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Comment by eli | Hacker News Reader

Hey, it's better than their last three "this'll save the company" ideas combined

I think they're making progress, but they still don't get it. They don't understand how to make or market great consumer products.

For the Pre, their marketing materials are all screwy and confusing. The device and UI are just complete ripoffs of the iPhone. With the (R) and (C) and TM icons everywhere, and by selling something called the "Palm(R) Touchstone(TM) PreTM Backplate Adapter," they are making themselves out to be a distant corporation.

It happens that I used to interact with Palm marketing execs. I specifically recall the launch of the LifeDrive, a ridiculous $500 WiFi-enabled... electronic organizer. Even in 2005 it was pretty obvious that cell phones were going to replace PalmPilots. And yet a top Palm PR exec gleefully pointed a chart showing Palm's increasing dominance of the "PDA market."

The pitch was, literally, "It's got a card reader so you can grab the pictures off your digital camera without having to take your laptop on vacation!"

But the thing is... these people really believed in it. The Palm marketing folks -- at least the ones I met -- were all True Believers. They couldn't quite grasp why they got such bad press. They really REALLY believe in Palm.

Though, that said, I don't think ripping off Apple is necessarily a bad business strategy.

Hearing the wolves at the door does have a clarifying effect...

You may criticise the branding and marketing, but I think the product's as close to the ideal as anyone on the market has managed to announce so far.

MMS? Check. Stereo Bluetooth? Check. Copy/paste? Check. Headphone jack? Check. Physical volume buttons? Check. Camera with flash? Check. Physical keyboard? Check. Exchange support? Check. Multitasking? Check. Wi-Fi? Check. Multitouch? Check. GPS? Check. Removable battery? Check. A decent web browser? Check. Decent looks? Check. Good UI? Check.

No obvious glaring flaws exist - admittedly it's missing video-calling, but I doubt many use it, and battery-life and price are still up in the air, but so far it looks pretty damn good. The fact it's CDMA-only and carrier tied is a bit of a shame, but they say a GSM version is going to appear in the rest of the world. One concern is whether applications will be developed for their platform, but that remains to be seen. I think the UI is above and beyond the iPhone's in many ways - the task switching and general lack of clutter is amazing and the cards analogy is inspired. The whole package just seems fantastic.

I'm with Halo, I haven't bought an iPhone because of the lack of keyboard, didn't buy a blackberry because the apps blew and the UI was annoying, and was waiting for Android v2 phones before taking Android seriously. The Pre is near ideal - keyboard, touch, beautiful layout, time tested base apps, and a great size for the pocket. And frankly the marketing is pretty slick - perhaps not geek slick, but it has total business appeal and a well trusted name. Now if only they'd ship sooner.

I feel exactly as you do. I've stuck with my Treo 755p (and 700p before that) and avoided the phones you've mentioned for all those reasons.

I'm completely stoked for the Pre.

Well, I hope for their sake that it's a lot better than the iPhone, because good enough ain't gonna cut it. Not if it's going to cost more: http://mediamemo.allthingsd.com/20090108/live-from-ces-palm-...

there will be a GSM 3g friendly pre http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/08/palm-pre-in-depth-impress...

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