Comments on: New Palm Pre Commercial Gets Metaphysical

Palm has unleashed another new commercial in its series of Palm Pre advertisements. Again Palm has employed the up-close, direct delivery style seen in the past two ads featuring Tamara Hope.

This one involves a conversation about reincarnation and remembering past lives. You can catch the 30 second clip after the break.

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gasp

Gekko @ 7/20/2009 2:47:26 PM # Q

what's with the big gasp before saying "her ultimate question"???

bad acting or an effort to offend and insult me???

who in the f**k talks like this????????

RE: gasp
freakout @ 7/20/2009 7:43:56 PM # Q
Lobotomy patients?
RE: gasp
jca666us @ 7/21/2009 5:40:37 AM # M Q
you would certainly know freak!


RE: gasp
rmhurdman @ 7/21/2009 8:44:21 AM # Q
I've always wondered how to pronounce "jca666us". I've decided it reads "jacka$s". Some of your comments are interesting, just as some of freakouts are. But lately, the personal attacks are becoming very tiresome. Especially in the case that it adds NOTHING to the discussion.

Might I suggest taking up a hobby? Or maybe getting out of doors for a few hours? You can find some really great books at your local library. Just about anything would be more positive than trying to pick a fight over the Internet.

RE: gasp
jca666us @ 7/21/2009 9:33:51 AM # M Q
mhurdman,

that was almost funny - I only attack when getting attacked.

Tell your buttboy freak to mellow out!

RE: gasp
CFreymarc @ 7/21/2009 3:12:50 PM # Q
You think this couldn't get worst in concept. Past lives? Know I know where this is going.

About the only genius attempt I can see in this ad is they going the "weird line" by trying to market this device to the "freaks and geeks" crowd that attend fandom conventions and lead introverted and escapist lives. This crowd doesn't follow mainstream with social interaction (iPhone) and they don't have much personal productivity (Blackberry) but they do like following the latest original concept. It is a form of fad marketing.

Also, the morph of this blonde Mona Lisa's face into the Pre at the end of the commercial is a bit out there to the point of subliminal. I'd bet good money you will see the Pre placed in several SciFi channel TV shows this fall if this really is the market they are going after to avoid going head on with iPhone or Blackberry.

My god! its full of geeks!

Reply to this comment

Request

vetdoctor @ 7/20/2009 5:24:57 PM # M Q
an actual link to these video's for us mobile users.

Still on a Treo755p

RE: Request
freakout @ 7/20/2009 5:45:40 PM # Q
Reply to this comment

compare and contrast

freakout @ 7/20/2009 5:44:44 PM # Q
In my not-humble-at-all opinion Sprint's ads are a lot better:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwEAgOzGUOk

RE: compare and contrast
jca666us @ 7/20/2009 7:24:45 PM # Q
I agree, but saying those Sprint ads are better doesn't mean much - they just suck *slightly* less than these worthless Pre commercials.

Unless of course the Pre's target market is new-age blonde bimbos who-speak-with-unusual-affectations-and-pauses-who-think-the-palm-pre-is-cool!

RE: compare and contrast
freakout @ 7/20/2009 7:52:31 PM # Q
Please go away and die already.
RE: compare and contrast
gmayhak @ 7/20/2009 9:47:47 PM # Q
freakout @ 7/20/2009 5:44:44 PM
In my not-humble-at-all opinion Sprint's ads are a lot better"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwEAgOzGUOk
--------------

yeah right but what the hell do we care about opening a dunkin donuts in space?

It's perfectly clear that the pre isn't intended for those of us that stayed with palm through the years and these stupid commercials by palm & sprint will just drive the remaining palm diehards to the iPhone.
what a bunch of dipshits this new palm management is !
Tech Center Labs

RE: compare and contrast
SeldomVisitor @ 7/21/2009 4:00:43 AM # Q
Hey! At least that ad suggests that 3 million Pre owners are using the Simply Everything plan!

Yow! Whatta successful launch!

WAITAMINUTE!

Ya mean the ad ISN'T suggesting that?

Oh.

RE: compare and contrast
SeldomVisitor @ 7/21/2009 4:03:41 AM # Q
WAIT. A. MINUTE.

That ads says "thousands are using the Palm Pre", not "hundreds of thousands" not "tens of thousands", but "thousands".

Oh my.

What a bust of a launch!

RE: compare and contrast
jca666us @ 7/21/2009 5:43:14 AM # M Q
truth in advertising!
RE: compare and contrast
twrock @ 7/21/2009 6:52:58 AM # Q
gmayhak wrote:
It's perfectly clear that the pre isn't intended for those of us that stayed with palm through the years....

Very well put. Yes, the old Palm is gone. The "zen" is gone (apparently replaced by reincarnation). I really don't think the "new Palm" is going to be the company that creates the device to replace my TX.

I hated the last ad. I think I hate this one even more. I clearly am not in their target audience.

Hey Palm! Where's my PDA with Wifi and phone capabilities?

RE: compare and contrast
BaalthazaaR @ 7/21/2009 7:41:41 AM # Q
twrock wrote:
I really don't think the "new Palm" is going to be the company that creates the device to replace my TX.


Looks like Access is the only one looking at interest in a non-windows PDA. You might have to stick with GarnetOS. There are of course the Dell Android PDA rumors.
RE: compare and contrast
SeldomVisitor @ 7/21/2009 7:46:18 AM # Q
> ...You might have to stick with GarnetOS...

Yes, that's what Palm said with the Pre.

RE: compare and contrast
twrock @ 7/22/2009 2:47:13 AM # Q
BaalthazaaR wrote:
Looks like Access is the only one looking at interest in a non-windows PDA. You might have to stick with GarnetOS. There are of course the Dell Android PDA rumors.

Actually, I'm very ready to get a smartphone vs. separate devices. But the smartphone has to at least have good PIM software. So yes, I am looking very carefully at what develops with Android devices.

If I wasn't increasingly avoiding proprietary software/OS's, I'd probably have moved to Apple by now, even though I don't think they still have any decent PIM software. But I am really getting sick of being locked into proprietary systems, and I'm trying to get out.



Hey Palm! Where's my PDA with Wifi and phone capabilities?

RE: compare and contrast
SeldomVisitor @ 7/22/2009 3:56:04 AM # Q
> ...So yes, I am looking very carefully at what develops with
> Android devices...

HTC is majorly moving to Android:

http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/22/htc-adopting-android-on-50-of-its-handsets-in-2010/

RE: compare and contrast
DarthRepublican @ 7/23/2009 9:55:35 AM # Q
Very well put. Yes, the old Palm is gone. The "zen" is gone (apparently replaced by reincarnation). I really don't think the "new Palm" is going to be the company that creates the device to replace my TX.

Reincarnation is a tenet of Zen Buddhism (of all forms of Buddhism really). And Zen Buddhist koans and practices are the inspiration for the idea of "Zen" in computing which is where the "Zen of the Palm" idea came from. So the ad does evoke the old Zen in a very roundabout way. The idea seems to be to appeal to women by stripping out the geekier, more abstract aspects of the concept and relate them in terms of the more concrete aspect of juggling our busy work and family lives.

More to the point, it seems kind of silly to assume that just because a company makes a few bad ads, that it somehow makes their products suspect. Having retired my own Palm TX, I would say that the Pre is definitely a worthy successor even if all the pieces aren't in place yet. (Memos and Tasks need to be syncable to Google just like Contacts and Email.)


I hated the last ad. I think I hate this one even more. I clearly am not in their target audience.

I liked the first ad with the Chinese dancers (it grew on me). But have hated the more recent ones. I think that they were made in part because Palm probably spent a lot of money on the first ad and thought that they could get a bigger bang for the buck by doing these follow up ads with the same actress (they probably did them on the same day or days that they did the original). I don't think that the weirdness of the ads are a problem. I think that it's more that they radiate a certain smugness that I find very unappealing.
Screw convergence
Palm III->Visor Deluxe->Visor Platinum->Visor Prism->Tungsten E->Palm LifeDrive->Palm TX->Palm Pre
Visor Pro+VisorPhone->Treo 180g->Treo 270->Treo 600->Treo 680->T-Mobile G1->Palm Pre
http://mind-grapes.blogspot.com/
RE: compare and contrast
DarthRepublican @ 7/23/2009 10:11:43 AM # Q

Looks like Access is the only one looking at interest in a non-windows PDA. You might have to stick with GarnetOS. There are of course the Dell Android PDA rumors.

Is Access really looking at PDAs at all? I haven't seen anything from them since that silly demo with a bare motherboard and chips from a few years ago. In any case, most Garnet programs run just fine on the Palm Pre under Classic.
Screw convergence
Palm III->Visor Deluxe->Visor Platinum->Visor Prism->Tungsten E->Palm LifeDrive->Palm TX->Palm Pre
Visor Pro+VisorPhone->Treo 180g->Treo 270->Treo 600->Treo 680->T-Mobile G1->Palm Pre
http://mind-grapes.blogspot.com/
RE: compare and contrast
BaalthazaaR @ 7/23/2009 12:13:32 PM # Q
DarthRepublican wrote:
Is Access really looking at PDAs at all? I haven't seen anything from them since that silly demo with a bare motherboard and chips from a few years ago. In any case, most Garnet programs run just fine on the Palm Pre under Classic.

They sent surveys to people who replied to Tom. More details here:

http://tamspalm.tamoggemon.com/2009/05/21/access-doesnt-want-palm-os-dead/

Reply to this comment

Palm, let's talk

abosco @ 7/21/2009 10:39:54 AM # M Q
Enough is enough. In the last three weeks, I've seen you pay a thousand Chinese dancers $0.06 per hour to dance, had a pasty-faced woman tell me about juggling, and now you're talking to me about reincarnation.

You're a ****ing phone company.

Now fire your entire marketing department and do this:

Have the new commercial begin exactly as all current iPhone commercials do. Have a guy's hand holding a bright iPhone, currently switching between AIM and an email. Have a voiceover (similar to the Sprint guy's voice) explain what happens when you switch to another application and have the wonderfully useless Apple notification feature ping you. Enter Pre left, with another guy's hand (if you want that hip diversity dollar, make it a black hand, but not too dark as to scare away that heartland racist dollar), performing the same task on the Pre, getting pinged with a new message, and handling it much more smoothly than the iPhone.

This fits in 30 seconds, goes after your exact market (people who want a cool smartphone but do NOT want anything to do with Apple), and highlights a great feature of the Pre.

No confusing Prozac ads, no Chinese slave dancing labor, and no pale women scaring away the majority of your userbase.

RE: Palm, let's talk
CFreymarc @ 7/21/2009 3:19:18 PM # Q
Best laugh I have had today. Yes, the electroshock crowd probably gets this ad more than the rest of us.
RE: Palm, let's talk
freakout @ 7/21/2009 5:10:19 PM # Q
Too close to Apple's ads, methinks. You wouldn't wanna remind people too much of that other phone.

Been looking over Youtube this morning. Palm's done plenty of alright ads before, dunno how they dropped the ball so badly on this series.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bcTc8e2-6U
(not that this would work on a Pre. beaming is dead!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjqMt5Uz3mw
Interesting, in that it's very close to "there's an app for that".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=II1MyMg0ji0
Amusing in espousing the value of mobile Internet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Vekowumsfw
Pre's first web ad would have been a lot better if it had shown the phone actually doing stuff....

RE: Palm, let's talk
Gekko @ 7/21/2009 5:27:27 PM # Q

wow weird to see those commercials. seems like ancient history since the last time people actually used PDAs.
RE: Palm, let's talk
abosco @ 7/21/2009 10:17:29 PM # M Q
Too close to Apple's ads, methinks. You wouldn't wanna remind people too much of that other phone.

But that is exactly the goal. You can't sell a Pre by pretending people don't know about the iPhone. Everybody knows about the iPhone, so exploit that fact by showing them, in a familiar environment, how the Pre is plainly better at certain tasks. In my opinion, this would be the most effective way to get first-time smartphone buyers.

RE: Palm, let's talk
jca666us @ 7/22/2009 5:01:49 AM # Q
For certain tasks the Pre may be better, however all you need for a rebuttal ad from Apple is a test showing anything the iphone does better.

- Turn on the Pre and the iphone and demonstrate how fast the iphone is.

- Demonstrate voice recognition on the iphone.

- Highlight the lack of apps for the Pre.

etc.

RE: Palm, let's talk
abosco @ 7/22/2009 5:27:51 AM # M Q
Well, yes, but we're talking about advertising. We assume people are stupid, and they'll believe us if we show them one example of a better feature and tell them it's a better device.

Also, Apple would be stupid to acknowledge any such ads from Palm, since most people have no idea about the Pre. Any rebuttal ads would just bring awareness to an alternative. Apple already has a smash hit with the iPhone, iPod Touch, and their whole marketing campaign and ecosystem. They don't need to change a thing.

RE: Palm, let's talk
nastebu @ 7/22/2009 6:57:23 AM # Q
The essence is Palm has great software (and adequate hardware) that they should be showing off. Why are they working so hard to conceal the software excellence with abstract, could-be-any-phone ads? Sure, it's a good idea to build up the brand image, but these are the wrong ads at a very crucial time.

On the upside I guess they're selling 'em as fast as they make 'em.

RE: Palm, let's talk
SeldomVisitor @ 7/22/2009 7:02:54 AM # Q
> ...On the upside I guess they're selling 'em as fast as they make 'em

The latest articles say that there are very few locations that do NOT have Pres in stock.

RE: Palm, let's talk
nastebu @ 7/22/2009 7:08:24 AM # Q
wow. I hadn't seen the third one yet because I assumed Palm could sink no lower. wow. That is hysterically bad. wow.
RE: Palm, let's talk
DarthRepublican @ 7/23/2009 10:46:49 AM # Q

Now fire your entire marketing department and do this:

Have the new commercial begin exactly as all current iPhone commercials do. Have a guy's hand holding a bright iPhone, currently switching between AIM and an email. Have a voiceover (similar to the Sprint guy's voice) explain what happens when you switch to another application and have the wonderfully useless Apple notification feature ping you. Enter Pre left, with another guy's hand (if you want that hip diversity dollar, make it a black hand, but not too dark as to scare away that heartland racist dollar), performing the same task on the Pre, getting pinged with a new message, and handling it much more smoothly than the iPhone.

This fits in 30 seconds, goes after your exact market (people who want a cool smartphone but do NOT want anything to do with Apple), and highlights a great feature of the Pre.


This would be just about the worst thing that Palm could do. Worse even than what they are doing now. Not only would you know who be there to condemn the Pre as a "me too" device but like those "let's compare our brand to the 'leading brand'" soap commercials, it would permanently brand the Pre as an also ran device.

No confusing Prozac ads, no Chinese slave dancing labor, and no pale women scaring away the majority of your userbase.

But that's the point isn't it? To reach out to a new audience other than the hardcore gadget geeks who spend every waking moment on PIC having a cow over every single aspect of their new devices. A better question is whether or not this campaign is working. My guess is that it's not working since I've mostly seen and heard people describing these commercials as "creepy." Having said that, Palm is in pretty good company since most companies seem unable to reach out to the primarily female audience that Palm is going after. At least they've avoided embarrassing themselves the Dell did with its attempts to sell netbooks to women which simply fed into stereotypes and led to widespread derision.

http://www.salon.com/mwt/broadsheet/2009/05/12/della_computers/
http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/11/dell-unveils-della-website-to-help-women-choose-which-totally-cu/
Screw convergence
Palm III->Visor Deluxe->Visor Platinum->Visor Prism->Tungsten E->Palm LifeDrive->Palm TX->Palm Pre
Visor Pro+VisorPhone->Treo 180g->Treo 270->Treo 600->Treo 680->T-Mobile G1->Palm Pre
http://mind-grapes.blogspot.com/

Reply to this comment

iPhone is cannibalizing the iPod

Gekko @ 7/22/2009 4:58:08 AM # Q

5:07: "We expect our traditional MP3 players to decline over time as we cannibalize ourselves with the iPod Touch and the iPhone. However, we have a great business that we believe will last for many, many years and which we will continue to manage well and offer the world's most innovative products."

http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2009/07/21/live-blogging-apple-earnings-2/

There's no reason to buy/manage/charge/carry/sync/fight/fumble with 2+ devices when ONE Smartphone can do it all.

RE: iPhone is cannibalizing the iPod
abosco @ 7/22/2009 5:22:03 AM # M Q
They are speaking of the traditional iPod, such as the Classic and Nano. The iPod touch will continue to sell well with people on Verizon or, yes, those who want two separate devices. The success of the iPod Touch should tell you that there is still a pretty large group of people like this.

By the way, the iPod Touch is a traditional PDA.

RE: iPhone is cannibalizing the iPod
Gekko @ 7/22/2009 5:34:51 AM # Q
>By the way, the iPod Touch is a traditional PDA.

no it's not, silly.

traditional PDA is defined by PIM. PIM. PIM.

few if any do PIM on an iPod Touch.


RE: iPhone is cannibalizing the iPod
abosco @ 7/22/2009 5:40:50 AM # M Q
By who? You?

If people just wanted to play music, the best selling iPod would be the Classic. It's not.

The iPod Touch is not just a music player. It's everything people on this site were askig Palm to do since OS 5. It is plainly obvious to me that it is a PDA.

RE: iPhone is cannibalizing the iPod
gmayhak @ 7/22/2009 10:01:05 AM # Q
I have to agree with abosco, my first generation iPod Touch is by far the best PDA / pocket computer I've ever owned and I've been through a shitload of palm devices.
On a side note, not aimed anyone in particular...
I don't understand the people that pass up a great product based on the company ceo lifestyle, while Howard Hughes was doing his weird things the company was innovating .

Hughes Space and Communications Company was formed as a subsidiary of Hughes Aircraft in 1961 following the merger of the company's Space and Communications Group and the Hughes Space Systems Division.[3] This division built the world's first geosynchronous communications satellite, Syncom, in 1963 and followed it closely with the first geosynchronous weather satellite, ATS-1, in 1966. Later that year their Surveyor 1 made the first soft landing on the Moon as part of the lead-up to the moon landings in Project Apollo. Hughes also built Pioneer Venus in 1978, which performed the first extensive radar mapping of Venus, and the Galileo probe that flew to Jupiter in the 1990s.[3] The company built nearly 40 percent of commercial satellites in service worldwide in 2000.[6]
Tech Center Labs

RE: iPhone is cannibalizing the iPod
DarthRepublican @ 7/23/2009 10:53:42 AM # Q

5:07: "We expect our traditional MP3 players to decline over time as we cannibalize ourselves with the iPod Touch and the iPhone. However, we have a great business that we believe will last for many, many years and which we will continue to manage well and offer the world's most innovative products."
http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2009/07/21/live-blogging-apple-earnings-2/

There's no reason to buy/manage/charge/carry/sync/fight/fumble with 2+ devices when ONE Smartphone can do it all.


Well that's the same situation with Palm's PDA business going into decline as the smartphone business took off. Having said that, my iPod Classic has about 100 GB of music, video, pictures, and podcasts on it and plenty of free space left for schlepping other files as a removable drive. I've yet to see any smartphone with that kind of capacity.
Screw convergence
Palm III->Visor Deluxe->Visor Platinum->Visor Prism->Tungsten E->Palm LifeDrive->Palm TX->Palm Pre
Visor Pro+VisorPhone->Treo 180g->Treo 270->Treo 600->Treo 680->T-Mobile G1->Palm Pre
http://mind-grapes.blogspot.com/
Reply to this comment

sexy sells, ugly don't

Gekko @ 7/22/2009 5:14:22 AM # Q

think about it.
RE: sexy sells, ugly don't
CFreymarc @ 7/26/2009 12:45:46 AM # Q
I did. Honestly, the white washed, Mona Lisa look of this girl is a no go for me. I'm sure every Renaissance Faire geek is all over this type but not myself and other social types.
Reply to this comment

I Finally Got 'It'

2klbs @ 7/23/2009 10:18:38 AM # Q
Offspring of Macaulay Culkin and the Borg Queen-

Think "Jacob's Ladder" meets "First Contact"
End of Contract with Sprint- to become a "Pre-vert" or go Android?

Reply to this comment

Ryan

abosco @ 7/23/2009 5:31:59 PM # M Q
Bring back the weekly polls! I'd like too know whether the majority of visitor love or hate these ads.
RE: Ryan
twrock @ 7/23/2009 6:30:39 PM # Q
Hate - 1

Hey Palm! Where's my PDA with Wifi and phone capabilities?
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