Sprint’s Chief Financial Officer Robert Brust let a ill-timed statement slip out to investors – specifically, that “The Pre didn’t work out as well as we hoped,” He told investors that the worst is behind them. Sorry to be blunt, but no shit.
Why the man waited this long to say the Palm (NSDQ: PALM) Pre bombed is a bit confusing. This may have well just been a reiteration of what’s been obvious for almost a year now. The Pre’s sister, the Pixi didn’t help either. From a mix of odd hardware, horrible marketing, and more compelling offers from the competition, the Palm Pre stood no chance. The lack of applications in the OS’ App Catalog could use a nice overhaul as well. Don’t get me wrong, the device is great in its own ways. WebOS is a slick OS with its ability to seamlessly transition between tasks as it multi-tasks like a champ. It could have been a real winner, if not for the hardware that failed to keep up with webOS and caused it to become really slow at times. What makes it so good, though, is its potential for what it could be, not what it is.
The fact that the company was bought out shouldn’t be much of a surprise, either. Palm really fell hard, and only they are to blame. Maybe their advertising company had something to do with it, too. Those horrible TV ads with the overly-medicated porcelain doll were downright creepy at times. No wonder Palm fired the ad agency. Not too long ago, we saw a Palm ad that shows how easy the OS is to use, while mixing it with real-life use cases, even if it was trying to find shoes. It worked. Too bad a Windows Phone 7 ad looked painfully similar.
Brust also mentioned that the company would love Apple (NSDQ: AAPL)’s iPhone. Yep, you and every other carrier, but then you’d be answering to them all the time. Sprint (NYSE: S) bet big on the Pre, and so did Palm. Unfortunately, the Pre didn’t work out for either party, and Palm became a sinking ship. Let’s hope this all gets turned around when a device that we know is good, the HTC EVO 4G hits the shelves on June 4th. At least one of the two companies will see light at the end of the tunnel, sans buyout
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