The hotly anticipated Palm Pre, to be released June 6th, may be still be more than a couple weeks off, but that hasn't stopped Palm from taking an early victory lap. Sprint's sponsorship of NASCAR put the webOS handset in the driver's seat earlier this week, reports Precentral, with a huge Pre sitting on top of Tony Stewart's car in victory lane. And although the Pre was plastic, an overjoyed Stewart sure wasn't. The jumbo screens were also fashioned to look like giant Pre phones, the stage complete with cheering fans, eager reporters and fireworks.
If this doesn't draw lots of attention to Palm's new smartphone, I'm not sure what will. Other recent marketing from Sprint came in the form of podcasts and TV commercials.
Also spotted was an IndyCar (above right, driven by Raphael Matos) sponsored by Palm, although the Pre logo slapped onto the engine hump was more low-key than the Nascar blowout. For more on Sprint's Nascar partnership, head over to the official site.
webOS continues to leave positive impressions
"Palm Pre is pretty impressive", states Laura Sydell of NPR (National Public Radio). Recently, NPR visited Palm headquarters and Sydell walked away impressed with the new webOS platform. "The key to the success of this device will be the software...being able to keep three windows open simultaneously is a really nice feature", she states in regards to the much-touted multitasking capabilities of webOS. However, "as pretty as the Pre happens to be it isn't likely to have the sex appeal of the iPhone.".
"We think Palm Pre is an absolutely spectacular device", states Joe Kennedy, CEO of Pandora when asked about where the device ranks among smartphones. "We were not very impressed with the first Android phone", he notes during an interview, and considers the Palm Pre a "very strong" device. He also implies during his talk that the Pre ranks right along with the iPhone and Blackberry devices. Pandora is one of the Palm Pre launch partners.
"(has) the 'holy ****, that's cool' factor of the iPhone" reads an article in the June issue of Maxim. For the guys out there, Precentral found that the latest issue devotes an entire page to the new webOS device, right alongside the usual beautiful women, including Moon Bloodgood, Megan Fox, and Katie Cassidy. And they were blown away by webOS; "It's OS seamlessly merges all your digital calendars and contacts, personal and corporate exchange e-mail, even Facebook...and has the ability to run more than one application at a time. Man, the future is awesome."
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