Palm Handhelds Retail Deal Alert

Posted By: Kris Keilhack Tuesday, September 4, 2007 12:11:31 PM

The recent discounting trend of Palm handhelds reported last month continues in full force. The Best Buy retail circular for September 3rd-10th shows both the Palm TX and E2 handhelds offered at considerable savings from their standard retail prices.

For this week's sale pricing, the Palm TX is offered at a price of $249.99, a full $65 instant discount from the standard Best Buy price of $314.99. The Palm TX is most commonly seen with an MSRP of $299.99. This week's TX sale surpasses Best Buy’s previous offer, as most users will find a sizable $65 instant discount more appealing than a mere $15 price drop and a free 2GB SD card. The older Palm Tungsten E2 handheld is on sale for $149.99, a full $60 discount off of the standard $209.99 Best Buy price.

While similar pricing can be found online for both models, the convenience factor and easy return policy for a large brick and mortar retail chain like Best Buy cannot be overlooked. In addition, Best Buy offers reasonably-priced extended warranty plans in addition to their Reward Zone coupon program as a bit of additional incentive to purchase from them.

As reported in my previous Palm retail roundup articles (here, here, and here), Palm handhelds are bizarrely sold at Best Buy for prices higher than Palm’s MSRP, bucking that trend that finds Palm devices available online and in some other retail chains considerable below Palm’s MSRP. This practice began approximately four months into the Tungsten T3’s life cycle in 2004 and has been maintained continuously by Best Buy ever since.

At this time it is unknown if the discounts are just part of the standard back-to-school sales, a clearance move for the final stocks of new Palm PDAs, or an effort to keep the Palm name in the spotlight prior to the arrival of the Foleo Mobile Companion in the retail channel, still reported to occur sometime later this month.

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if only

pmjoe @ 9/4/2007 4:18:38 PM #

Past history would tell us that new Palm OS PDAs were in the works. If only one could still believe that. Sadly, I suspect this is the beginning of the end.

RE: if only

freakout @ 9/4/2007 5:23:10 PM #

Clearing the decks for the Foleo, maybe?

RE: if only

pmjoe @ 9/4/2007 11:02:55 PM #

Clearing the decks for the Foleo, maybe?

At this point, we can say definitely not.

RE: if only

twrock @ 9/5/2007 1:32:46 AM #

I'm just musing here, not trying to make definitive statements, but I do wonder if Palm won't release another round of PDA's soon. It seems that it would be so easy for them to do it, it would bring in at least a "decent" amount of profit, and it would keep a few more of the "faithful" from defecting. It would almost be "worth it" to keep a small PDA line alive if for no other reason than to keep that market niche in their camp instead of having them jump ship to HP or some other option. If they already use a Palm, they've got to be more likely to upgrade to a Palm smartphone in the future when they decide they want to add the phone option as well.

I guess it just make too much sense to me that they wouldn't want to kill it. But then I look at their behavior over the past few years and start to think that maybe they just don't have the sense.

Thinking about Vista? Think again: http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/pubs/vista_cost.txt
Want an alternative? Try this: http://www.ubuntu.com/ or http://www.mepis.org/

RE: if only

VampireLestat @ 9/5/2007 1:38:17 AM #

well thats the problem twrock,
Palm simply does not have I and your common sense.
Hard to believe, but true.

RE: if only

VampireLestat @ 9/5/2007 1:39:08 AM #

watch HP, they are going to announce 5 new devices this month.
Some of them are new PDAs.

RE: if only

twrock @ 9/5/2007 2:11:39 AM #

Even if HP does, it doesn't solve my problem. I want to run my Palm OS apps, particularly those "critical" third-party apps I've come to rely on over the years.

I was perusing the HTC website today and noticed that they have a whole line of "PDA phones". Yeah, it's just a name, but it represents that they also know there is a market for PDA-centric phones. Come on Palm; why don't you do it?!

It may not be a "looker", but take a look at the specs on this one: http://www.htc.com/product/03-product_p6300.htm

Thinking about Vista? Think again: http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/pubs/vista_cost.txt
Want an alternative? Try this: http://www.ubuntu.com/ or http://www.mepis.org/

RE: if only

hkklife @ 9/5/2007 3:44:45 PM #

2 new "unconnected" PDAs were released by HP today. They look a bit bland but I love that HP's pushing GPS integration without the clunkiness of Garmin's old iQue line.

The final nail (errrm, stylus?) in the coffin or a sign of a mild PDA resurgence spearheaded by the iPod touch?

If ANYONE can make "non-cellular" large-screened, PIM + PMP devices cool/hip again it's Apple.

Pilot 1000-->Pilot 5000-->PalmPilot Pro-->IIIe-->Vx-->m505-->T|T-->T|T2-->T|C-->T|T3-->T|T5-->TX-->Treo 700P

RE: if only

VampireLestat @ 9/6/2007 8:57:56 AM #

I am going to buy the HP 200 Classic.

VGA. Notices its a much more compact 4" screen compared to the usual 4.5" I think.
I am looking to getting back to a nice fullscreen with VGA, full movie capabilities and multitasking.

I have a feeling the Palm bond might be broken for good; for real this time. Time will tell. I might not be back for the next round of Palm devices; which will likely only be Treos anyway with no clear Palm OS vision.

Treo 90 followup?

joad @ 9/5/2007 2:06:19 PM #

I'm rather blown away that this present "candybar" Treo design has been out for about FOUR years now, and it seems a simple feat to replace the CDMA/GSM radio with a decent WIFI ABG radio and that would count as a "PDA" too. If it were cheap enough I might buy one just to be able to use Skype on it (since Sprint makes it verboten to run VOIP right now).

Seems to me that "low-hanging fruit" projects like this should have been attempted much earlier than the pipedream of the Fooleo and it's "out of the realm of what we know how to do" domain.

If Palm would just look at itself and build on it's strengths, they could still become a dynamic, innovative and competitive company. The fact they haven't even released a new (or even "tweaked for marketing purposes") PDA in years - something they know how to do and they profit from - is telling about their priorities. That $10 million spent on the Fooleo might have been leveraged a little better in Palm's core areas.

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**Another vote for a >100MB RAM Treo**

Death of Non-Smart Phone PDAs

meyersd @ 9/17/2007 1:13:04 PM #

I just went to my local Circuit City and Best Buy stores and discovered that non-Smart Phone PDAs are almost non-existent. Circuit City has no PDAs for sale - the sales clerk points you to the cellular telephone booth - Smart Phone solution. Best Buy has a couple of Palm TX, E2, and Z22. No HP or any other, and it look like as soon as they sell out their stock of Palm handhelds, they too will disappear. I guess I am a member of the minority that doesn't want my telephone and PDA in the same case. I too have been a loyal Palm user, for better than 10 years, but losing patience with Palm to roll out a new model. The HP iPAQ 211 looks very tempting, has the features that I've been waiting for Palm to provide. Come October, I too may become a former Palm user.