Perhaps It’s Time for Another One of Those “Your iPhone Contract Is Up” Ads?
by John Paczkowski
Posted on July 17, 2009 at 11:05 AM PT
Palm’s (PALM) Pre may compete Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone on a feature-to-feature basis, but judging from the latest search stats from comScore, the Pre has some way to go before it matches the iPhone in mindshare.
According to the research house, Palm Pre search activity, which more than doubled in late May thanks to Sprint’s “Now Network” advertising campaign, suffered a significant decline in mid-June, right around the debut of the new iPhone (click on chart below).
“The final two weeks in June saw the [number of weekly searchers on terms relating to the Palm Pre] fall to approximately half the number of the peak week of activity,” comScore noted in a release today. “Interestingly, this decline in Palm Pre search activity coincided with the launch of the Apple iPhone OS 3.0 on June 17 and launch of the iPhone 3GS two days later. Throughout May and the first week of June, the number of unique iPhone searchers remained fairly consistent at approximately one million people per week. In the week prior to the launch of the 3GS, however, the number of iPhone searchers more than doubled to 2.3 million people during the week of the launch.”
ComScore offers no correlating evidence beyond this, and the end of the Sprint campaign obviously played a role in the decline, but this is clearly not a simple coincidence. (Google Trends shows virtually the same thing. Click on chart below.) These are rival devices in a unique market we’re talking about. That said, comScore suggests that the Pre does resonate with an audience different from the one interested in the iPhone.
“Of the people who searched for Palm Pre-related terms during the eight weeks of the study,” comScore notes, “just 11 percent also searched on iPhone-related terms, suggesting that the majority of the people interested in the Pre have little interest in the iPhone.”
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Comments
Last week I asked my 18 year old son (an Iphone owner) and my brother (a Blackberry user) what they thought of the Palm Pre. Neither one had heard of it. Enough said. Palm is defintely a sell.
Posted by Frank Donahue at July 17th, 2009 at 11:49 amThe commercials did little to tell people why the phone is that much better, or why a “multitasking” feature is desirable.
Since I doubt the have the bucks for an iPhone-style ad campaign, I think Frank above is correct. Sell or short the stock.
Posted by Michael Long at July 17th, 2009 at 1:36 pmSince I bought the Pre I have never looked back and regretted my purchase, however the Pre could go for some improvements like anything else. Palm could work on a longer lasting battery, even though you have the option of changing battteries, which are lacking on all iPhones. It could do with a few more applications, which I no doubt no is coming shortly and they could work on strengthening the case. Having said this, the Pre is my choice for the Best Smart Phone available, and the best bang for your money when you consider quality of service and monthly cost. Sprint’s $99 “Simply Everything,” plan is $50 cheaper than ATT’s $149 equivalent plan and according to the latest surveys is much more reliable than ATT’s.
Posted by darius arya at July 18th, 2009 at 7:24 amWhat I find to be interesting is the opinion of Scott Moritz, from TheStreet.com. He tends to concur with a Wireless Industry analyst, Snyder, who claims in a recent report regarding Nokia that, “Buying Palm would cost about $3 billion and give it instant leadership in smartphone OS.”
What’s interesting is that Mr. Moritz has until recently manifested his proclivities towards the Palm and its WebOS. Is he finally beginning to realize that Palm with its WebOS has the best “Smartphone OS?”
Posted by darius arya at July 18th, 2009 at 7:39 am