FYI Apple Marketing 3G iPhone Kicks in

[berylrb]

I just thought you might get a kick out of the marketing machine kicking it in gear for July 11.

Did anyone receive this commercial via email (see png)? Maybe Centro should take note, oh yeah, I do still get the Palm emails.

[Ed Hardy]

With the launch coming in under two weeks the timing seems about right.

Still, I'm almost a little surprised Apple's bothering to do much advertising. The iPhone 3G has received so much free press (from me, for example) that paid advertising almost seems superfluous. I doubt AT&T wants more people to show up in stores in July 11; I expect them to be swamped.

Maybe Centro should take note, oh yeah, I do still get the Palm emails.

And I've seen so many ads on TV for the Centro they've become irritating.

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[berylrb]

That's what I was thinking too, the swamped part. I'm almost tempted to just wait until the 12th. Do you think there will be lines again?

[headcronie]

And I've seen so many ads on TV for the Centro they've become irritating.

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The Centro has become irritating? I see it as a decent break to the nauseating iphone blitz.

I'm utterly tired of the iphone ads. Some channels, it is every other commercial break. *puke*

[berylrb]

The Centro has become irritating? I see it as a decent break to the nauseating iphone blitz.

I'm utterly tired of the iphone ads. Some channels, it is every other commercial break. *puke*

Wow, that bad eh! I saw the Centro commercial for the first time last night. We don't have cable and the digital box took us from 7 bad channels down to 4 good ones, albeit, 3 version of channel 7.

[Hook]

Actually, the Centro has had very heavy advertising, which might be why they aren't making more money. Not only TV, but glossy magazine ads and even big panel ads in the Washington DC Metro system.

[headcronie]

One thing to keep in mind with the Centro advertising - Not all of it is Palm's marketing. You've got Sprint pushing their own ads for it, which would not eat into Palm's bottom line.

Granted, AT&T does the same.

[RobbM]

I haven't seen these ads until now, but I saw an announcement for the new guided tour on another blog. I did watch part of it, primarily for the FW 2.0 features (scrubbed thru the stuff on Exchange and 3G specific stuff). I was hoping for more about MobileMe, but that's actually on another video I've seen already.

I think the Centro could be called a success for Palm. I see quite a few of them around in my area. And they're being used by teens and by seniors. Most of the iPhones I see in my area (and pretty much in general) are in use by 20-somethings and older, but not seniors. With any luck, the price drop will bring in the teens for Apple, and if it can convince seniors that its just as simple as their old phone, them too.

[berylrb]

I haven't seen these ads until now, but I saw an announcement for the new guided tour on another blog. I did watch part of it, primarily for the FW 2.0 features (scrubbed thru the stuff on Exchange and 3G specific stuff). I was hoping for more about MobileMe, but that's actually on another video I've seen already.

I think the Centro could be called a success for Palm. I see quite a few of them around in my area. And they're being used by teens and by seniors. Most of the iPhones I see in my area (and pretty much in general) are in use by 20-somethings and older, but not seniors. With any luck, the price drop will bring in the teens for Apple, and if it can convince seniors that its just as simple as their old phone, them too.

I'm glad you mentioned that RobbM, re tours and MobileMe, I'm not sure about the Centro ads, but one key component that Apple is trying to do is education by reminding users of the change from .Mac to MobileMe, hence the other nature of the tours. Part of it obviously, is potential profit, and the other part is keeping customer service calls down, ... um ... more profit, LOL.

I know not a lot of entry users need .Mac, but man Apple's sync services are pretty awesome.

FYI when I was working full time I paid $5/month for webhosting and forgot the fee for the domain name, but considering that fact, and the windows look and feel webtools, $100 for .Mac's ease of use isn't outrageous.

[questionfear]

Aside from the constant discussion on blogs, I haven't seen much in the way of iPhone 3G ads. I have seen several Centro ads, and they all highlight my major issue with palm's advertising in general: The ads don't showcase any of the things that make the Centro special. Look, a phone that text messages AND accesses the internet! Good god, what will they come up with next?

Look at the Windows Mobile ads, HTC's ads, and the iPhone's ads. Windows Mobile ads play up specific aspects: work on the go, outlook in your pocket. HTC's ads highlight the form factors and design options. iPhone's ads make it clear how you use the iPhone and basically familiarizes people with the device before they even touch it. The common denominator in all of them is that the ad teaches the consumer at least one thing that makes that product unique. It gives the viewer of the ad a reason to consider the device because it has something "special".

The centro ads tell me that Palm made a phone that has a qwerty keyboard and internet. This is not a unique feature. Why not play up the threaded text message application, the PIM, the games, etc? Why show me the phone doing the same thing every other phone has done, and play DOWN the things that makes the phone special?

And that's where the iPhone walkthroughs are so great, and IIRC Nokia has done something similar for the n96...basically the idea is to show you something tangibly cool that makes you want more.