Will Palm Pre Shortages Help or Hurt Palm’s Revival?
Palm has officially debuted its much-anticipated Pre smartphone complete with the webOS mobile platform. Early reports indicate a shortage of both the handset and the accessories.
Some view this as bad news for Palm, a brand that’s trying to resurrect itself in light of heavy competition from Apple’s iPhone and Research in Motion’s BlackBerry. Others view the shortage as a potential brand booster in the short term.
“It’s always a balance. Having a little bit of a shortage is a good thing if it inspires people to want to get hold of a product. People always want what they can’t have,” said Michael Gartenberg, a vice president at Interpret. “On the other hand, if it gets too frustrating and people really can’t find what they are looking for, they eventually decide to purchase something else. The question is, at what point does their patience become tried?”
Not an iPhone Killer
With the Pre, Palm is betting consumers will be patient. The webOS platform is a strong innovation in the mobile space. It automatically brings user information from the many places it resides — on the phone, at work, or on the Web — into one integrated view.
“For a company that most people were writing off six months ago, Palm came back very strong. There’s definitely a lot of buzz about the device,” Gartenberg said. “The early reviews were very positive in terms of the innovation that Palm has brought to the table. The Pre isn’t an iPhone killer, nor is the iPhone a Pre killer. It doesn’t have to be. There’s certainly room in the market for more than one device.”
Palm Synergy, a key feature of webOS, brings information from all the places it resides into one logical view. Users don’t have to worry about tracking multiple calendars, contacts and messaging applications. Synergy…
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