Pre-mature Price Drop Causes A Tempest In A Teapot

It turns out that the $99 Palm Pre pricing at Best Buy, that was getting buzzed about all weekend, was the result of an error in a print advertisement according the VentureBeat and WSJ's Digits Blog. Perhaps the most notable thing about this mishap (the price was supposed to be $199) is that it didn't create a run on stores for the device. Sales nationwide over the weekend were pretty decent...but no one was reporting lines around the block. It'll be interesting to see how Palm, Best Buy & Sprint approach pricing on the device going forward (my guess, $99 is the price in no time). Two things are clear, the Pre has a lukewarm hype-profile more like BlackBerry than iPhone, and more importantly, Best Buy's response to this incident demonstrates that their ads regularly feature major pricing f-ups...so I'm keeping my eyes peeled for a sweet $399 Samsung 55" LED.

The US Is Getting Smartphonier, But Which OS Is The Smartphoniest?

FierceDeveloper ran a piece yesterday profiling the various mobile operating systems, including subscribers, recent growth rates, launch dates, supporting handset manufacturers, etc. Most of the information came from recent comScore survey data that revealed 30mil Americans have smartphones while 204mil still have dumbphones (and the rest have Fisher-Price phones). Here's the numbers by OS & growth rates from Feb to May 2009...

1. BlackBerry = 12,202,058 +26.2%
2. Windows Mobile = 7,040,584 +3.4%
3. iPhone = 5,744,018 +9.2%
4. Palm = 2,406,244 +0.3%
5. Symbian = 889,232 +0.1%
6. Android = 797,633 +86%

The growth information is obviously distorted somewhat by product release cycles...so, as you can imagine, iPhone will show crazy growth in the next cycle from 3Gs as will Palm from the Pre/WebOS. In the following cycle I'd expect to see Android growth spike again if the HTC Magic/myTouch performs to its potential. Frankly, I was pretty impressed by just how dominant BlackBerry is in the US and with how big Windows Mobile still is...like, I don't know anyone with a Windows Mobile device (except my mother-in-law...seriously).

Who Would You Do...3G[s] or N97 or Pre?

Here's some key specs on the hottest smartphone celebs on the market...Pre released last Saturday, iPhone 3g[s] announced yesterday, N97 goes on sale in the US today (click to enlarge the image). I've highlighted the objective winner in each category. Let me know if y'all notice any errors or omissions.

Palm Pre Demo From D7 Is Better Than Porn

The Pre is looking awesomer and awesomer...and best of all, if all goes well, it will prevent Apple & RIM from falling asleep at the wheel.

Palm Pre vs iPhone...Batman style

Shout out to Russell K for finding this...

Dell: Stop Flirting With Smartphones & Turn to the Palm

Rollercoasters usually make me want to barf, but the undulating speculation associated with Dell's protracted flirtation with the smartphone space are having a curiously soporific effect on me...perhaps because Dell is a brand only corporate IT guys get excited about. Here's the chain of events:

• It all started in February 2007 with a theory in a Gizmodo post that Dell was going to jump into handsets after poaching Motorola device exec Ron Garriques.
• That April the rumor-mill started churning again with speculation in Engadget that Dell and Quanta Computer were working on a handset codenamed "Fly".
• Just before 3GSM 2008 bloggers were advancing a theory that Dell and Google were in cahoots on the project.
• But on a conference call in September 2008 Michael Dell dismissed rumors that the company was working on a smartphone, according to MacUser.
• Buzz was rekindled by an Engadget post this January reporting on industry chatter over a Dell Android or S60 handset.
• Then at 3GSM 2009 (aka MWC) gadget blog GearLog reported that during a panel discussion AT&T Mobility CEO Ralph De La Vega inadvertently blabbed that, "Dell announced they're entering the smart phone market." The rumorazzi went wild.
• Then last week Barron's reported on Kaufman Bros. analyst Shaw Wu's research note that claimed Dell had presented Windows Mobile & Android prototype devices to the US carriers and that they had been rejected for "lack of differentiation" (ouch!!)
• But, just yesterday Computerworld reported that in a Tokyo speech Michael Dell indicated that the company was still exploring a smartphone device.

OK, now wake up...there's more! In the note referenced in the Barron's story above Mr. Wu also mentioned that Dell is exploring acquisitions to help them with their differentiation problem. The author of the piece Eric Savitz ran with this idea, wondering aloud why Dell wasn't bidding for long-suffering Palm. Good idea! Palm knows the ropes with the carriers and that Pre is potential handset hotness.

4 Key Blog Buzzes About New iPhone

1) OS 3.0 Preview: According to MecuryNews.com Apple is hosting an invite only "sneak peak" media event to show off version 3.0 of the iPhone OS and discuss some SDK updates on Tuesday, March 17. Precedent has been that New OS = New Handset.

2) Carrier Pricing: Newsfactor.com is saying that T-Mobile in Germany lowered iPhone prices in January and now rumor has it that O2 UK will do the same in short order (perhaps May)...the hopeful think the operators are clearing their shelves for new inventory.

3) Contract Cycles: As ChannelWeb points out many first gen iPhone users' contracts are coming up for renewal in June. Many believe Apple will want to have a new device ready for loyalists.

4) Palm Pre: The Guardian and DaringFireball.net suggest that Apple will want a device with features to address some innovations featured on the super-hyped Palm Pre, which is scheduled to be released on Sprint in May/June.

Do They Call Facebook Faithbook or Libro De La Cara in Barthalona?

Crunch Gear is speculating that Facebook is on the verge of announcing some major preload/WAP linking partnerships with the handset guys (notably Nokia & Palm) at the Mobile World Congress (fka 3GSM) in Barcelona. I guess the Facebook crew is beginning to take the mobile space seriously, now that 13% of their 220 mil users (~30 mil users) log on to the site via their handsets. Actually if they were really serious about mobile (or making money in general) you'd think they would be trying to monetize all that traffic with some advertising on their decent WAP site or their sucky downloadable app.