The Palm Pre smartphone sold out in many locations, during its debut weekend, seemingly answering Palm’s prayers for a game changer. Sprint, the network hosting the Pre for now, was looking forward to the Pre’s release and the chance to show off its updated network and services, and that it can compete against carriers such as Verizon Wireless and AT&T. Calls to several New York area stores found the stores sold out of the Pre. Some service representatives said they expect more phones in today, while others said they didn’t know when new phones would arrive.
I’m betting there are a lot of people who were excited about this and were looking forward to getting one. Now, it’s hard to predict demand for a new product, but Spring/Palm are going to have some consequences. Some people will just wait. Others will be discouraged, assume that the supply problem will be persistent (remember the Wii shortages?), and say “screw it” and buy an iPhone.
Consumer psychology is a tricky thing. Excitement can turn into venomous disgust in a heartbeat.
I don’t have a vested interest in this, since I”m happy with my iPhone 3G. But I am interested in understanding the economics and psychology of the way people often connect their identity with a product and how that can turn out great or really sour. I know people who adore their Macs and seem to be unfazed by the problems they’ve had. I know others who have had bad experiences and swear off Apple (or some other brand) entirely. I’m like that about OCZ and MSI; I won’t touch them with a 10-foot pole after the horrible customer service experiences I’ve had with them.
As the time came for the Pre to be released, I realized how much my 755p meets my needs. I had used a 650 for years in the past, and had a brief stint with the WM5 MotoQ until I bought a 755p off craigslist and got back to my smartphone roots. The old Treo does everything I need: Activesync Mail, Calendar and Contacts using the Versamail 4.0.1 meant for the Centro.
So I’ll be a slow upgrade. I’d like to know how the “beta testers” out there fare with the new phone for at least a month. If the Pre has issues, I’ll be sure to grab up at least a couple more 755Ps for my future use.
There are other tools I’ve used in the past to sync to gmail calendar and so on but since I’m not using that right now, the knowledge that I _can_ get the application is enough.