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Can Palm Pre compete with the iPhone?
The Palm Pre phone
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Kai Ryssdal: The latest entry in the smartphone wars goes on sale this weekend under the catchy name of the Palm Pre. Pre what though is a fair question, since Palm is actually playing catch up. This phone is a must-win for Palm. The company has gone from digital darling to afterthought in just a copule of short years. Early reviews say the Pre is pretty good. But how's it going to play against the iPhone? Marketplace's Stacey Vanek-Smith gives us the 411.
PALM PRE AD: Isn't it beautiful when life simply flows together? Introducing the Palm Pre.
STACEY VANEK-SMITH: A few hundred dollars and a two-year contract with Sprint will need to flow together if you want to get your hands on the new Palm Pre. It has high-speed internet, GPS, a digital camera with flash and, a first for smartphones, a touch-screen and a keyboard. CNET editor Bonnie Cha has tried out the Pre.
BONNIE CHA: The multi-tasking capabilities, I think they've set a new standard for that. And the display is just really vibrant and amazing, and I think it's better than the iPhone's.
Display's important, but these days it's all about the apps. You know, those software applications that let you pop virtual bubble wrap or find a bathroom in New York. The iPhone has more than 35,000 apps. The Pre, about a dozen for now. Industry analyst Jeff Kagan says Palm has to deliver on that front. He points out Palm invented the PDA -- remember the Palm Pilot? Yeah.
JEFF KAGAN: Palm, which basically cornered the smartphone market in the beginning, is now just trying to get some attention. And now this new device is supposed to breathe new life into its lungs.
Palm may have an edge. It costs the same as an iPhone, but Palm's contract with Sprint is roughly 20 bucks a month cheaper than iPhone's AT&T contract. Mark Donovan is an analyst for ComScore.
MARK DONOVAN: One decision I think is going to be price point for people. I think price is certainly in this economy an important factor.
That hasn't been lost on Apple. It's expected to announce a new iPhone on Monday, and it could come with a lower price.
I'm Stacey Vanek-Smith for Marketplace.
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Yea im surprised the N97 isnt even mentioned, The 97 would eat phone the iphone, HTC Touch and Pre all for lunch, and still have room for more. Sadly in america people are enslaved by cellphone companies and many wont be able to afford the N97.
Apps schmapps. As another comment pointed, out, there are probably only 200 useful iPhone apps out there. I want a device that can play mp3s and has portable Net access so that I can get to all the apps I want - Gmail, shared Google calendars, Pandora, and LiveJournal, etc. Oh, yeah, and it would be nice if it was a phone, too. The Pre will have all that tomorrow morning for $20 less a month than the Jesus phone. Where do I sign up? :-)
Yeah. No one talks about the elephant in the room. N97 that is. But I understand that device is not a real competition to iphone in US as it is not carried by any major wirless provider.
But N97 is undoubtedly the most advanded device on the planet. But not for American consumers. One has to be a bit familiar with smart phones to uncover the real power of N97.
There is a lot of confusion around the terms "smart phone" and "smartphone". The HTC Touch Pro and the iPaq are not smart phones, they are WM Professional devices. Microsoft's mobile platform has two basic flavors: 1. Windows Mobile Professional and 2. Windows Mobile Standard (aka "MS SmartPhone"). A WM Standard device by definition cannot have a touch screen. MS abandoned the SmartPhone moniker because the term is now so misused and confused. The term "smartphone" now commonly refers to the class of corporate devices like the BlackBerry and Palm Treo; most have a keyboard, a couple have a touch screen, and none have both. The G1 isn't really in this space and really more competes against the iPhone and WM Pro devices in terms of features and apps. I think the Pre is the first device from a traditional smartphone manufacturer to have both a touch screen and a keyboard, but as already pointed out the WM and G1 devices have been around for years.
It's funny that you say the iPhone has 35,000 apps like that's a good thing. There are sites and blogs a-plenty where people complain about the glut. It's really more like "Here's 35,000 apps. Good luck finding the 200 useful ones!" Flash is VB and Access all over again.
Man..Why doesn't anyone talk about the Nokia N97. It only costs an arm.
But seriously, it reaaally does everything. Pity you folks in the US don't get it subsidized.
Hope one day you guys will be liberated from the phone carrier tethering. While us in the free world will continue to lust after that N97 beast.
Man..Why doesn't anyone talk about the Nokia N97. It only costs an arm.
But seriously, it reaaally does everything. Pity you folks in the US don't get it subsidized.
Hope one day you guys will be liberated from the phone carrier tethering. While us in the free world will continue to lust after that N97 beast.
I believe the G1 (Google Phone) was the first touch screen keyboard phone. It is the missing competitor in this story and also has access to tons of applications, mostly free, through Android technology groups. It really deserves mention. You should try one out especially the webcast wallpapers and apps like Google Sky Map. Awesome!
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