Summary
After much hope and hype, the Palm Pre ranked 10th in Gartner’s Q2 2009 smartphone share, and was simply lumped in the “other” category – ouch. Yes, the Palm Pre really needs another service provider partner besides Sprint – preferably Verizon. But even if that happens, there’s something else they must address.
Analysis
Both the iPhone and the Pre are highly experiential devices – problem is, most shoppers can’t experience the Pre properly.
Go into a Best Buy and what’s the biggest difference between the iPhone and Palm Pre? One is a live phone allowing you to freely experience and explore the user interface, the internet, iTunes, You Tube, GPS, sending a text or an email, and a wide variety of terrific apps. The other one is a dummy phone with a single, fixed and simulated image of a phone screen.
Why is Palm Pre using dummy phones in their retail displays? Every Best Buy and Radio Shack store I’ve been in in the San Francisco bay area (definitely a sweet spot for smart phones) still has dummy phones on display. Sprint stores have live displays, but Sprint stores are not the path to broadly exposing the phone and converting new customers to Sprint. From the launch in June through the upcoming holidays, hundreds of thousands of people will pass through Best Buy and Radio Shack stores combined – what a huge missed opportunity this is for exposing the Palm Pre and it's OS.
Again, why? Live demos in retail stores come with certain challenges, but they are challenges Apple has clearly overcome, and that Palm and Sprint surely should have been able to work out, both for the launch in June and now three months later.
The fact that they don’t have working models openly available in Best Buy or Radio Shack stores speaks volumes. About what they don’t know about consumers, how deeply personal phones (particularly smart phones) have become, and the emotions of buying. Or, about their ability to successfully execute in retail. Whichever it is, it’s not good for Pre sales and it’s not encouraging for the future.
Palm needs to get both focused and practical on getting as many people possible to experience the most unique and special benefits of the Pre. And, that includes their advertising – the Palm Pre campaign with the often referred to ‘creepy woman’ and zen monks are unrelatable to most consumers and do nothing to communicate what is different about the Pre – the few shots it does show of the phone are of very ordinary functions – photos, contact list, sliding QWERTY keyboard, etc.
In a recent smart phone study by Interpret, LLC. smart phone buyers said they want their signature handsets to be 1. Smart (intelligent, adept) 2. Cool (hip, trendy) 3. Productive (efficient, organized). The Palm Pre may fit this description, but dummy phones definitely don't.
Cathy Stauffer consults with leading institutions through GLG
Analyses are solely the work of the authors and have not been edited or endorsed by GLG.
