Sprint is continuing to roll out the ads featuring the Palm Pre, most recently PalmWebOS received an e-mail declaring the new webOS handset "All the rage" (see below, left). The e-mail invites recipients to share the hype via Facebook, Twitter, or "whatever". The previous e-mail that Sprint sent out focused on mobile applications. But will it be enough to keep Sprint users hyped up about the Pre?
In another marketing move, Gearlog reports that a pricey new print ad for Sprint has appeared on the back cover of the Wall Street Journal (see above, right). The Pre was previously featured in the Sunday New York Times. The large, colored ad reportedly cost $264,000 to publish, and is designed along the same vein as Sprint's latest TV commercials, featuring a slew of statistics and a blue bird associated with Twitter. The ad comes exactly a month before the rumored May 17 release date (with shipments expected to arrive a day before).
With a recent appearance of two Pre phones at a public event in San Francisco, more people have been the lookout for the device outside the confines of Palm employees. PalmInfocenter reported on couple of photos showing the Pre alongside an iPhone and Palm Centro. The interesting part is that the photos were from Ludle International, an electronics accessory manufacturer in China. Because the screen is black, it's possible that the phone is a dummy unit, but with manufacturing being ramped up, it isn't unreasonable to consider that other companies have received working units.
The photographer states that the plastic screen is more susceptible to scratches than the iPhone, reports BGR, and the back, although a fingerprint magnet, is less susceptible to scratches. Let's hope he didn't put a set of keys to the Pre intentionally to test that theory! In any case, better put aside some spare change for a screen protector.
So with all the commercials and hype, will the Pre be all it's cut out to be? Discussion after the break.
Will the Pre and webOS live up to the hype?
So with all this talk of the Pre, will it really live up to all the hype? It depends on which viewpoint you look at it from. First off, Palm is having an impressive run on Wall Street. Barron's reported yesterday that new specultation that Dell might want to buy Palm (a scenario previously speculated on) helped boost Palm shares close to the $10 range. Dell CFO Brian Gladden hinted at the company making acquisitions, and the cash-strapped Palm would make an ideal target for Dell to usher in a smartphone line.
Meanwhile, the attitude among smartphone users may not be quite as rosy. The Motley Fool reports on a new ChangeWave research study that surveyed 4,292 adult smartphone buyers, and found only 4% planned to buy a Pre in the next six months. This is in comparison to 37% planning to purchase a RIM device, and 30% planning to buy Apple's device. Because Palm is planning on positioning the device between the iPhone and Blackberry, it is important that the Pre claim some of their market share. However, it seems more likely that Palm's market share will be coming from lesser companies, such as Nokia. Pricing and support issues could also be a factor in whether or not a Pre will be high on shopping lists.
Thankfully, some good news comes from the developer side, with a recent article from Network World reinstating that Palm's webOS does indeed live up to the hype. "It's a completely new way of thinking about an OS on mobile devices," states Christian Sepulveda, VP of business management for Pivotal Labs (he was also previously interviewed). Tom Conrad, CTO for Pandora also is pumped about the Pre, from back in December when they started developing for webOS. "Everything about the Pre feels like it's future-oriented, not an iPhone-inspired knockoff," he states. Performance is excellent, he adds, and the Pre is "state of the art" in terms of handling browser and JavaScript technologies.
Multitasking is also a big draw for webOS, with Eric Marthinsen of Agile Commerce stating, "The way Palm has approached multitasking is very smart. It mitigates...the risk of a programmer running amuck." His company has been working with webOS and Mojo since early January.
Recently, more developers have started working with Palm webOS thanks to the Mojo SDK early access program, although tied to an NDA (reports Palm Developer Community Manager Chuq Von Rospach via the forums). So although the general outlook is positive, looks like you will have to wait your turn to start developing. In the meantime, Palm CTO Mitch Allen recently released Chapter 3 of Palm WebOS, so you can get a head start while you wait.
So what do you think, will the Pre and webOS be all it's hyped up to be?
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