CEOh-Snap! McNamee Says Come June, All iPhone Owners Will Become Pre-verts!
Hey, it’s nice to see Palm getting back into the game! No, not with their admittedly compelling — if Apple inspired — Palm Pre handset set to land sometime in the first half of 2008. But with their rhetoric. You know, the same rhetoric that had Palm CEO Ed Colligan, when asked about the iPhone before it’s launch say, Apple wasn’t just going to walk in and figure smartphones out.
This time time it’s not Colligan however, but Palm uber-financier and Bono-buddy Roger McNamee, he of the coolest utility belt since Batman, who’s firing the mouth-cannon Apple’s way. McNamee tells Bloomberg (via Daring Fireball):
“You know the beautiful thing: June 29, 2009, is the two-year anniversary of the first shipment of the iPhone,” McNamee said today in an interview in San Francisco. “Not one of those people will still be using an iPhone a month later.”
Not one? Really? We’re certain some die hard Palm faithful and curious technophiles will become Pre-verts come launch day (we even suspect an editor-in-chief we know might just be waiting in line already…) but not one?
Given Apple’s statement that June is also iPhone product cycle, and that the Pre has fairly shamelessly glommed Apple’s iPhone style — and several high profile members of the iPhone development team — we’re certain Steve Jobs won’t make it a point to have a shiny new iPhone 3.0 ready for just about the same time, so that original iPhone owners have an easier, maybe even moe compelling upgrade path available. Can’t see that happening, can we…?
March 6th, 2009 at 8:07 am
I think the pre will sell but i can’t buy a product from a failing company and why has nobody mentioned how good this thing is at being a phone like making a phone call, call quality ect….
March 6th, 2009 at 8:21 am
Considering the flood of people who went out and bought the Blackberry Storm, I won’t be too surprised. The fact that he said this is kind of ballsy, though.
March 6th, 2009 at 8:27 am
While I have no doubt that Palm will introduce a compelling product McNamee would be best advised not to gloat before phone 1 is sold. Apple so far is ahead in too many areas like music sales, app sales, movie and TV show sales, apps for sale and possibly units sold. They have a global distribution channel, their own retail presence and sell through retailers like Best Buy and Walmart. And one more thing. Apple has been mysteriously quite on the iPhone front. There has been no significant update to the software since November – that’s 1/2 a year. Clearly, they’re not sitting on their hands worried about what Palm might do when they enter the market. Something’s going to happen and I suspect that the rumors about an software update announcement coming before the end of the month might have some truth to it. And a demo of what software changes are coming in 3.0 may finally shut Roger up, that is if anything can.
March 6th, 2009 at 8:33 am
It’s a bold statement indeed. I guess if you were launching that much money to land on an asteroid heading for earth, and risking a miss that would send you into an endless float through space, it would be fitting to yell “Bonsai!’. I hope it is a good product, I welcome any company that is worthy of the iPhone space, I don’t think it’ll be the iPhone killer though, especially after an ‘and one more thing’ iPhone refresh.
March 6th, 2009 at 8:38 am
Were just gonna get another black berry storm issue here. All this talk. And sales won’t even match. I bet pre day 1 sales won’t even match the iPhone sales of the same day. Lol. I have yet to see one article saying ” OH BOY WE CANT WAIT FOR THE PRE!” lol I’ll b at at my. The fact that he said no one will b using the iPhone anymore is hilarious. Lol the pre has a slide design with physical keyboard. Even the storm didn’t make that mistake lol
March 6th, 2009 at 8:43 am
Jeffdc5 – if anyone cared about phone calls, we wouldn’t have iPhones. Neat little device, terrible phone.
March 6th, 2009 at 8:50 am
Why would anyone want sprint service they failed back when they bought the even worse nextel. Not saying at&t is great but certainly better then sprint. Verizon is missing big best service worst phones. Verizon get the iPhone and I will come back
March 6th, 2009 at 9:51 am
There will be at least one person who keeps their iPhone, me. And the Pre is going to be on Sprint, I don’t really know anyone who is going to fall over themselves to join Sprint just for the Pre.
I wonder what tune he will sing when he has a new iPhone to compete with that month and most likely new software for all us old iPhone users.
March 6th, 2009 at 10:26 am
The guy’s a ret@rd. I wouldn’t buy a Pre even if the iPhone didn’t exist.
March 6th, 2009 at 10:47 am
@ Steve
Luckily I don’t think you would have had that option. If the iPhone didn’t exist the Pre would not have been made.
March 6th, 2009 at 11:01 am
Ummm yeah, I will not be getting a Pre. I guess I’ll be waiting for ‘one more thing’.
March 6th, 2009 at 11:07 am
He meant the original iphone owners although if those owners didn’t switch to the iphone 3g by now, it’s doubtful they would be the types to switch to the more advanced Pre.
Some you crack me up though. Sprint is much better than AT&T, better quality, faster speed, more 3g coverage. Not to mention better priced plans. The iphone succeeds despite AT&T..not because of AT&T. That’s a credit to the iphone. If you think otherwise, then you’re not too bright but we do live in a nation of “not too bright.”
The Pre will be superior in its own way but won’t touch the itunes experience that apple offers. Other compelling features as well as the missing basics that the iphone lacks will sell the Pre.
Finally, apple won’t be releasing anything noteworthy in July. Definitely not multitasking as there is no compelling need for it from users and would require much better hardware while alienating users of the iphone and iphone 3g.
Rumors abound for higher resolution but this could create more problems for a feature that’s not really needed. More storage for sure, but that’s expected. Perhaps a slight redesign but nothing too drastic. Expect minor tweaks to the OS but nothing major. It’s simply too soon after the iphone 3g to do anything radical.
But bottom line, the Pre is the gadget of the year and makes the iphone (or any new iphone in July) look dated. Comparisons of the upcoming Pre launch to the ill advised Storm’s are laughable. Those wanting a beginner’s smartphone that is very simple or the itunes experience will want an iphone. Those wanting more than that will look at the Pre.
March 6th, 2009 at 11:57 am
“All iPhone owners will switch”? That’s a bold statement from a hippy lol
March 6th, 2009 at 12:08 pm
Oh Cardfan, do you really think it’s spiffy calendars that sell smartphones? You are funny.
March 6th, 2009 at 12:22 pm
@Cardfan:
Uhh, no… YOU”RE not too bright. Ever try to get a wireless card that works with a Mac back in the day? Sprint’s reaction: “Mac? what’s a Mac? Is that one of those weird Apple thingys?”
I had Sprint for 11 years! F**k ‘em, now!
March 6th, 2009 at 12:39 pm
Hey cardfan…thanks for throwing all your knowledge at us…but why would we care what you say? And don’t bash or talk down our iPhones on this our home site. And just a thought… The Pre isn’t even in the hands of the public yet- don’t you think you should wait untill it’s actually being used by consumers before you start telling us how it’s “better”? “You” people are so arrogant in your claims and hype- but have nothing to really support you yet. Oh my bad- maybe your just really confident in Palms recent smartphone prowess-I mean the centro’s pretty awesome(pause…pause…wait for it…and lose it) haasaaaaaaaahhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa- right!
March 6th, 2009 at 2:22 pm
Problem is the iPhones main selling point is that it’s an iPod too.
March 6th, 2009 at 8:08 pm
I’d “consider” switching if it wasn’t tied to Sprint. I had Sprint and the service was terrible. Now I’ll be upgrading to the next version of the iPhone.
March 6th, 2009 at 8:58 pm
love it! Nothing wrong with healthy competition, it can only lead to a better iPhone
March 10th, 2009 at 2:08 pm
@mrp
There are some things coming in the Pre that can be said to be better than any of the iPhones simply because those features simply don’t exist in the iPhones.
The biggest of these is multi-tasking, specifically the ability to jump from app to app without losing any app’s context. For a phone that is “based on OS-X”, the lack of multi-tasking in this form seems a bit…surprising.
Another biggie is the unobtrusive, non-taking-over-your-screen notifications. Not only that, the system is available to any application, not just the ones the phone’s designers make (I don’t remember where I read about that second bit as an iPhone app limitation, that their notification system can mostly only be used by Apple’s apps).
Smaller things that may or may not float your boat:
Copy/Cut-paste…without jail-breaking your phone. Based on a Mac OS, and no copy/cut-paste? Seriously?!
Removable battery. Want more power than the phone’s designers think is sufficient for everybody? Think you use your phone more than the next guy, or think you just want more battery life? You’ll be able to get a more powerful battery and use that one instead of the original. Or maybe you’re geeky enough to want to carry a spare battery around to swap in when the other one runs out on you; you’re free to do that, too. Or even just go with what they give you… But notice something? It’s up to you.