HOME OBSESSIONS - Media/Comm - Writing - Education - Music FAQ HEROES CAREER BLOG - RSS CONTACT This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License. arch emisou panton
	Phil's Blogservations Thursday, August 22, 2002 Posted by philgomes 3:39 PM Gomes' Eighth Law Of PR Invoked: Gomes' Eighth Law Of PR states "No amount of PR—no matter how carefully or strategically applied—will help a faulty or underperforming product in the long term. Corallary: Offending company should offer a humble act of contrition and solution for transgression that breaks the Eighth Law." Before I begin... I should say that, though I do carry a Handspring Visor Deluxe, I am a big fan of Palm. The OS is fast, lightweight, and clearly optimized for the tasks that handhelds typically perform. I've been waiting with bated breath ever since the Be, Inc. aquisition to see if a new, multimedia-rich PalmOS will become available soon. For a short while, Palm even inspired the kind of wild-eyed, cultish enthusiasm generally ascribed to Apple fanatics. One former manager of mine even exclaimed "I love my Palm!" during a meeting, inspiring plenty of giggling at the accidental (and potentially dirty) double-entendre. (Sidenote: I've always thought—and hasn't everyone?—that "Palm Pilot" could have been an insult that Beavis might've hurled at Butthead had they performed their adolescent hijinks in Silicon Valley instead of some nameless backwater.) Anyway... It's worth pointing out to Blogservations readers that wireless industry scribe Elisa Batista has been chronicling the unfortunate marketing-vs-reality disconnect surrounding the Palm m130 handheld. In short, the device's marketing and packaging claimed a display with 16-bit color depth, though it only features 12-bit color. This translates into a device that can display only 89% of the colors it claims to offer—maybe less if certain color blending techniques are not employed. Only thing is, as of this writing, Palm isn't doing anything about it. HP ran into a similar problem with some products in its Jornada handheld line. However, HP did the right thing and offered customers a refund. I can't find an apology on the Palm site. The only thing I'm reading in the press is that Palm made an "honest mistake" when certain electronic components were mis-characterized. Now, I know that HP has much deeper pockets than Palm, so perhaps it's a little easier for them to field a refund program. But, from where I sit, it looks like Palm is blowing its customers off. Even an electronic coupon redeemable at Palm's online store would be a good start. Consider that this switch might've cost Palm's competitors some significant sales. After all, if one handheld offered true 16-bit color, but another claimed the same color depth at a lower price, wouldn't you pick the latter? There's a lively discussion taking place on Slashdot, if you're interested. Blogservations will keep a keen eye on how this is resolved from a PR perspective. | HOME | OBSESSIONS | FAQ | HEROES | CAREER | BLOG | CONTACT Note that the views expressed on this site do not necessarily reflect those of Phil's employer, its business partners, its clients, or anyone or anything that doesn't come from Phil's demented imagination. Hell, to be perfectly honest, even Phil disagrees with what he thinks sometimes. This site has virtually no redeeming qualities whatsoever. Clicking on a link doesn't automatically send a 1/2-cent donation to UNICEF. You can't buy, sell, auction, swap, find a date, win friends, influence people, cross the chasm, or decode the human genome using this site. You won't get free email. You won't win a PalmOne Treo or a Playstation2. This site will not end world hunger, foster peace in the Middle East, help you smell better, teach you how to swing dance, or move the global economy from petroleum to hydrogen fuels. You'll learn a lot about this site's master, though, which amounts to a haphazard collection of strange and useless facts that pretty much won't help you at all.	ABOUT THIS BLOG This is the blog of Phil Gomes, VP with Edelman Digital and senior advisor to the Society for New Communications Research. This blog not only discusses PR and media matters, but Phil's everyday observations about a variety of topics. Phil currently resides in Chicago, IL. EMAIL phil[at] philgomes.com View my page on PROpenMic SYNDICATE Feedburner ARCHIVE YAHOO! IM SKYPE WISH LIST PITCH POLICY MY PHOTOS www.flickr.com Photostream RSS Enter your Email Powered by FeedBlitz COMMENT AND TRACKBACK POLICY Comments and trackbacks are unmoderated, though I will delete the patently offensive ones. Any comments and trackbacks are the opinions of the individual writer of those comments and trackbacks, and not those of Phil Gomes, his employer, its clients, or its business partners. If you have a bone to pick, bug the people who wrote the comment or trackback.