Too late.
The Pre will sell ok, it'll have its share of users. But once Apple steals your thunder (and all the mindshare that comes with it), your product is DONE. Any hope of major traction against Apple's product is gone.
The Pre will probably be among the "best of the rest" for a while - perhaps until RIM releases a new Touch-based device. You get only one chance when competing against Apple's handhelds, and that chance comes at the intro/rollout. Palm's was rather uninspiring, to say the least. Better than average, but that's hardly enough. The label of "iPhone killer" (and Palm's subsequent failure to do just that) is usually an ill omen for competitors out the gate.
Part of the problem is (aside from the fact that the Pre just doesn't measure up to the iPhone) is that the industry, the media, and whoever else pitted it directly against the iPhone. It was inevitable that that would happen, but the results are fairly predictable. Palm itself, mouthed off about the iPhone, and it was already a mismatch even before the fight began.
You know the beautiful thing: June 29, 2009, is the two-year anniversary of the first shipment of the iPhone. Not one of those people will still be using an iPhone a month later. - Palm-backer Roger McNamee, Elevation Partners - March 05, 2009
The Pre will sell ok, it'll have its share of users. But once Apple steals your thunder (and all the mindshare that comes with it), your product is DONE. Any hope of major traction against Apple's product is gone.
The Pre will probably be among the "best of the rest" for a while - perhaps until RIM releases a new Touch-based device. You get only one chance when competing against Apple's handhelds, and that chance comes at the intro/rollout. Palm's was rather uninspiring, to say the least. Better than average, but that's hardly enough. The label of "iPhone killer" (and Palm's subsequent failure to do just that) is usually an ill omen for competitors out the gate.
Part of the problem is (aside from the fact that the Pre just doesn't measure up to the iPhone) is that the industry, the media, and whoever else pitted it directly against the iPhone. It was inevitable that that would happen, but the results are fairly predictable. Palm itself, mouthed off about the iPhone, and it was already a mismatch even before the fight began.
You know the beautiful thing: June 29, 2009, is the two-year anniversary of the first shipment of the iPhone. Not one of those people will still be using an iPhone a month later. - Palm-backer Roger McNamee, Elevation Partners - March 05, 2009
