September 2009 Archives
Sprint Nextel President and CEO Daniel Hesse has his share of problems bringing his company out of the doldrums, but he has a nice asset in the Palm Pre. The Pre, which runs on the Sprint Nextel network, has received solid reviews. CNET gives it 3.5 stars out of five, applauding its multitasking, notification system, web browsing, and - gasp - phone call quality. That's right, people actually make and receive phone calls on smart phones.For comparison, CNET gives the iPhone 3GS four stars. Consumers on CNET actually rate the Pre higher than the iPhone, giving it 3.5 stars to the iPhone's three.
But Hesse sounded like a beaten man when he described it on the Charlie Rose show:
Q: Is the Palm Pre making a dent into the iPhone market?
A: Aaah... It's-it's doing well, but you can almost put the iPhone, to be fair, in a separate category. The Apple brand and that device have done so well, it's almost not... it's like comparing someone to Michael Jordan.
This man needs some coaching. Who would buy the Sam Bowie phone when they could get the Michael Jordan phone?
The iPhone has lots of limitations, and any owner will tell you what they don't like about the device. No real keyboard. Terrible network. Lousy for texting. Promised features (MMS, tethering) not delivered on time (or at all). Terrible network (OK, now you know what I don't like).
Hesse should have access to intelligence about what people like about the Pre, and he should be quick to share it. The Pre is good enough to stand on its own in this kind of one-on-one confab. He should go on offense and tell his story. Rose is not going to grill him about the paucity of apps available for the Pre.
If you were counseling Hesse, what would you tell him?
image sourced from Wikipedia Commons
