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Palm`s Pre Retail Strategy? Go Big
By: Michelle Maisto
2009-05-22
Article Rating:    / 3
There are 3 user comments on this Mobile & Wireless story.
The Palm Pre, when it launches on June 6, will be available not only through Palm channels, but at Wal-Mart, Best Buy and Radio Shack. While Apples strategy is to be cool and exclusive, Palms strategy is to go big, or go home.While Apple will no doubt keep the availability of its new iPhone devices exclusive to Apple retail stores, the online Apple store and its carrier partner, AT&T, Palm will be going the opposite route with its iPhone competitor, the Pre.
Palms retail strategy is to go big, and the Pre, when it launches on June 6, will be available not just through Palm and Sprint but at Wal-Mart, Radio Shack and Best Buy.
Palm is about mass-market distribution; theyre about volume, Roger Kay, president of Endpoint Technologies, told eWEEK. Theres only so much room for an exclusive, cool company, and Apple has that position.
Though Wal-Mart is thought of as down-market, said Kay, Its been stepping up its electronics aisle and taking on more premium products. It also wants a share of what Circuit City left behind, when it declared bankruptcy last year.
Volume is absolutely key if Palm wants to attract developers, said Carolina Milanesi, an analyst with Garter. Applications and ecosystems and the ultimate success of the device are dependent on that.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Wal-Mart began receiving new interactive electronics displays in stores on May 18, and that Wal-Mart is ramping up to better take on competitor Best Buy on the electronics front.
A few years ago, suppliers wouldnt even consider us for these kinds of technologiestheyd take it to Best Buy. But Wal-Mart is where the consumer is going, Kevin OConnor, Wal-Marts vice president of consumer electronics, told the Journal.
Endpoints Kay says that large retailers usually want a SKU thats exclusive to them. In this instance, where the Pre is being made widely available, Kay suggests Wal-Mart and the others may have a little bundle thats unique to them, a Wal-Mart versionThe new Palm Pre with fill-in-the-blank. It could be applications, or a lower price point. But typically, they want some piece of it thats not like everybody elses, said Kay.
The key is that Wal-Mart has enormous distribution, Kay continued. And if youre Palm, you want to get these into peoples hands.
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