Palm Pre and the WebOS

This week at CES, Palm announced their new OS, dubbed WebOS and a new phone that uses it, called Palm Pre. I have been hearing some good press aobut it’s abilities. Many were very impressed about the features and function of the phone and some are calling it a legitimate competitor to the iPhone. It seems that Palm finally got it right.

Now, some nay sayers are calling it been there two years ago. These are mostly Apple fans, which I am one of them, saying that the features are not any better than the original iPhone from two years ago. I have not seen the phone in detail in person so I can’t comment one way or another. However, it’s all irrelevant.

Marketing is not about features and functions, it’s all about benefits and perceptions. It doesn’t matter whether the phone has better features or not, it’s what the consumer perceive the benefit they get our of it. Palm has stepped in the right direction with the coverage and positive presses it’s getting. Their stock certainly have been helped by the news.

At least one thing Pre will do is to slow the migration of current Palm users to other smart phones, like Blackberry or iPhone. I am hearing that the Pre will be over $200 subsidized. I also am hearing that they will migrate it to their low end phone, Centro.

I would think migrating to lower end phone would be the right way to go. I think Palm’s market is severely limited due to being late on the market. I would not think they can take market share away from Apple or RIM. I think they should focus on the non smart phone users and covert them over to them. Since there are no $99 smart phones by the leaders, lowest Apple iPhone is $199 subsidized for example, they may be able to covert those who may be on the fence, waiting for the right price to covert over.

Of course this is all a moot point if they don’t deliver quickly and without major issues out the door. That would certainly kill Palm, if the OS didn’t work as intended or major bugs are shipped with the unit. If they do execute on their plans, I think this could be the lifesaver Palm has been looking for.