Sprint Just Doesn’t Get It
Those Palm Centro Photos from Engadget were pretty enticing. They said Sprint had just announced the Palm Centro for only 99 bucks. I was excited about it and was hoping that they might have a fake plastic one to look at at my local Sprint Store.
Mike said, “Don’t even go in there. You’ll regret it.”
“But Mike, that phone is only 99 dollars. I could get my laptop online. And the Palm isn’t THAT bad…”
“They’re not going to have one there.”
“I know, but maybe they can tell me when. They have red…”
It was the red phone that really enticed me, okay, that and the fact that I could get my laptop online using EV/DO. That’s something that the iPhone just CAN’T do. And it was only 99 bucks!
I walked into the yellow and white store. It was empty except for the one salesman behind the desk who was ignoring me for now. I scanned the phones on the wall, looking for something that might be a plasticy mockup of the Palm Centro, but didn’t see anything. The uninterested salesclerk asked, “Can I help you?”
“I was wondering if you knew anything about the Centro?”
“… The what?”
“The new Palm Centro?”
He reached for the mouse on the computer next to him and fumbled.
“Nevermind.”
I turned around and walked out of the store as he mumbled an apology. He never got out of his chair behind the desk.
I bought an iPhone two hours later.
Maybe if the sales experience at Sprint hadn’t been a colossal let down, I would have bought the Centro. Maybe if Palm hadn’t been so slow, I would have bought the Centro. Maybe if the Apple Store experience wasn’t so easy and enjoyable, I would have bought the Centro.
In the end, it’s the WHOLE experience of the purchase and owning, not just the features that makes me buy a gadget.