Woe is Sprint. They haven’t even launched the long awaited Palm Pre smart phone and already Verizon Wireless and AT&T are sucking all of the wind out of their sails. Verizon Wireless CEO Lowell McAdam announced in an investor web-cast that his carrier will begin selling the Palm Pre at the end of the year giving Sprint a woeful six months of exclusivity to try to woo Palm die-hards to its subscriber roles.
Will the Pre be worth it? Hopefully Palm has spent as much effort designing and building the product as they have hyping it. Signs say that they have really thought about how the modern consumer and business person operates to have some very useful features. Highlights include:
- Multiple calendars – This is something that I really need to learn how to use for my Blackberry Storm. With two different Google Calendars (one personal and one that a client uses) plus trying to synchronize with my desktop and notebook Outlook calendars, this is a great feature. It also automatically manages contacts in different places to synchronize and keep those contacts consistent. (Nothing worse than having two different mobile numbers for the same person…)
- Background applications – Apple, are you listening? The ability to have multiple applications open and switch between them without having to shut down is a major feature that mimics how people actually work. (I apologize to any of you who are organized enough to completely put away one task on your desk before starting the next…)
- Direct access to iTunes – This is a recent rumor that may or may not last but apparently the Pre will be able to purchase non-copy protected content directly from iTunes. This opens a whole host of music and podcast options.
The Pre also includes a slide-out keyboard instead of a touch screen. Personally, I think you either need to go keyboard or touch screen. I have never really felt comfortable with the slide-out keyboards. Perhaps this is because the keyboard is below the screen surface and it makes it slightly uncomfortable to hold. I will reserve judgement on this feature to actually try typing on a production model.
Will the Pre compete with the iPhone or Blackberry? My personal take is “Yes, in some circles.” If you are a die-hard Palm fan, this will likely be a great upgrade to your old Treo. If you are a die-hard Sprint customer, then this could be the smart phone for you. If you currently are an AT&T or a Verizon Wireless customer and are not a Palm user, you should likely skip this phone in favor of the iPhone or a Blackberry model…
The bigger question is will this have a significant impact on Sprint? In six months I think we are all going to look at the number and say that defections to Sprint are negligible and that at best, it has saved them a number of subscribers from defecting away…
Tags: apple, at&T wireless, blackberry, iphone, Palm, pda, Pre, smart phone, Sprint, storm, verizon wireless
