Comments on: Sony Kicks Off Holiday Promotions

As for a Palm m500, you spend $330 and get the cradle and DTG bundled, plus a free expansion card (albeit only 16mb). AND many retailers are offering free cases with Palm purchases. Seems like a coin-flip to me.

um.. $167 - $50 = $117!

// az
aaron@ardiri.com
http://www.ardiri.com/

I don't know why everybody keeps saying the S320 isn't supported. What support exactly are you looking for? Because the hires color digital camera doesn't work with the lores mono S320? And the S320 is the ONLY Clie for which Sony provides wireless access.

ITS FREE!!!

Basically each of us has different needs and requirements, so different features and functionalities of a PDA will appeal to different groups.

That is what market segmentation is all about when positioning a product that cater to different groups of consumers.

I'll never stick velcro on my S320. If someone developed a better case....it would be a winner by a landslide.

Here's the 32MB memory stick:

http://www.sonystyle.com/vaio/promotions/memorystick.shtml

"Offer valid between November 23, 2001 and January 9, 2002." bummer. so I guess my $365 760C compliments of those a$$høle5 at Dell. It did come with the leather case, though, without asking for it.

Speaking of which, here's that info:

http://www.sonystyle.com/vaio/hotdeals_clie_carrycase.shtml

Man, the editors do everyone a great service, several updates to Palm news a day. People can get off their keisters and look some $hit themselves every now and again.

Anyone agree?

Peace.

uhh....if they're giving the products away as a promotion (i.e., FREE!!), how is the consumer paying for them?

Also, how much innovation does one need in a pda case?

Coyote67, all this angst is not good for you. relax. it's a promotion, and they're giving stuff away. if you don't want it, then look away. simple. end of story.

The person who ends up buying a clie isn't going to shell out $300 plus because they really like an optional pda case. They're going to buy one because they like its features..AND..by the way, there's a free 32mb memory card and a free case that goes with it. these are incentive items. nowhere in the promotion does it say that they HAVE to get them. however, if they're straddling the fence between the clies and other palm devices, then the freebies make the clies more enticing. then, as you stated, "Sony's happy, and the customer's happy."

If the customer later finds that he/she does not like the case, then guess what, they're not obligated to carry the damn thing. and here's the real beauty of a free promotion: it's no skin off their noses because they didn't have to pay for it. does this make them dislike the clie any less? no because it has the features they were looking for in a pda.

as for giving away a case that hasn't been selling very well, when was the last time a company gave anyway products that are selling well? is your argument that sony should give away or offer rebates on their high-end cases that are selling well? if so, what's the purpose in that? maybe it's you who doesn't understand business. what sony is doing is smart because, as you stated, they're offsetting losses by warehousing the products, and in the process, offering consumers free items which they may or may not have bought anyway.

And regarding your comment "They get a Lexmark MS cheaper," what's cheaper than free?

I honestly dont think thats what the original poster meant. SONY doesnt have to give these away free to get rid of them. Where is the logic in that? SONY doesnt need to make money off MS's. Within the next year or two MS's will be practically free anyway so i dont think they are concerned about inventory.

Offering 32mb free is not a desperate move on SONY's part. Anyone who has been following the price war between SD and MS knows that this is a pure strategic move.