Deep Palm Pre Plus Discounts at Walmart

palm pre plus verizon walmart Walmart has dramatically lowered its price on a new Palm Pre Plus this week. Online bargain hunters can now find the updated version of the Palm Pre on Verizon for $29.99 after the usual rebates and contract commitments.

Walmart.com started offering the Pre Plus for only $29 after rebates yesterday. The site also offers a free Pixi Plus (after rebates) as well. Amazon.com has also lowered its intro prices on Palm devices as well, where a Pre Plus can currently be found for $39.99 with a new 2-year service plan.

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Where?

sjthomas @ 3/11/2010 1:06:23 PM # Q
I think it's actually "Walmart"
RE: Where?
Ryan @ 3/11/2010 1:47:14 PM # Q
lol, thanks. Remember shop smart, shop S-mart.
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March 5, 2009 Prediction

Gekko @ 3/11/2010 5:43:34 PM # Q

"You know the beautiful thing: June 29, 2009, is the two- year anniversary of the first shipment of the iPhone," McNamee said today in an interview in San Francisco. "Not one of those people will still be using an iPhone a month later."

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=a2SkDk7Tu5Mw

RE: March 5, 2009 Prediction
mikecane @ 3/12/2010 10:20:26 AM # Q
Hmmmm.... too bad I don't have a general-interest blog anymore. That'd be one of those quotes to fling in everyone's face again and again.

Like this one from Michael Mace:
http://mikecane2008.wordpress.com/2008/07/17/quote-michael-mace-2/

LMAO!!

RE: March 5, 2009 Prediction
Gekko @ 3/12/2010 12:45:18 PM # Q

"Think about it -- If you bought the first iPhone, you bought it because you wanted the coolest product on the market," said McNamee, 52. "Your two-year contract has just expired. Look around. Tell me what they're going to buy."

-----
Palm is "by far" Elevation's largest investment, said McNamee. "I'm there about three times a week, mostly with the engineers," he said. "We have seven people who work on Palm, three of whom do nothing but work on Palm."

--------

Palm's newer operating system will give it an edge, McNamee said. The underlying technology for Research In Motion Ltd.'s BlackBerry is about 13 years old, while the technology behind the iPhone goes back almost nine years, he said.

Apple spokesman Steve Dowling didn't immediately respond to an e-mail seeking comment.

"I'm on a 10-year plan, here," McNamee said. "They are going to run out of gas way before we are."

----

"Our product is just going to run rings around them on the web. If you want to go the web, it's going to be a million time faster, well, not a million times, several times faster and that's a huge deal for most people."

RE: March 5, 2009 Prediction
mikecane @ 3/12/2010 1:14:19 PM # Q
MacNamee was the wrong person to send out there.

And where has he been these days?

Oops.

RE: March 5, 2009 Prediction
hkklife @ 3/12/2010 3:07:50 PM # Q
McNamee has disappared from view recently faster than Hawkins disappeared after the Fooleo fiasco. The last time I saw Mr. McNamee, in fact, was when he was interviewed with his new shorter 'do. This was back last....August-ish or so?


Pilot 1000->Pilot 5000->PalmPilot Pro->IIIe->Vx->m505->T|T->T|T2->T|C->T|T3->T|T5->Zodiac 2->TX->Verizon Treo 700P->Verizon Treo 755p->Verizon Moto Droid

RE: March 5, 2009 Prediction
Gekko @ 3/12/2010 3:08:18 PM # Q

>"We have seven people who work on Palm, three of whom do nothing but work on Palm."

if EP owned a funeral parlor no one would die!

RE: March 5, 2009 Prediction
jca666us @ 3/12/2010 5:18:46 PM # M Q
"I'm on a 10-year plan, here," McNamee said. "They are going to run out of gas way before we are."

This quote is correct:

They (palm) are going to run out of gas long before we (elevation partners) are.

lol - apple sells 50k ipads in two hours and palm can't give away the pre or pixi.

RE: March 5, 2009 Prediction
Gekko @ 3/13/2010 8:25:46 AM # Q

February 25, 2010, 11:51PM EST

Elevation Partners, the private equity firm that has invested $460 million in Palm since 2007 and now owns about 30% of the company. Today's closing price leaves Palm below $6.85, the average price at which Elevation acquired its stock. In September, Elevation bought $35 million in stock at $16.25 a share. Ron Low, a spokesman for Elevation Partners, declined to comment.

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/feb2010/tc20100225_755804.htm

PALM
5.53
Close Price

http://data.cnbc.com/quotes/palm

RE: March 5, 2009 Prediction
SeldomVisitor @ 3/13/2010 8:43:14 AM # Q
Ahhh...but that "$6.85/share" price for Elevation Partners is The Great Lie.

While that may indeed be their average price when all their shares are converted to common shares (BTW, about the same I got in one of the postings around here and Yahoo), the fact of the matter is a large art of EP's stake is =Preferred= shares. Those shares have first dibs on any buyout bucks, for example, up to their initial cost plus 1%. THEN the common shares get to split what's left.

As such, EP's position isn;t doing to bad at this time and MIGHT still be a profitable one (I haven't "done the computation" to see of they're losing yet).

That is to say, $6.85 is their "average share price" but their Preferred Shares are not...average shares.

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iPhone 4G - Sneak Peek

Gekko @ 3/12/2010 6:42:14 PM # Q
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'huge strategic error.'

Gekko @ 3/13/2010 4:44:53 AM # Q

It also takes time. And Palm wasted it during many years of corporate restructuring, according to Donna Dubinsky, a former Palm CEO and board member.

Dubinsky and Jeff Hawkins founded Palm in 1992, and in 1995 it was bought by U.S. Robotics, a modem maker that was acquired by 3Com Corp. in 1997. Palm spun off as its own company in 2000, two years after Dubinsky and Hawkins left to form a rival startup, Handspring, that made influential early smart phones. In 2003, Palm acquired Handspring and spun off PalmSource, which made the PalmOS handheld computing software, as an independently traded company. PalmSource was bought by Japan's Access Co. in 2005.

Dubinsky said all the shuffling took "critical resources and attention from product development." And even though it happened years ago, she called the decision to spin off PalmOS a "huge strategic error."

"As RIM, Apple and Palm all have demonstrated, these devices need to be highly integrated hardware and software developments in order to optimize the user experience," Dubinsky wrote in an e-mail to The Associated Press. "When Palm no longer could advance the OS, and had to create a new one, it lost several years."

http://optimum.net/Finance/AP/Article?articleId=690895&categoryId=18

RE: 'huge strategic error.'
Gekko @ 3/13/2010 4:46:40 AM # Q
RE: 'huge strategic error.'
richf @ 3/13/2010 5:58:03 AM # Q
This is a crying shame to have squandered this company like these people have. I personally do not like these operating systems that your stuff is not on the device locally. I switched to the Droid because I got tired of waiting on Palm. I was in the bowels of a hospital waiting and could not use some of the apps on my device because of no connection. I want control of when I can use the apps on my phone. This cloud shit is BS.
Have a nice day!
Pilot 1000->Pilot 5000->Pilot Pro->IIIe->IIIc->M500->M505->M515->T3->T5->Treo 650P->Treo 700P->Droid
RE: 'huge strategic error.'
Gekko @ 3/13/2010 6:11:45 AM # Q

like what? Android stores your PIM locally, correct? and email cache? what were you trying to get that you couldn't?
RE: 'huge strategic error.'
richf @ 3/13/2010 7:00:00 AM # Q
Calorie Counter to track carbs and notes for ideas and todos. Without a connection these are no go. You are correct about the pims, local.
Have a nice day!
Pilot 1000->Pilot 5000->Pilot Pro->IIIe->IIIc->M500->M505->M515->T3->T5->Treo 650P->Treo 700P->Droid
RE: 'huge strategic error.'
Gekko @ 3/13/2010 7:08:10 AM # Q

Calorie Counter? just don't eat so much.

RE: 'huge strategic error.'
mikecane @ 3/13/2010 8:13:19 AM # Q
>>>Without a connection these are no go.

I HATE that. DRM like that just blew up big-time on a prominent game too.

Ubisoft's DRM service fails; paying customers can't play
http://www.itworld.com/software/99432/ubisofts-drm-service-fails-paying-customers-cant-play

Local Power, baby!

RE: 'huge strategic error.'
questionfear @ 3/13/2010 9:59:41 AM # Q
Gekko wrote:

like what? Android stores your PIM locally, correct? and email cache? what were you trying to get that you couldn't?

Yes, it does. Whatever tasks program RichF was using he needs to ditch ASAP and download either GTasks or Astrid, both free.

Aside from the obvious ones (browser, gtalk, pandora, email sync) everything works fine off or online for Android.

RE: 'huge strategic error.'
Gekko @ 3/13/2010 10:21:34 AM # Q

does these work on your device for those streams?

http://droidcumulus.leadapps.com/

or

http://aor.leadapps.com/home


RE: 'huge strategic error.'
BaalthazaaR @ 3/13/2010 11:17:56 AM # Q
Gekko wrote:

"As RIM, Apple and Palm all have demonstrated, these devices need to be highly integrated hardware and software developments in order to optimize the user experience," Dubinsky wrote in an e-mail to The Associated Press. "When Palm no longer could advance the OS, and had to create a new one, it lost several years."

http://optimum.net/Finance/AP/Article?articleId=690895&categoryId=18

I think that that is a load of BS... Palm's attempt to advance the OS was Cobalt. Even though it was announced by PalmSource, its design was definitely started way back before the spin-off. That sort of thing takes time. And due to the spin-off, Palm had even less reason to go with Cobalt when it was far from perfect. When you have both sides in-house, it is a lot easier to improve design and to release fixes quicker.

RE: 'huge strategic error.'
LiveFaith @ 3/13/2010 11:18:26 PM # Q
Good point.

But the statements by DD cannot be lost. That spinoff was the death nail. I'm not business guru, but I just sat in shock for a few minutes when I read the news back then. Little Palm was under duress from monster Micro$oft, and decided to split into 2 smaller parts to win. Stupid.

A Palm "Hall of Shame" should be erected to identify the actual architects of this decision. These folks are probably sitting on corporate boards and training University students across the USA as I write. Could we start a list?

Pat Horne

RE: 'huge strategic error.'
Gekko @ 3/14/2010 6:17:25 AM # Q
>Little Palm was under duress from monster Micro$oft, and decided to split into 2 smaller parts to win. Stupid.

you're not naive enough to believe that are you? they did it for the $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$!

RE: 'huge strategic error.'
BaalthazaaR @ 3/14/2010 10:45:57 AM # Q
LiveFaith wrote:
A Palm "Hall of Shame" should be erected to identify the actual architects of this decision. These folks are probably sitting on corporate boards and training University students across the USA as I write. Could we start a list?

I nominate Dave Nagel. He should have ensured that Cobalt was better than the flop it became.

RE: 'huge strategic error.'
Gekko @ 3/14/2010 11:12:10 AM # Q

the buck starts and stops with Eric Benhamou. without him there's no Yankowski or Nagel.


RE: 'huge strategic error.'
e_tellurian @ 3/14/2010 1:31:15 PM # M Q
Better to seek a solution than using valuable time on a witch hunt. Could PDAs become virtual wallets? An evolution of sorts.

E-T

RE: 'huge strategic error.'
hkklife @ 3/14/2010 1:44:26 PM # Q
Gekko;

Yankowski predated Benhamou. Bradley, Nagel, Benhamou et all came after Yankowski. Yankowski was CEO from 1999-2001, for a bit less than 2 years. He abruptly resigned in late '01 and Benhamou took over as interim CEO from his spot as chairman of the board. This was in the midst of the m505 debacle and when OS5 kept getting pushed back.

Wow, the gold-threaded suit appearance has even made it into Yankowski's Wikipedia entry:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Yankowski

Pilot 1000->Pilot 5000->PalmPilot Pro->IIIe->Vx->m505->T|T->T|T2->T|C->T|T3->T|T5->Zodiac 2->TX->Verizon Treo 700P->Verizon Treo 755p->Verizon Moto Droid

RE: 'huge strategic error.'
Gekko @ 3/14/2010 1:52:51 PM # Q

hkk - negative. as Chairman & CEO of 3COM, Benhamou personally hired Yankowski.

-----

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

3Com Names Former Sony Executive Carl Yankowski Chief Executive Officer for It's Palm Computing Subsidiary

Also Announces Palm's Executive Management Team and New Board Members

Santa Clara, Calif., Dec. 2 1999 - Global networking leader, 3Com Corporation (Nasdaq: COMS), today announced the appointment of Carl J. Yankowski as Chief Executive Officer and Director of its Palm Computing, Inc. subsidiary. Yankowski, formerly President and Chief Operating Officer of Sony Electronics, Inc. and President and CEO of the Reebok Brand, joins Palm Computing, the worldwide leader in the handheld computing market, on December 13.

"Carl is a highly respected and experienced global business leader with a successful track record of building new markets, extending existing business, ensuring operational excellence and creating brand value," said Eric Benhamou, Chairman and CEO of 3Com. "His wide range of management, technology and marketing experience makes him the ideal executive to extend Palm's leadership in the handheld market."

"I look forward to working with the Palm team to both expand upon past successes and develop new capabilities and services to reach a broad range of customers throughout the world," said Carl Yankowski.

http://investor.palm.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=339186


RE: 'huge strategic error.'
BaalthazaaR @ 3/14/2010 2:25:43 PM # Q
Gekko wrote:

the buck starts and stops with Eric Benhamou. without him there's no Yankowski or Nagel.

Well when you mentioned him, I remembered something I read a few years ago. I managed to find them again in case anyone is interested in reading about his recollections of 3Com and Palm. Here they are:

The Palm story was a tangent off the 3Com interview so the 3Com interview talks a little about Palm at 3Com.

3Com: http://tinyurl.com/EB3Com

Palm: http://tinyurl.com/EBPalm


RE: 'huge strategic error.'
Gekko @ 3/14/2010 3:54:38 PM # Q

wow pretty good interview with Benhamou - very frank and candid albeit a little dated - we kind of know how the movie ends with Ruby/EP. Benhamou seems to blame everyone but himself for Palm's failures yet this guy hired a lot of these jokers, he called a lot of the shots, and he was Chairman and/or CEO for how many years???

thanks for posting.

RE: 'huge strategic error.'
e_tellurian @ 3/14/2010 4:16:32 PM # M Q
A French enterprise gave me the title innovator in their correspondence. France understands innovation and the people that innovate regardless of where one is from or who they are. France simply understands innovation. We thank France for their contribution and the Statue of Liberty.

E-T

RE: 'huge strategic error.'
e_tellurian @ 3/14/2010 4:24:40 PM # M Q
French:

Une entreprise française m'a donné l'innovateur titre dans leur correspondance. La France comprend l'innovation et les gens qui innovent, peu importe où l'on est ni qui ils sont. La France comprend tout simplement de l'innovation. Nous remercions la France pour leur contribution et la Statue de la Liberty.ET


RE: 'huge strategic error.'
BaalthazaaR @ 3/14/2010 4:32:06 PM # Q
Gekko wrote:

wow pretty good interview with Benhamou - very frank and candid albeit a little dated - we kind of know how the movie ends with Ruby/EP. Benhamou seems to blame everyone but himself for Palm's failures yet this guy hired a lot of these jokers, he called a lot of the shots, and he was Chairman and/or CEO for how many years???

thanks for posting.

Glad to contribute... I came across that back towards the tail end of a phase where I wanted to know all about what went wrong when companies with good products collapse.

RE: 'huge strategic error.'
e_tellurian @ 3/14/2010 4:44:34 PM # M Q
Palm has not "collapsed" it is in transition to webOS and working on their hardware offering. Let's hope more metal is used in their hardware. True some seem to want Palm to fail while others are prodding Palm to succeed.

E-T

RE: 'huge strategic error.'
BaalthazaaR @ 3/14/2010 5:23:50 PM # Q
The Palm we know now is not the same Palm that we knew and loved. This Palm is just Palm in name. It is like when you replace all the internals inside a computer and re-use the shell. Well they under deliver too... but you get the point.
RE: 'huge strategic error.'
e_tellurian @ 3/14/2010 5:55:09 PM # M Q
The people that made Palm are still around the people entrusted to keep Palm going are still around. That's tremendous resources. For reasons only individuals can answer Palm needs help. Pepper loved her Palm. If she were here today she would tell you how much. Many people believe in Palm Pepper loved Palm. Such devotion is worth much in the hands of people that appreciate the effort it takes to be a pioneer. A pioneer is seldom understood until they deliver on their vision. Palm has delivered in the past and can in the future as long as the will is there to work together.

E-T

RE: 'huge strategic error.'
gmayhak @ 3/14/2010 6:16:26 PM # Q
"What ultimately hurt us was losing what made us successful. We didn't have this craving to innovate and do things better anymore. When we lost that, we lost. Steve Jobs calls it the hunger to make insanely great products. We had that, and we do not have it today."

This sums it up! Also somewhere in the interview he refers to the early Palm as more like an Apple type company. Palm had all the momentum to put them where Apple is today except for the above quote.

Jobs continues to make insanely great products!

Gary
Tech Center Labs

RE: 'huge strategic error.'
hkklife @ 3/14/2010 6:38:13 PM # Q
Gekko;

Thanks for the catch. I had forgotten about Benhamou's role at 3COM prior to Yankowski coming on board. I did not start closely monitoring the comings & goings of the biz side of Palm until around the time of their IPO (when I was absolutely smitten with my Palm Vx).

ET:

Palm has been collapsing for well over a decade. Their first "collapse" was in 1999-2001 when they failed to advance their product line in any signifcant way, shape or form after almost a half-decade of dominance in the PDA market and being absolutely flush with cash. They floundered again during all of the spin-offs/name changes/litigation/management changes of 2003-2005 and blowing a HUGE headstart over the rest of the industry with smartphones. Finally, they have been more or less floundering continuously over the past several years with the Fooleo folly and the admirable but mammoth undertaking of writing a new OS & ecosystem from scratch in the face of relentless competition and near-commoditization of smartphones.

NONE of the visionaries that made Palm what they were in the 90s are still with the firm. In fact, they are long gone. Hawkins, Dubinsky, Haitani and even "PDA killer" Colligan are gone. Palm has been reduced to being a small-time bit player comprised of a collection of ex-Apple guys and wanna-be Apple guys. Again, you gotta give them credit for hanging in there THIS long and achieving THIS much, but let's not kid ourselves---without EP's deep pockets they'd have been toast a long time ago and the future remains very bleak.

P.S. Why the Pepper fixation? She departed from PIC long ago. If Pepper is indeed not dead as TVoR said, she appearently now works for Microsoft. She's probably rockin' an HTC HD2 or a beta Win7 Phone device, not a Pre.
Pilot 1000->Pilot 5000->PalmPilot Pro->IIIe->Vx->m505->T|T->T|T2->T|C->T|T3->T|T5->Zodiac 2->TX->Verizon Treo 700P->Verizon Treo 755p->Verizon Moto Droid

RE: 'huge strategic error.'
gmayhak @ 3/14/2010 7:15:10 PM # Q
Kinda fun going down memory lane :-)
After reading the interview I got out my US Robotics Palm Pilot and put in a new set of AAAs, it comes up with a default date of 1/2/1997 and still works great, even the TaleLight!
Next, a 3Com Palm III, default date 1/2/1998. works great.
Kris, I have a couple dozen new WorkPad c3s (IBM's black Vx) and use one daily, mostly as a calculator. If Palm would have kept this form factor in a modern cell phone apple wouldn't have near the market share they have now, the screen is larger than iPhone and there are just enough hard buttons for gameplay.
btw, c3s default date is 1/11/00.

Gary

Tech Center Labs

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