Official: McNamee Casts Palm Pre as "iPhone for Ladies"
As Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak paid rapt attention (via Engadget), Palm's new dynamic duo, Jon Rubinstein and Roger McNamee took turns amazing, informing, and stupefying the crowd at All-Things Digital's D7 conference. Our sibling site, PreCentral.net has complete coverage, but from an iPhone perspective there were a few things worth drawing attention to...
The good: Ruby and Mac, straight and funny man respectively, were an awesome combination in the best, most comedic sense of the term. Palm should make sure their contracts say they need to co-host all future events. Presentation Gold. Ruby controlled the message and acted the responsible corporate governor while Mac was left to make outrageous claims and obfuscate the tough questions. And it worked brilliantly. Their opening video alone, which self-deprecatingly poked at Mac's history of grandiose statements all the while letting him slip in even more jabs, such as the terminal "[Palm Pre] eats iPhone's for breakfast."
The bad: when demonstrating the previously mentioned Palm Pre iTunes sync, comments were made about Apple being "monopolistic". Puh-leeze. Palm has an absolute right to make their own desktop client (they already make Palm Desktop for example). They don't have the right to hook into Apple's without license, even if Apple has the most popular media client on the planet. To make it simple for them, no matter how popular McDonald's is, they have the right to serve their own fries with their Big Macs. Burger King DOES NOT have the right to set up a stall inside McDonald's and hook up Whoppers next to the MacFries machine -- unless McDonald's says it's okay.
Tangent: Telling Palm Pre users they can hook up and sync with iTunes, even if you specify "DRM free music, photos (?!), and videos" is all fun and games until a) users can't transfer their iPhone apps and blame Apple, b) a routine (or not so) update to iTunes breaks Pre compatibility and users blame Apple.
The ugly: Great as Ruby and Mac were together, Ruby couldn't stop Mac from fully inserting his foot into his mouth towards the end. In a painfully, painfully drawn-out exchange with Kara Swisher, Mac began by saying the Pre had a mirror for woman, which Swisher immediately took exception to. Unrelenting, Mac continued to press the point about women being an ignored segment of the market, then took exception to Swisher's exception, and basically ended up writing the title for this here blog post, casting the Palm Pre as the "iPhone for Ladies" -- insulting women and potentially turning off a segment of their male audience as well. Sad, given the great start to the show.
So that was likely the last big Palm song and dance before release, and it was a mixed bag and perhaps a changing of the guard as well. A lot was made of Ruby's Apple pedigree and experience -- and we couldn't help but notice that after Ruby's comments that he basically rescued the Pre from resistive hell, Palm founder Ed Colligan was nowhere to be seen. If the Palm Pre is Ruby's iPhone, maybe we've just met the new iPalm?
Editor-in-Chief of iMore, Executive Producer at Mobile Nations, co-host of Iterate and ZEN and TECH, cook, grappler, photon wrangler. Follow him on Twitter @reneritchie
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umm i'm not even going to touch this one good luck to palm
That about nails it on the head.
Really sick of this Palm Pre. Lets June 6 gets here and we will see who is the clear winner. Just like all the other smartphones, the Palm Pre will just a side note to the new Iphone OS 3.0.
Let's ask Palm how the other iPhone killers have worked out for other brands over the last year...
Rene, while I'm sure your iPhone fans here would love some controversy, I think you've oversimplified McNamee's statements and put words in his mouth that he didn't say. As far as I've seen (videos, transcripts, etc.), he never implied that women were the primary market for the Pre. Rather, he suggested that no smartphone before has taken their needs seriously and the Pre does that, making it more appropriate for them than competing products (but, at the same time, no less appealing for men). So...were you taking some editorial license there, or did you see/hear something I didn't?
Who says it has to be an iphone killer? Retardos. It's likely a great phone. The fact that it's innovative is only going to push apple to be even more innovative, everyone benefits. This iphone killer crap is boring and ignorant. Iphones are phenomenal btw, but Pre's pretty cool too.
So, is the Palm Pre Rubinstein's Monster?
The Palm Pre will be a hit if the phone is reliable. Palm already has several versions that are more and less expencive in the works for release within the year.
Stop complaining about a little compitition. The Pre doing well will only help the I-phone become a better device.
They don't have a right to "hook into" iTunes without a license? What does that even mean? I don't remember reading any laws stating that modifying a piece of hardware to work with specific software was illegal. Otherwise, I don't see how Microsoft would have ever allowed Windows to run on Macs. Show me copyright laws or patents that explicitly state this is not the case, or stop claiming that it's some sort of infringement.
Also, your McDonald's analogy is terrible and doesn't even make sense.
Behold the nail in the coffin of the palm pre
Palm Pre looks good, but I can not see it like an "IPhone Killer " it is a litle bit more expensive of the others but it is ansolutli more efective and better.. It's almost like compare Gimp vs Photoshop, Gimp is really good but photoshop it's just better by far...
Anyway, palm was always for business people, Apple always gonna be for designers and creatives, android is for programers.. The real competition for Palm Pre is Blackberry and it is too much for it in this moment.
That's what I think.. Just my opinion
iPhone for ladies??? Ah hell no!
I agree with Manuel. The iPhone is becoming more business oriented though. Especially with Dataviz's app coming out soon.
I saw the opening video on my iPhone using the All Things D app (good app by the way). I was pretty funny especially when Mac says the Pre was built with Alien technology. The clips of the interview were ok - nothing special or new really. They have a nice device on their hands. Still, Apple is playing this game properly by saying nothing until WWDC. They'll let 3.0 speak for itself and let the market decide. I won't be surprised if they take some shots back either in the presentation or in the new iPhone ad. It's going to be a fun week.
Hey JDub - what do you have to do to load Windows on a mac? That's right, you have to buy Windows which means that you buy a license for the software. It might be interesting if you think before you type such stupidity.
@Craig
Even if what you are quoting is more "accurate", the statement still has bias. What do women particularly need in a smartphone that is not out there in the market already? How do smartphones cater to men more?
I think it is risky to "genderize" technology for marketing of a product, especially a truly universal product.
I am not implying that you align with Mac. I know you were promoting accuracy of reporting.
Side note: The Pre looks pretty fun. It has an innovative UI and a lot of app integration that the iPhone still lacks. This will be a viable counterpoint to the iPhone. But that is a good thing. Competition brings more choice to the consumer. Apple will rise to the occasion.
@Craig. If I'm putting words in his mouth, my bad, though I can't imagine squeezing them past his feet. On the other hand, I think his reasons for thinking it's "for ladies" are a tad ill considered, though I'm sure the women will speak for themselves on that
Engadget:
12:50PM Roger: It has a mirror on the back... there's never been a phone like this for women before.
12:53PM Kara: I'm looking forward to the blow-dryer and lipstick function... Kara: Are you aiming at the ladies?
12:55PM Roger: I find it shocking that you would take issue with the fact that we're aiming this at women.
Gizmodo:
Mossberg pretends to put on his make up using the Pre’s mirror back, as Kara chides Roger for his previous statement about women needing mirrors. Roger says the segment is under served. Tech is aimed at testosterone ladden men, he says. The iPhone has a feel, its a bit large in your pocket, he says. “The Palm Pre has a Different Feel”
Dang, title should have said "casts" like the body does. Fixed. Thanks.
@Craig
"he suggested that no smartphone before has taken their needs seriously and the Pre does that, making it more appropriate for them than competing products "
That's the bias right there. Assuming that what every woman strives for, longs for, nay... NEEDS is a mirror on the back of their smartphone.
I'm sorry, but he DID put his foot in his mouth by saying that because no one, male OR FEMALE would walk into a store and have this conversation:
Female Customer: "I don't know about the Palm Pre. I mean it's good, but does it have all the features that I need?"
Retailer: "It has a mirror."
Female Customer: "Sold!"
Catering to the female population does not mean "Let's put a mirror on the back."
I love the way that he thinks a device that is so much thicker than the iPhone is going to feel better in your trouser pocket! Just the latest in a long line of silly comments from a rather silly man.
On the other hand, perhaps it IS better for women...
"Is that a Pre in your pocket, or are you just pleased to see me?"
--AMAZING-- device, terrible marketing. I'm seriously beginning to wonder if they even want to sell this thing
BTW I agree that his comment was in poor taste, but I did not take offense. I actually have a mirror screen protector for my iphone, it's awesome
I think Joshua from engadget said it best when he said "this guy is like the Joe Biden of tech"
@Remo
What does that have to do with anything? Yes, of course the consumer who is using the software has to buy Windows, just like the consumer has to download a (free) copy of iTunes. That has nothing to do with the issue at hand, which is whether or not a software company can prohibit another company from designing hardware that can interact with their program. Apple can not force Palm to discontinue iTunes compatibility any more than Microsoft can force Apple to discontinue Windows compatibility. It's absurd.
I think the point you're trying to get at is that this is a licensing issue, but it's not. Even though iTunes is free, there is still a license associated with it, so that you can't just include iTunes with any old computer or Phone. However, Palm isn't doing this at all. They are simply saying that, if you already have iTunes, the Pre will sync with it. There is no license infringement going on here, and to claim otherwise is absolutely ridiculous.
Jeez, as if Palm didn't steal every feature and idea from the iPhone, now they are copying Apple in making grandiose unveiling events!! I'm not saying that Apple was the first company to have a charismatic CEO who effectively sells his product but Palm is copying Apple in every way, even allowing their phone to hook into the iTunes software! Using iTunes is their worst idea yet! Not only will it cause numerous calls to AppleCare, but Palm customer care is going to have to direct some calls specific to iTunes to Apple and as soon as those phone operators hear the words "Palm Pre" they are going to send the users right back to Palm customer care. This is going to be an absolute nightmare for Palm.
This whole iPhone killer argument is overblown. A phone is an iPhone killer if it does something critical, for a given user, that the iPhone doesn't or does poorly. For example, on long trips my ATT GoPhone is an iPhone killer because it lasts weeks on standby - so I don't worry about it being dead when I need it, unlike the iPhone. The Treo i an iPhone killer if you need full synch functionality with Exchange (ability to send invites, notes and task synch). For some jobs, my non-camera LG is an iPhone killer because I can't take a camera phone on site.
The ability to change phones by swapping sims instead of doing an online change ala VZW is teh real thing I need; YMMV.
yall are stupid!!! palm never said this phone would be an iphone killer. who cares about iphone or palm. their 2 different service providers (att,sprint) if you have sprint get the palm a few weeks after it comes out (unless your rich and dont care if it messes up cause you can just buy another one[if it messes up]) if you wait then they will get all the bugs out and you'll be fine (: but anyways i dont like the iphone. i have the htc mogul and it does everything the iphone does and its a tank! lol ive beaten the hell out of this phone. htc make reliable products. just saying....
i couldnt even figure out what you were talking about most of the time in this post. invest in some intelligence. as for me, i would love to see the palm pre put down the iphone in any scale. it is a well performing, useful device, and you're just pissed it dosent have the name apple on it.