palmOne's Lack of Transparency
Some things are a joke but they're not funny.
Almost a week has gone by since palmOne raised the price of its unlocked Treo 650 GSM claiming an 'error' and there's still not a single official statement. It's difficult to understand when something as simple as one paragraph stating that "the company regrets the error and the confusion caused" or something to this effect could easily have stopped things in its tracks.
Instead, palmOne chose to do nothing even after close to 900 Treonauts voted and/or left comments here, that many forums users were evidently not happy and that many websites highlighted that this would become an issue and actually made it an issue. Still with all this not a word from palmOne.
In the meantime, other things surfaced.
As Jonathan highlighted in his 'Open Letter' last week, a great many of palmOne's VIP customers and prospects were offered the opportunity to purchase any Treo 650 (CDMA, GSM or Unlocked) at a significantly reduced price after attending one of the company's many Roadshows. The actual processing and fulfillment responsibility for the orders placed was outsourced to a company called Vienna Channels which not only has utterly failed to communicate with these VIP's but ultimately also failed to deliver many of these phones. Whatever the reasons behind all of this ineptitude the fact is that it has left many prime new business candidates completely alienated.
Then there's the episode of the Treo 650 developers discount program. I am not familiar with the entire story but it appears that developers were given a special discount code to purchase their Treo 650 and that (naturally) someone leaked this code to the mere mortals who quickly rushed to make use of it. palmOne quickly closed the loophole and then basically told its developer community that because one of 'theirs' had leaked the code the program would be closed - doesn't this remind you of stories at school? As far as I'm aware the discount program hasn't reopened and naturally palmOne considers it all to be the fault of the developers.
There's also the story of the famous 'Free Bluetooth Headset Treo Upgrade Program' for existing Treo 600 owners that so few know about since there's not a single direct link on palmOne's website leading to it nor is it part of the normal purchase path on their online store or part of the script via their call center. Unless you happen to subscribe to palmOne's newsletter and also happen to bother enough to open it you won't know a thing about this offer.
The offer basically allows any Treo 600 owner who purchases a new Cingular Treo 650 (does not apply with the unlocked GSM) to receive a free Jabra BT 250 headset valued at $99. If you happen to have purchased yours recently however, I bet that you didn't see the offer anywhere. I guess that the intention is for most people not to find out about this 'two week special' even though I guess that it is also the intention to promote the upgrade of Treo 600 owners to the Treo 650 - but if they can't find out about it... You may understand why I'm a little confused.
For its part, the minor matter of the non-existent Treo 650 cradle (almost 3 months after the release of the phone) which I am told suffers from a backorder of some 25,000 units will likely not endear too many Treonauts to palmOne either.
Finally, all Treonauts have probably heard something about a 'Treo 650 memory issue' (rings a bell) and the fact that palmOne offered any Treo 650 buyer the option to claim a free 128MB SD Card to make up for any 'memory shortfall' that you may experience. Again however it's not exactly evident where you should go for this and if some Treonauts are 'in the dark' about the offer they're unlikely to ever find out about it.
There is no question and little debate that both the Treo 600 and Treo 650 are superb smartphones - the very best in my opinion. However, a great product by itself does not a great company make. Herein lies the real rub, how can a company that makes such great products on the one hand be so inept on the other? It's like taking one step forward and then another backward and if my maths are correct one doesn't go too far this way.
Just imagine what palmOne could achieve if both the product and business were working at the same pace - this is what I see at the heart of so many Treonauts' frustrations. Namely, that they wish for nothing more than palmOne to succeed but are completely aghast when confronted by these episodes. They wish the story could be entirely different but if their wishes can ever become reality remains unclear.
So, what if anything can Treonauts do about any of these issues?
- For the price increase, we've vented our views and if the company wants to hear us great and if they don't we'll have to continue to make some noise (if you haven't already done so please complete the survey) and let the market decide. Judging by palmOne's stock dive in the last week alone, I would say that the overall sentiment remains quite negative.
- As for Vienna's missing VIP orders and the botched Developers Discount Program I can only hope that whoever was responsible for it won't be for much longer and that it will only be a matter of a week or two before these issues are resolved (wishful thinking again?).
- If you're a previous Treo 600 owner and you've already purchased your Cingular Treo 650 via the palmOne Store but did not claim your Free BT Headset you can call palmOne's Customer Services on 1-800-881-7756 and they will ship it to you. If you currently own a Treo 600 but haven't yet purchased your Cingular Treo 650 then visit this page to claim your free headset: http://web.palmone.com/promos/treo650_bluetooth.jhtml
- If you're among the thousands of Treonauts waiting for your Treo 650 cradle I can only say that I will keep bringing the matter up until it is resolved.
- If you've purchased any Treo 650 (via the palmOne store or anywhere else) and haven't yet claimed your free 128MB SD Card please visit the following link: http://web.palmone.com/support/sd.jhtml
Treonauts like to make their wishes a reality... 
Comments
re: developer program. there wasn't a "code."
The developer community has a web page (plugedin) on the palm one site. you log in. you have the opportunity to buy device at a discount (any device), you click on the link and it takes you to the store where the "rebate" is automatically subtracted from your order.
This developer discount has been there for a very long time. all you needed to be was a registered developer. someone posted about this "rebate" and a bunch of ppl tried to sign up as a developer and get the rebate.
Palm suspended the rebate. wouldn't you do the same?
re: the treo roadshow discount. pay $350 for a treo 650, or $300 for a 600. Palm one always stated this wasnt the fastest way to get a treo.
there are 519 gsm users in the que and 153 ppl waiting for the sprint. not a huge amount a ppl considering.
see: http://www.viennachannels.com/palmoneevents
no, they dont update their page enough, but it looks like this is a 2 person operation.
from reading on other forums, it looks like the roadshow and the selling of the treo was handled by a specific department (i want to say marketing, but not 100% sure on that). this department has to "buy" the treos from palmone and sell them to the attendees. they never expected such a large attendance (they had to add a show to the seconf nyc show), causing the delays.
vienna channels is at the mercy of palmone getting them the 650s.
Nice job and thank you! I believe I recall you having spoken face to face with the soon to be new CEO (Colligan) on several occasions. What is your feel for how he will approach these issues?
Please keep it up!
Felipe,
Thanks a lot for the clarification - I didn't have all of this information.
I would not have done the same as palmOne and suspend the rebate but instead would have implemented an appropriate system from the start that would take into account the fact that some people would attempt to 'crack' the system.
I actually do believe that a couple of thousand people (including those whose units have already shipped) waiting for their Treo 650 to be delivered via Vienna Channels is a very big deal. Considering that each of them is either responsible for the purchase or influences the purchase of anywhere between a dozen to a couple of hundred units - this is not pocket change. However, it's not about numbers or money but about showing a little respect and a lot more business acumen.
At the same time, if this is indeed to be considered 'small numbers' why doesn't p1 just fix the matter quickly instead of coming up with yet more excuses - time for them to show some _action_.
DL,
Thanks. Yes, your memory serves you right, I have indeed met Ed Colligan on a couple of occasions and I am due to meet with him again shortly.
I feel that he cares deeply about the company and is committed to its success - I hope that he will surround himself with capable executives who do as well. Naturally however, it will be clear for all Treonauts to see what changes do or do not take place at the company over the next couple of months.
There's no doubt in my mind that some 'fresh' thinking and an entirely new attitude are required if p1 is to successfully exploit opportunities in the smartphone space.
Cheers, A.
OK, I agree with 95% of the recent article. But before we overestimate the power of some negative publicity...
"Judging by palmOne's stock dive in the last week alone, I would say that the overall sentiment remains quite negative."
...remember that the PalmOne CEO stepped down last week. This generally has a similar effect on most companies (well, except for HP). On the flip side, the departure of the CEO certainly could be another confidence crusher in P1.
treo geek,
I am not suggesting that the feedback generated here or elsewhere has a _direct_ impact on palmOne's stock and it is evident that the departure of its CEO as well as other recent news will have had a much higher and direct impact.
However, since a company's market cap is directly correlated with its 'perceived future value' it is evident that the goodwill of its existing customers is an important factor in calculating this. The emerging smartphone market is still considered by many to be a 'risky' bet and the future of p1 currently rests almost entirely with the success of our Treo - near flawless execution is required.
The fact is that, among many, some Treonauts are journalists, investment bankers or analysts and their influencial opinions may or may not take into account what they read here and elsewhere about both the Treo and palmOne.
Cheers, A.
The problem here is that everyone is willing to give PalmOne all the slack in the world on these problems. The Treo 650 itself has had issue after issue after issue, and that doesn't count all of the other insults like the price debacle. Still, people out there seem to have the $300-$700 (or more) in disposable income to buy the 650 and all the software and updates and accessories, as well as all the time in the world to tinker with it, change out applications ad nauseum, fool with Shadowmite's modified ROM patch, etc., etc., to make the thing do what it should have done out of the box in the first place. Unless and until the majority of users gets fed up with all this, PalmOne is just going to sit back and ignore everything but those who crow about the "fantastic screen".
PalmOne's not the only one making things difficult around here. Cingular's changed their listed data plans so many times now that I'm convinced their motto is "confuse and divide." As of today, for example, the $19.99/month MEdia Works kit for unlimited data is no longer available for the Treo 650. Nor are the "MEdia Net" plans that supposedly replaced it, which list for $19.99/month for 8MB and $24.9/month for unlimited data. Their site doesn't even LIST the $49.99/month PDA Data kit that the stores now insist you have to buy instead. It's ridiculous, and it's highway robbery. How can they charge $50/month for something Sprint and T-Mobile charge $15/month for? What are they thinking, and why do they switch the plans every week or so?
The comments to this entry are closed.
