Sprint hurls what little it has left against the iPhone
In one of its latest attempts to lure customers away from the Apple iPhone, Sprint has put out a new ad depicting the Palm Pre leaning against a completely eaten apple. It’s cute and clever: owners of the original iPhone might be coming to the end of their contracts. As a matter of fact, Roger McNamee of Elevation Partners, Palm’s largest investor, had this to say about the matter:
June 29, 2009, is the two-year anniversary of the first shipment of the iPhone. Not one of those people will still be using an iPhone a month later. Think about it — if you bought the first iPhone, you bought it because you wanted the coolest product on the market. Your two-year contract has just expired. Look around. Tell me what they’re going to buy.
via CE-Oh no he didn’t! Part LIX: Elevation’s McNamee predicts death to iPhone on June 29.
Sprint, Palm and McNamee just have one minor problem: their assessment of the situation is flawed.
When the first iPhone was released in June 2007, the device was not subsidized by AT&T and it did not require a contract for purchase. That means June 29, 2009 is merely an anniversary for the iPhone, not the certain end of all first generation iPhone contracts. And while there were many AT&T contracts signed on that day as customers migrated from other carriers, it doesn’t look like many of those will be coming to an end, either. What McNamee seems to be forgetting is that by the time June 29 comes around, there will have already been two other iPhones on the market (iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS) – both of which carry contracts.
If Sprint plans on having any success in snapping up iPhone customers, it’s going to have to do a lot better than launching clever ads and taking shots at Apple and AT&T. Sprint and Palm may be elated knowing that its hottest device right now sold 50,000 units during the opening weekend and about one million apps to date. While that sounds impressive, Apple managed to sell one million iPhone 3GS units during its launch weekend. That ought to put things in better perspective.
Post Your Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment
T/S Members
Log in with your True/Slant account.
So, Marc…what would you buy? iPhone or Palm Pre?
I would definitely go with the iPhone. The Apple App Store has over 50,000 applications and Palm’s store only has 30 (Palm SDK won’t be public any time soon). I wasn’t too impressed with the hardware on the Palm Pre, either. It seemed like the device was rushed and felt clunky. The iPhone’s user interface is nicer, too. I feel like you can give it to a 9-year-old and he/she would figure it out. The Pre felt a little less intuitive. Of course, I could go on and on!
In response to another comment. See in context »[...] Marc Flores wrote an interesting post today onMarc Flores – Digitalia – Sprint hurls what little it has left <b>…</b>Here’s a quick excerpt [...]