Most of you know that we weren’t allowed to fully experience the Palm Pre at CTIA because Palm wanted to control the environment. This angered many people, including the staff of MyPre. We wanted to play with the Pre, get our hands on it and experience the iPhone-killing abilities of Palm’s savior. But we weren’t allowed to. The media was restricted to video taping and photographing the Pre as the trained Palm and Sprint reps demoed the features and programs. This was slightly agitating, but we got over it, being the professionals we are.
Some bloggers and members of the media didn’t appreciate being treated like that either, and rightly so. Yet it has reached a point where I feel it is necessary to explain both sides of the story so that bloggers feel vindicated, and so people realize that Palm and Sprint had their best interest in mind when withholding full access to the Pre.
First things first. It was not a nice thing to do to prevent me and my fellow technophiles from touching the latest and greatest piece of technology since the iPhone. Bloggers and journalists were outraged. How are we supposed to report on the miracle that is the Palm Pre if they won’t let us hold the dang thing without a Palm rep keeping their fingers on it? It is very frustrating to have such an amazing device right in front of you and not being able to touch it. We felt like little kids in a very expensive toy store, except we weren’t. We’re professionals, and we know how to handle these devices. This WAS the Sprint VIP lounge after all, and the attendance list was strictly controlled. Sprint knew they could invite their choice of media, and they did. So why couldn’t we play with the Pre?
Thinking about it, it makes sense, and it was the only fair way to conduct the demos of the Pre. Imagine ever Pre-crazed blogger salivating at the chance to get their greasy fingers on the Pre. There would have been mayhem. I know I personally would want a few hours with the device, but that’s simply not feasible. There would have been bloggers hogging the phones with short tempers and expensive demo phones in their hands to use as bargaining tools if things didn’t go how they wanted. I’m certain fights would have broken out over who had the right to hold the Pre the longest. Certainly larger blogs would have used their media status to try and negotiate for more time and more coverage. Favorites would have been played. It would simply be unfair. And what if something when wrong and a blogger happened to break one of the only three Palm Pre phones in that room? There were just too many things that could go wrong.
So Palm and Sprint opted for a Steve-Jobs like control of the situation. The user experience was controlled down to the very end. Everyone was treated equally unfair. Not a single blogger in that room got any more time with the Pre than the next guy who wanted it. In doing this, Palm and Sprint made a few bloggers unhappy, but their dissatisfaction will be replaced with excitement when Palm releases a product that is polished and ready for public hands.
Palm and Sprint didn’t make any friends by doing what they did, but considering the other options of risking mayhem or not showing the Pre at all, they went with a decision that was equally unfair to everyone, and was able to avoid petty politics and a potentially destructive environment. The result was quite suitable for MyPre.com. We got the footage we needed, I got to hold the Pre and play with the keyboard to my satisfaction, and I walked away getting another glimpse at a device that Palm and Sprint could have easily not given me.
Check out the video below (which to our knowledge is the only one) and see for yourself. Although it was a little slow in getting the lock, due to being indoors and practically below ground in an undisclosed nuclear fall-out shelter (just kidding), it eventually gave us what we were looking for.
More Palm Pre videos from CTIA 2009 and MWC 2009 for your viewing pleasure!
Tim Pettitt demo Palm Pre @CTIA09
Sprint Palm Pre calling features demo @ CTIA09
Palm Pre classic application demo
Tim Pettitt demo Amazon store on Palm Pre @ CTIA09
Fandango demoed on Palm Pre at CTIA 2009
Tim Pettitt demo FlightView Palm Pre @ CTIA09
Sprint Palm Pre calling features demo @ CTIA09
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
