Palm dumps Pre ad agency, T-Mobile offers $350 for iPhones
Palm this week parted ways with the ad agency that produced its widely panned advertising campaign for the Pre smartphone. And U.S. wireless carrier T-Mobile is offering up to $350 for iPhone trade-ins for new customers who switch to the HTC HD2.
Palm, Modernista split
According to Advertising Age, Palm has severed ties with its ad agency, Modernista, and is already talking with other companies about taking over for promotion of its line of WebOS-powered smartphones. Modernista was responsible for the Pre's television commercials since the device launched last year.
The advertising campaign featuring a pale woman showing off the features of Palm's handset was ridiculed on the Internet as "creepy" and "unsettling" by some.
As its advertising campaign fell flat, sales of the Pre and Pixi smartphones were very soft, even with the addition of Verizon Wireless as an official carrier. The Pre Plus and Pixi Plus are available exclusively through Verizon. Palm also has plans to offer two WebOS devices on AT&T's network at some point this year.
Advertising Age noted that Modernista, who represents the National Park Foundation and TIAA-CREF, has fallen on hard times recently.
"This is yet another major setback for Modernista, which lost its biggest account, General Motors' Cadillac brand, late last year," the report said. "Since the carmaker shifted its account to Publicis-backed BBH, New York, Modernista has been forced to cut staff, and in December shuttered its three-year old Amsterdam office."
T-Mobile tries to entice iPhone owners to switch
As revealed by TmoNews, participating T-Mobile dealers are offering as much as $350 towards the purchase of an HTC HD2 through May 19 for iPhone owners who agree to trade in their handset. If the phone is in working condition, it will be eligible for at least $100 in credit towards the purchase of HTC's new big-screen handset powered by Windows Mobile.
The HD2 was specifically cited in Apple's lawsuit against HTC, filed in early March. Apple has accused the Taiwanese smartphone maker of violating 20 iPhone related patents. Though most of the accused handsets run Google Android, some Windows Mobile phones, including the HD2, were named by Apple for their use of hardware decoders.
As T-Mobile hopes to court some iPhone owners, some have speculated that Apple could make its handset available on the carrier's network this year. A potential jump to T-Mobile, even though it is the smallest of the four major wireless carriers in the U.S., would be a simple move for Apple because both AT&T and T-Mobile operate GSM networks. Though T-Mobile's high-speed 3G connectivity operates on a unique 1700MHz spectrum that is incompatible with the current iPhone, the addition of that frequency to a future hardware model would be much simpler than adding compatibility with Verizon or Sprint's CDMA networks.
Palm, Modernista split
According to Advertising Age, Palm has severed ties with its ad agency, Modernista, and is already talking with other companies about taking over for promotion of its line of WebOS-powered smartphones. Modernista was responsible for the Pre's television commercials since the device launched last year.
The advertising campaign featuring a pale woman showing off the features of Palm's handset was ridiculed on the Internet as "creepy" and "unsettling" by some.
As its advertising campaign fell flat, sales of the Pre and Pixi smartphones were very soft, even with the addition of Verizon Wireless as an official carrier. The Pre Plus and Pixi Plus are available exclusively through Verizon. Palm also has plans to offer two WebOS devices on AT&T's network at some point this year.
Advertising Age noted that Modernista, who represents the National Park Foundation and TIAA-CREF, has fallen on hard times recently.
"This is yet another major setback for Modernista, which lost its biggest account, General Motors' Cadillac brand, late last year," the report said. "Since the carmaker shifted its account to Publicis-backed BBH, New York, Modernista has been forced to cut staff, and in December shuttered its three-year old Amsterdam office."
T-Mobile tries to entice iPhone owners to switch
As revealed by TmoNews, participating T-Mobile dealers are offering as much as $350 towards the purchase of an HTC HD2 through May 19 for iPhone owners who agree to trade in their handset. If the phone is in working condition, it will be eligible for at least $100 in credit towards the purchase of HTC's new big-screen handset powered by Windows Mobile.
The HD2 was specifically cited in Apple's lawsuit against HTC, filed in early March. Apple has accused the Taiwanese smartphone maker of violating 20 iPhone related patents. Though most of the accused handsets run Google Android, some Windows Mobile phones, including the HD2, were named by Apple for their use of hardware decoders.
As T-Mobile hopes to court some iPhone owners, some have speculated that Apple could make its handset available on the carrier's network this year. A potential jump to T-Mobile, even though it is the smallest of the four major wireless carriers in the U.S., would be a simple move for Apple because both AT&T and T-Mobile operate GSM networks. Though T-Mobile's high-speed 3G connectivity operates on a unique 1700MHz spectrum that is incompatible with the current iPhone, the addition of that frequency to a future hardware model would be much simpler than adding compatibility with Verizon or Sprint's CDMA networks.
Comments
As revealed by TmoNews, participating T-Mobile dealers are offering as much as $350 towards the purchase of an HTC HD2 through May 19 for iPhone owners who agree to trade in their handset. If the phone is in working condition, it will be eligible for at least $100 in credit towards the purchase of HTC's new big-screen handset powered by Windows Mobile.
Wow. $350? My take on it that they see little opportunity to sell these phones otherwise. It appears that they can't even give them away for free! Instead, they have to pay people to take them.
And I wonder where they will sell those used iPhones. Do they have a deal to sell them overseas?
Wow. $350? My take on it that they see little opportunity to sell these phones otherwise. It appears that they can't even give them away for free! Instead, they have to pay people to take them.
And I wonder where they will sell those used iPhones. Do they have a deal to sell them overseas?
The HD2 has been sold out everywhere it's offered...
I imagine they'd just crunch the iphones into parts for recycling.
Palm has severed ties with its ad agency, Modernista
Is that why the stock jumped yesterday?
Like a desperate lunge for the rim as it slowly circles the flushing bowl of bankruptcy?
Where can I stand in line for this? NOT!
Good luck with that. Hahaha
Very true. Being a US consumer is all about being owned by a corporation.
iPhone ads are successful because they showcase the product, not a model or any cheesy special effects..
It's Palm's phone I didn't want, not their ads. And whatever the feeling about those ads, there were millions of other people who don't want the Pre either. Ultimately it's all about the product.
One question that I had though is what does TMobile do with the iphones?
Also, it's about time Palm dumped that stupid ad agency. Pre users have even taken it upon themselves to make homemade commercials because the Pre ads were so horrible.
With better advertising, the Pre would be doing much better. It's a very capable device, and WebOS is proving to be a great platform.
Wow. $350? My take on it that they see little opportunity to sell these phones otherwise. It appears that they can't even give them away for free! Instead, they have to pay people to take them.
They aren't paying people to take the phones, they are paying iphone users. If TMobile payed me to use the HD2, I would.
My issue with TMobile is coverage. Their customer support was AMAZING, but coverage was bad. I had heard rumors, however, that places in new york city see upwards of about 10mbps download speed on tmobile's network with the HD2, so if I lived there I'd have one lol.
The HD2 rocks. It just needs to be on all the networks to do well, like the TP2.
kind of old news already but whatever.
One question that I had though is what does TMobile do with the iphones?
Also, it's about time Palm dumped that stupid ad agency. Pre users have even taken it upon themselves to make homemade commercials because the Pre ads were so horrible.
With better advertising, the Pre would be doing much better. It's a very capable device, and WebOS is proving to be a great platform.
The Boston subway system is PLASTERED with Pre ads. I wonder if their limited budget has made them decide to target only certain locations.
My guess is that their new agency will keep Palm on a very tight leash WRT their invoices.
Is that why the stock jumped yesterday?
Like a desperate lunge for the rim as it slowly circles the flushing bowl of bankruptcy?
Actually it jumped because of rumors that Lenovo intends to buy them... The heavy sales activity starting almost ahead of the rumor is a bit fishy though. Something is rotten there.
The HD2 rocks. It just needs to be on all the networks to do well, like the TP2.
The phone itself is incredible. The OS is a lame duck, however.
The phone itself is incredible. The OS is a lame duck, however.
I think the phone is already at end of life and is running an older version of Windoze. When WinCrap 7.0 is released this phone will be obsolete.
i will stick with my iPhone 3GS until another company can match simplicity and overall functionality, I am not bitting at these deals anytime.
The advertising campaign featuring a pale woman showing off the features of Palm's handset was ridiculed on the Internet as "creepy" and "unsettling" by some.
She was probably the girlfriend of someone at the ad agency... keep that money "in house"
You can't cover up the Pre's problems with a white girl.
LOLOLOLOL
If the [iPhone] is in working condition, it will be eligible for at least $100 in credit towards the purchase of HTC's new big-screen handset powered by Windows Mobile.
LOL! Good luck with that one. Trade in an iPhone for a Windows Mobile device? Never going to to happen. If you gave me the phone and service free for a year I don't think I'd trade in an iPhone for Windows Mobile.