I'm not expecting the Pre to get the level of awareness of the iPhone. However, it already has greater than the amount of hype of any iPhone release from many sources. That's the rub. While it is getting certain media attention and the attention of many analysts, it has little to no consumer mind-share. And I suspect that's not going to change dramatically in the next six months.
Get a load of this most recent blurb from analyst Trip Chowdhry, of Global Equities Research, in an interview with Reuters:
Investors should not think the upcoming version of iPhone 3 is going to be as successful as iPhone 2.0 because it will have solid competition from Palm Pre, developed by ex-Apple designer Jon Rubinstein.
Palm Pre has a superior operating system than iPhone. It runs on a better network — Sprint CDMA — versus iPhone which runs on GSM.
A "superior operating system" (that said analyst hasn't used and hasn't been reviewed by anyone yet) and CDMA now a better telephony technology than GSM.
Many analysts and media are seemingly pushing hard to put the Pre where the iPhone is, while deriding the iPhone in the process. Why? I'm not certain I've seen any negative press about the Pre to tell you the truth. Do you remember how much negative sentiment existed for the iPhone prior to its launch? How many predictions of failure?
Smart money in 2007 was betting that the iPhone was going to change the game. Smart money today is that the Pre isn't going to make even a ripple in the pool, even though it may turn out to be a great product and thoroughly enjoyed by its niche market consumers.
Previous Topic
Index
