service quality varies by carrier and location. I live and work in San Diego. My cell phone doesn't work at all in my home and it drops into analog roam in the office. While in analog roam the call quality is very choppy and the battery lasts for about 90 minutes in standby.
My wife has had both AT&T and Verizon, both of which work beautifully in our home.
good thing i wont be needing one, since no one uses sprint
...not interested in a device like this...