Howard Stern announced on his radio show this morning that he will be testing a Palm Pre next week. The device itself will be a prototype only, and there was no indication from Stern on the release date.
I’m sorry, but Howard Stern? The man that is most noted for his generally vulgar behavior and language on-air? Who was banished from the radio spectrum because of it? He gets to use a Palm Pre before any other celebrity? Sorry, I have to let this sink in. Okay, so Sprint does a HUGE amount of Product placement in television shows. Heroes on NBC and Desperate Housewives on ABC are two big outlets for Sprint to showcase their devices in action. Most times, the phone is a Palm device. (Mikah was seen using a Palm Treo Pro in last week’s episode). Why not give the Pre to someone a little more respectable, or at least someone with some experience reviewing technology, like David Pogue or Walt Mossberg?
In the end, I realize that it comes down to numbers and publicity, and no one is better at gaining notoriety than Howard Stern. The man is impossible to ignore (well, I wasn’t have trouble with that until today) and hopefully Stern will find his experience with the prototype Pre to be an enjoyable one. In the interest of spreading the word about the Pre, I’ll put aside my general distaste for Howard Stern and allow the man to use his radio show as free advertising for the Pre (something which we haven’t seen much of from Palm OR Sprint).
(This was mainly meant as a joke to feign a bit of indignation about the whole thing. I really don’t mind the Stern gets to try out the phone, and I don’t have anything against the guy. He talks, I write.)
[Thanks to Mike Cane via Twitter]
Palm Pre: 26-minutes live demo!
Palm Pre demoed on Sprint Webcast 03/12/09
Due to technical difficulties, the audio portion of the video did not get captured.
Palm Pre Calendar Synergy Live Demo at MWC09
Palm Pre gestures demo in slow motion
Vic Gundotra Demo HTML Google Map Palm Pre at MWC09
