“The biggest unknown [with the Palm Pre] is price, which went unmentioned during the demo. My assumption is that Palm would try to take market share by coming in significantly lower than the $200 or so Apple wants for its iPhone,” Peter Kafka reports for AllThingsD.
Kafka reports, “But when I ran that theory by Palm CEO Ed Colligan, he looked at me liked I’d peed on his rug. ‘Why would we do that when we have a significantly better product,’ he asked, then walked away.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: More unwarranted hubris from a deluded man who for years has done nothing of note but pilot his company directly into the ground.
We’ve learned and struggled for a few years here figuring out how to make a decent phone. PC guys are not going to just figure this out. They’re not going to just walk in. – Ed Colligan, Palm CEO, November 16, 2006, laughing off the idea of Apple entering the smartphone market.
The more we see and hear from Palm, the more we believe they’re angling for a buyout.
Oh, by the way:
We’ve been pushing the state-of-the-art in every facet of design… We’ve been innovating like crazy for the last few years on this and we’ve filed for over 200 patents for all of the inventions in iPhone. And we intend to protect them. – Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiling iPhone, January 9, 2007
ATTENTION ALL MORONS,
Poor Ed, He still doesn’t realize that the reason Apple can charge premium prices is because they have one of the strongest ( if not the strongest ) brands on the planet, and they deliver products people want. Palm does not have a platform, they have some phones and a web based operating system.
Now onto patents, Apple has only applied for over 200 patents in the iPhone, Does not mean they have been given those patents. Be assured though that as soon as they have been given these patents they will be cashing checks left and right, or there will be a rapture of “smart phones”. Sorry about the mythological reference there.
Palm could still implement a landscape virtual keyboard if it wanted to and claim that the Palm represents the best of both worlds. More of a reason to buy a Pre than an iPhone. This prototype Pre has plenty to offer, such as copy/paste, L.E.D. flash, higher camera pixel count, background applications, etc. But it is just a prototype. The production model won’t be out for several months and will most likely run into the iPhone 3.0 with updated hardware and Snow Leopard Mobile. Apple won’t be standing still. No handset company will. Palm wll have to gamble everything on this Pre so they better not make any mistakes or Palm is a goner as a company. Apple can throw whatever it takes with its abundant cash reserves at Palm or any other company. Between Google’s Android and Palm NewOS, I think Android has a definite support advantage.
The Pre is for people who have already ruled out iPhone for whatever reason. There will be no material volume of people asking “Pre or iPhone?” That said…
The Pre @ $99 will destroy RIM, the Pre @ $199 will destroy Palm
Only one thing needs to be said about the “Pre”:
IT’S VAPORWARE! V-A-P-0-R-W-A-R-E! IT DOESN’T EXIST! IT’S A HOPE, A PROMISE, A DREAM, A PHANTOM, A WISP, AN ILLUSION, A POTEMKIN VILLAGE, A GHOST. NOTHING MORE!
Let’s all wait until the unit falls into the hands of actual, real-world customers (and Sprint’s less-than-awesome network) before praising or condemning it.* THEN we’ll find out if Palm can right itself in some very deep financial waters.
* And when will this be? Six months? More?
@Crabs
You are mistaken. Check out this link: http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/08/palm-pre-first-hands-on-with-live-updates/ and this one: http://i.gizmodo.com/5126702/palm-pre-preview-simply-amazing
Well, I guess I stand (somewhat) corrected. It still wasn’t anywhere on display at CES, because neither Sprint nor Palm had a booth. And since it makes no sense to announce a phone at CES, but not display it for all the industry folk there, I’m still saying it’s, to a lesser degree, vaporware.
Since Palm hired away much of the iPod/iPhone design team, this phone could actually give Apple a run for their money. They have the knowledge to avoid the mistakes of another copy-cat.
This is why I am ashamed to take my MBP out in public. Someone dares to release a product in the same category as Apple… cue the FanBoy BS….
This thing isn’t even out yet. It is possible that Apple won’t own this segment forever… but ultimately… there are a lot more important things to rant about at this point in history!