Sprint CEO Dan Hesse, who you might remember from those black and white Spring commercials, recently had this to say about his company’s advertising efforts, or lack thereof, regarding the upcoming Palm Pre.
We don’t intend to advertise it heavily early on because we think we are going to have shortages for a while. We won’t be able to keep up with demand for the device in the early period of time.
Not being able to keep up with demand is great if people are snatching up Palm Pre’s like they’re goin out of style, but limiting supply in order to achieve that same end result seems shortsighted. Similar stories of an impending “Palm Pre” shortage have also been floating around, prompting some to believe that Palm is actually hoping for a Palm Pre shortage in an attempt to generate hype and buzz. But is that a smart move?
David Coursey over at PC World weighs in:
Palm and Sprint may think creating a shortage will enhance the hype surrounding the new phone. But, it may also just give disillusionment time to settle in if the Pre doesn’t live up to its hype. Disappointed first-day customers may decide they are happy they had to wait and delay the purchase indefinitely.
With Apple rumored to be announcing a bad ass upgrade to the iPhone just 2 days after the Pre hits stores, the last thing Palm needs is an artificial “shortage.”
My prediction: No huge lines, and no Palm Pre sellout.
May 22nd, 2009 at 2:26 pm
I don’t think it’s an artificial shortage. I have a feeling they just wanted to get it out to the public before Apple had a chance to unleash it’s 3rd gen iPhone specs and release date. They are just releasing it before they are 100% ready to do so…kind of reminds me how the BB Storm was rushed and then fizzled fast with all the bad reviews.