Treo: A bit of a marketing issue...
I have been complaining for some time now about what I see as one of palmOne's key challenges. Namely its marketing communications. There is no doubt that merging companies and changing names is a challenge under any circumstances but in the case of palmOne it may be doubly so as the 'confusion' stretches a number of years... However, using excuses will not in any way help palmOne to build brand equity and awareness - on the contrary it will erode it quickly and reduce the uptake for its products.
Below are two images taken from Amazon.com and the Kelkoo comparison shopping site in the UK which I'll use to examplify my complaint.
It's good to find out that Handspring - a company which no longer exists - still manufactures the Treo 650... If I'm a prospective Treo user I'm certainly confused as it was my understanding that the Treo 650 was from a company called palmOne... But it says palmOne in the title!? So the phone is made by Handspring and is called the palmOne Treo 650 (a mouthful)?! Maybe I'm looking at the wrong phone...
On Kelkoo the story gets even more confusing/amusing/ridiculous. You can choose among three brands - Handspring, Palm or 3COM - none of which actually make the Treo 600!!! palmOne is nowhere in sight... Even Orange who are palmOne's most important carrier partner in the UK were advertising a "Handspring" Treo 600 on their website!!! After all this people still wonder why the Treo hasn't made a bigger splash in Europe where BRAND IMAGE is a key purchasing criteria...
You really don't need to be a marketing expert to quickly realize that this is a serious issue but it's been going on for so long now that I wonder if anyone at palmOne cares enough to do something about it...
Treonauts often see things that others don't... 
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Comments
thanks for the heads up! -and thanks for your webpage! I ordered my 650, headset, and extra battery last night and expect to be using it by Thanksgiving!
Dave
Good observations. Clearly PalmOne needs to do some housecleaning in the marketing dept. Microsoft is poised to eat their lunch if they aren't careful. That would be a shame. Netscape, anyone? PalmOne may have a winner with the Treo 650 but other manufacturers are taking aim with very "similar" products and, I'm guessing marketing strategies which are not laughable. One way which PalmOne could seize significant market share would be to (gasp) offer a smartphone product in the sub-$200 area. I was hoping the Treo 600 might be headed that way but Sprint seems to be intent on phasing it out. There are a LOT of people out there who would LOVE to get their hands on a Treo, BUT they are never, ever, going to pay $600 for a phone. No matter how great it is. $200, now you are talking maybe. The numbers of people though are huge. It's a matter of financial accessibility. It really is a shame that Sprint invested so much in supporting the Treo 600 and now just when production could be ramped up they're dropping it. Obviously they see it as a niche product with room for only one model. PalmOne really dropped the ball on this one and I think they will live to regret it.
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