What I WILL say however is that I’m sorely disappointed in Palm’s decision to “introduce” the Pre half a year ago, to tell all the competition what features this phone will have, to let the competition go “oh shit” and then build those features into the next release of their own phones, and then finally…FINALLY sell this phone to the public. Great job Palm. The huge technological lead you could have had on the competition was clearly wiped away just a couple days later when Apple introduced the iPhone’s next OS and the new iPhone 3GS. I must admit I am quite annoyed with this.

So…here I am. I shunned the iPhone because they were on AT&T’s network. My SERO plan with Sprint absolutely rocks and I was willing to forgo a phone (the iPhone) for my phone (Treo 755p) because the plan was that much better. However, the iPhone kept getting better and yes, I had iPhone envy. But alas! Palm “introduces” the Pre and this phone appears to have many features that made me crave it more than the iPhone. Hurray! Sweet! I can wait a few months for that! Except, well, Palm screwed the pooch and let everyone know what it planned on doing and now the iPhone is right up there with the Pre.

I have not pulled the trigger either way now. Yes, the new iPhone looks damn nice. I still think AT&T sucks though. I will have to upgrade my plan with Sprint if I get the Pre but it will still be cheaper than AT&T’s plan. But is the Pre still the game changer we all thought it would be? Nope. Don’t get me wrong…it’s a great phone. It just isn’t leaps and bounds better than everything else out there and that’s a shame.

I can’t help but wonder what Palm execs were thinking. I mean c’mon guys…telling your competition what your advantage will be? Dumb. Just plan dumb. I can just see the Pittsburgh Steelers telling the Baltimore Ravens that the first play will be a hand-off to Willy Parker, the second play will be a 20 yard post to Santonio Holmes, the third play a five-and-out to Hines Ward…I think you get my drift. Palm had a chance to be THE talk of the town and they clearly gave it away. So so frustrating…

Rewind to yesterday. We were walking around taking care of business. Pick up some energy bars for our training rides here, get a new shirt for soccer there, might as well pop into the Sprint store and see if I can weasel any info on the Palm Pre out of them (nope…either they were clueless or they played clueless very well). My partner in crime was there with me…a Verizon user. She was spending roughly $150/month for the unlimited voice plan and whatever else she had going on with her Blackberry. We all know I’m a Sprint lover and user so I told her to check out the cost savings. $99 for the Simply Everything plan which gives her unlimited data, voice, and texts to use with her Blackberry. Plus a $100 rebate. And then another $100 credited to her account for porting over from another company. Thus, she actually got paid to make the switch (then again Verizon charged her to cancel her plan with them). The customer service? Amazing. Our guy was super helpful with everything, explained everything, set up her new phone in the store, activated it, set up her email account…just very very helpful to get her up and running with no fuss, no muss. After she was up and running she posted to Facebook (from her new Blackberry of course) that she is now saving nearly $500 a year from switching over to Sprint from Verizon.

And then it began.
The following are all comments to her post:

• Ranter A – Good luck w/ all of those dropped calls. Sprint blows!
• Ranter B – Sprint bites. <Ranter A> is so right. Dropped calls here they come. I just saved a ton of money on my car insurance.
• NEW CUSTOMER – Well been using it all day with no dropped calls so we shall see – good thing they offer a 30 day trial period
• Ranter C – watch out for Sprint. They overcharged me while under contract and customer no-service is the worst!
• ME – I don’t know when all you haters were with Sprint but I’m loving it. I place calls while my AT&T and Verizon friends are complaining about no service. The network is a hell of a lot faster (I even tether my phone to my laptop and use it as a modem…I can stream music and video…it’s that fast). Customer service kicks butt (it was one of Dan Hesse’s…the new CEO…priorities). The reason I don’t have an iPhone (oh trust me I want one) is because I can’t fathom leaving Sprint (great service and awesome price) for AT&T (crappy service and overpriced).
• Ranter C – There are a lot of us out there. Sprint has the lowest customer retention rate in the industry.
• Ranter D – we no longer can talk for free. Don’t text me anymore.
• Supporter A – I would LOVE to be back with Sprint, so much cheaper. But me and <person> need to be on the same network and he needs the Verizon “network”
• NEW CUSTOMER – Ok will call landline then from now on!
• Supporter B – I use to work for Sprint. They were pretty bad then but I hear they are getting better. They had to cut prices because they were doing so poorly.
• NEW CUSTOMER – Yah apparently got a new CEO who is really trying to turn things around. Figure I will give it a shot.
• Supporter A – Hey, <New Customer>, just so ya know…I NEVER had any problems with Sprint. Only when I was up in the mountains and I have some probs with Verizon there too!
• NEW CUSTOMER – Cool thanks <Supporter A>! As I said for almost $40/month savings I will try anything – so far so good!
• Ranter E – I had a TON of dropped calls with them too. I have AT&T now and it happens rarely. I also HATED their customer no-service… Good luck.
• ME – Just to clarify…I had Sprint many years ago. Left them for Verizon because of dropped calls. After a few years of Verizon raping me (and disabling features on their phones so they could charge me more) I dropped them and back to Sprint almost two years ago. Never looked back. My service is better, cheaper, faster. Customer service rocks. So…if you haven’t been with Sprint for a while, I hear ya…but it’s an age old debate. Might as well compare a ’77 Tercel to an ’05 Accord. Work with CURRENT models and services.

I feel like I’m back in the mix of the Mac vs PC wars that I’ve been involved in. You get tired of hearing the same old arguments even though they aren’t valid anymore. Sure, at one point A that this feature and B didn’t. B was more reliable. B was more expensive. Blah blah blah. Half a decade later though things can be fixed. Often times they ARE fixed.

It’s just interesting to see. Being a tech, mobile, and business watcher I keep tabs on what’s going on. Sprint botched their merger with Nextel. Their service suffered because of that and their customer service sucked. Customers were defecting in droves. It was quite frankly a scary place to be. Props to Dan Hesse for coming in and doing what he’s done already. The guy has nads of steel for coming aboard a sinking ship and attempting to make things right. It’s not going to be an overnight transformation but from what I’ve seen so far he’s doing a damn good job.

Ultimately it all breaks down to what makes people happy but I think people fall into their comfort zones and don’t bother to see what new thing is out there, or to see if the old thing has been fixed. It’s this kind of behavior that holds people back (I’m speaking in a general sense now).

I’m looking forward to seeing how this all plays out. My new customer friend has already noticed a faster network while surfing the web on her Blackberry. Let a few more weeks go by and we’ll see if she has all these dropped calls that everyone is ranting about (I sure don’t see them with my Sprint service).

Now to wait for Sprint or Palm to send me the Palm Pre. I’ve been signing up for every drawing I can find. It’s hard to evaluate new hardware when you don’t have it. D’oh!

The folks at MacDailyNews compiled a great list of quotes from various people that poo-pood on the notion of Apple creating a phone. These quotes of course come after the latest numbers reported by Apple showing that they are now the world’s third largest mobile phone supplier based on revenue and that the iPhone outsold the Blackberry last quarter. Not bad from a company that was once called “the beleaguered company” a number of years ago.

My favorite quote (probably based on my frustration with Palm as they keep fumbling the ball) is from Ed Colligan, CEO of Palm on November 16, 2006. He stated “We’ve learned and struggled for a few years here figuring out how to make a decent phone. PC guys are not going to just figure this out. They’re not going to just walk in.” 

Really? Good job Ed. While you sat there and and did nothing with your OS, some “PC guys” came along and created one of the most popular phones in history. 

It’s this kind of thinking by executives that drives me crazy. What should be a great company falls by the wayside because of a great mixture of arrogance and ignorance. I love my Treo but damn…it’s like a clunky old brick compared to the iPhone. If not for Apple’s exclusive deal with AT&T and my great plan with Sprint I’m sure I’d be yet another iPhone owner amongst my friends and colleagues.

So how did Apple do it? I’m pretty sure the “cool factor” of owning an Apple device played a role in their sales. However, Apple is known for massive R&D, for finding what the users want, for making things simple to use. While Palm (and everyone else for that part) was sitting on their ass, Apple was working on features, ergonomics, design, ease-of-use…and look where we are now.

Let this be a lesson to all those companies that think they have a particular market or even a particular niche cornered. Anybody can come in and rain on your picnic. In these days and times it is a dangerous thing to rest on your laurels. There is always someone looking to put a better product out there and if you rest, you’ll fall behind faster than you can imagine.

WTF Palm? Did you happen to notice this consumer electronics company Apple taking big bites out of the smartphone market? Perhaps you didn’t see the news about that little search engine company named Google that has a free phone OS named Android that will be coming out in two weeks? Seriously Palm…do you REALLY expect to maintain any sort of competitive ability when you push off an OS by an entire year? I predict there will be dozens of Android-based phones out by then. Apple will have yet more market penetration. Even Nokia will be releasing updated versions of Symbian as they have already purchased the remainder of it and plan to open it up. We’re in the 21st century Palm. One year is quite a long time in technology time.

I love my Treo 755p. It’s an awesome phone, but I can’t say I’ll be wanting to lug this thing around in a year when my contract is up for renewal and I’m eligible to get a discount on a new phone. Why cruise around town in a ’94 Civic when I can zip around in a 2008 Lexus? Loyalty only goes so far guys and you’re really really testing the limits of the Palm loyal fans.

The discouraging thing is that in this day and time, business and technology moves along at a MUCH faster pace than it did even just a couple decades ago. Our product could be obsolete by the time this patent gets granted. Every month that goes by is tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars of missed revenue.

We’ve heard of the USPTO reforms that are supposed to be taking place. When will we actually see these changes? How many millions of dollars must be lost before the USPTO becomes an efficient machine? The economy of the U.S. would benefit from these changes and the U.S. would also become competitive in the international marketplace. Until these changes take place, thousands of good ideas will fail to make it to market at a relevant time, businesses will fail to have a chance to succeed, and our competitive advantage will continue to deteriorate.

As I search for a new gig, I am reminded of the vast difference in business mentalities between the east coast and the west coast. My personal experience has been that the east coast looks at a resume and looks for specific titles (ie, Marketing Manager, VP Finance, etc) whereas hiring managers on the west coast look at your resume and extrapolate the skills that you have and what you are capable of doing. A Principal of a company may wear many hats such as a general finance person, marketing guru, web developer, sales person, and so forth. Out west, being so flexible is seen as a strength. Out east, that resume generally gets passed over. Or worse yet, you’ll hear that you are “over-qualified” for a position. I’ve heard that a couple times in the past few weeks and I will admit it’s rather frustrating. “Great buddy…thanks for telling me I’m TOO good and because of that I’ll be unemployed”. C’mon people…you’re getting a bargain here.

So what should one do in such situations? I’m still pondering that. Currently I’m on the east coast (Atlanta to be specific…generally regarded as a hotbed for business and growing tech out east) and am pondering if I should just bolt back to California (I can’t tell you how many interviews I’ve had from 3,000 miles away based on my resume while Atlanta companies are baffled by my resume or think I’m over-qualified). Perhaps I need to “dumb-down” my resume and make it appear I don’t have so much experience if I plan on staying in the east. It’s a painful thought…to downplay my skills simply to get a job and pay my bills. I already have a few different versions of my resume (some focused more on business, other on the tech skills I have, etc) but to have a “smart resume” and a “dumb resume”…it’s mind-blowing.

Yes, there is a difference in east coast and west coast business practices. East coast is still very old-school corporate based with giant, slow moving beuracracies and old-school mindsets of conservative dress and 8-5 jobs that focus on titles whereas the west is more dynamic, entrepreneurial, quick moving, and focuses on who you are and what you are capable of doing.

Frustration number one…the Samsung Instinct that they’are about to sell. My previous post gave them kudos for coming up with a phone that could perhaps compete with the iPhone. Will it be the “iPhone killer” that many people like to call it? Hell no. Apple has far too much clout, brand loyalty, inroads to the enterprise, and just that “cool factor” that consumers want. However, I think the Instintc will be a good alternative to those that don’t want to go to AT&T for various reasons (dislike of AT&T, corporate contracts with Sprint, etc). So if the Instinct is a decent competitor, why am I frustrated? Read the fine print on Sprint’s page about the plan you must have to get the Samsung Instinct to work properly. You need the “Everything Plan” for $70.

C’mon Sprint…get a clue! You’re losing customers left and right. The SERO plan is the most amazing deal around. I love talking to sales reps from other carriers and seeing if they can match the service and features I got and looking at their bewildered faces as they say “um, no, we can’t match that” and I love telling friends how great it is as they complain about their service with Verizon and AT&T.

So tell me Sprint…why are you going to force people to use that plan to get an iPhone competitor when they can get the real thing for roughly the same price at AT&T? Do you ENJOY losing customers? Don’t you want to draw them to Sprint with a deal they can’t refuse? I dropped my service with Verizon early (and paid that ridiculous early termination fee) so I could have the Sprint SERO plan and I’m quite glad I did. I like my Palm Treo…but it’s like an old Ford to me already and I want to have a sexy new Ferrari to play with. Give me a good phone I can use with my SERO plan and I’ll continue to sing your praises…and stay on as a loyal customer. Offer me an old brick with my current plan or force me to upgrade to a different plan so I can get a better phone and you’ll probably lose me.

I just don’t get Sprint’s mentality. Don’t they know cell phone customers are fickle? I’m sure they’ve heard of the industry term “churn” since they seem to have the highest rate. Offer a super phone at a good rate and you’ll keep people…maybe even draw a few over to you.

Also…how long are we going to have to wait for WiMax to have its widespread adoption? The more time that goes by, the less relevant it’s going to be. Perhaps if it was a superior service you’d have a chance but rumor has it that Verizon’s planned LTE network is faster. So why don’t you fire up that WiMax coverage now and gather the customers you need to survive? You’ve got the backing of some majorly heavy hitters (Google, Time Warner Cable, Comcast). Use it now and get some customers, offer new services, make the consumers want to be part of this new media revolution. It’s possible…it really is, but you have to act now before the other services and networks come to be and you’re once again watching your competitors steam ahead even if you have more to offer.