Worst of the Week: Palm’s Pre and Sweet nothing

Hello!
And welcome to our Thursday column, Worst of the Week. There’s a lot of nutty stuff that goes on in this industry, so this column is a chance for us at RCR Wireless to rant and rave about whatever rubs us the wrong way. We hope you enjoy it!
And without further ado:
So, I managed to survive another Consumer Electronics Show in that wonderful locale of Las Vegas. And while the reported number of attendees was down from previous events, there were still about 100,000 too many people swarming the Las Vegas Convention Center for my liking.
(Though I did appreciate the smaller number of makeshift shanty towns at empty Keno tables.)
Samsung’s press conference was a good example of this mass of electronic-crazed humanity. Held the day before the show was set to open, the press conference filled to capacity and there were still hundreds of people waiting in line to attend. What possibly could Samsung have been showing off? Was it Wi-Fi-embedded unicorns? Wearable LCD televisions? Plasma-spewing GPS receivers?
Along with the reported fewer attendees, this year’s CES seemed to have fewer devices that made people stand back and say “Wow! I have to have that right now! I mean it! Right now!” (I have to say “seemed” here because despite spending nearly two days at the show, I never managed to venture into the LVCC north hall or into the basement of the south hall.)
This could of course have something to do with the economy and what not, but beyond a couple of large televisions and the occasional “local talent” used to spruce up a booth, there were few devices that caused mass traffic jams of people to stand around drooling on themselves.
There were also fewer tents set up in front of the convention center this year compared with past years, and there was a definite lack of outlandish displays. (Motorola a few years ago built a 200-foot-tall snowboard hill to show off its Bluetooth-enabled clothing line, for example.)
For those interested in wireless, the pickings were even slimmer. Palm (Palm!?) made the biggest splash at the event, unveiling its new Pre smartphone that will launch exclusively with Sprint Nextel (Sprint Nextel!?) during the first half of the year. (No offense to Palm or Sprint Nextel, but when those two companies steal the show you know something is amiss.)
The press conference announcing the device was packed and it appeared most in attendance were equally awed by the device, despite Sprint Nextel’s CEO Dan Hesse’s attempt to turn his portion of the presentation into a live-action version of his current television commercials. My hand automatically reached for a remote control to turn the channel, but alas I was forced to watch Mr. Hesse in action, and was only saved the audible attack because my hearing automatically shut down as soon as it heard “I’m Dan Hesse, the CEO of … .”
Now, the Pre device itself looked stellar and the operating system appears set to give Apple’s iPhone a run for its money, but the name of the device was a major letdown. Pre? Pre what? Will there be a Post? So many questions.
I can’t really blame Palm for giving such a lame name to what could be a company-saving device as horrible device names are rampant throughout the wireless space: Instinct, Dare, Shine. What the deuce do any of those names mean and what do they have to do with wireless?
My solution? I say the wireless industry should look towards those naming mavens in the paint industry when it comes to affixing a label to a piece of electronics equipment. Who else is better at coming up with 145 ways to describe green? Instead of another numerical designation for a handset why not such flowing names as “Breath of Spring?” Or “Agean Myst?” Or “Mint Fizz?” (By the way, all three of those are different shades of green, in case you were confused.)
I will forgive the wireless industry for at times trying to spruce up the names of the colors of their devices, but “Vibrant Rose,” “Elegant Pink” and “Bubblegum Pink” are half-assed ways of describing pink compared with “Lovelight,” “Sweet Nothing” or “Silk Sheets.”
Of course, if the Pre goes on to be a huge success that drives both Palm and Sprint Nextel back to the top of their respective segments then I will again be proven a moron.
OK! Enough of that.
Thanks for checking out this Worst of the Week column. And now, some extras from last week’s CES event:
–Best moment from the event? Watching Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs watch the Pussycat Dolls at a Qualcomm-sponsored event at the Hard Rock Hotel/Casion. Worst moment from the event? Watching Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs watch the Pussy Cat dolls at a Qualcomm-sponsored event at the Hard Rock Hotel/Casino.
–The number of companies showing off in-car entertainment services based on streaming content to the vehicle was out of control. It seemed like every booth had some sort of demo of such services. I like the enthusiasm being showed for this market segment, but…
–While neither Sprint Nextel nor Clearwire want to acknowledge the existence of the Xohm brand, the booth Clearwire was using at the show to tout its mobile WiMAX service, now dubbed “Clear,” was littered with Xohm branding. Nothing says you are looking to ditch a brand like having said brand plastered all over your booth at the largest consumer electronics show in the world.
I welcome your comments. Please send me an e-mail at dmeyer@crain.com. Or, if you prefer, leave a comment in the space below.