It was a very nice night and my friend and I decided that we'd stay in the Best Buy parking lot to get this new Palm device... Well we were the first people in the parking lot, so if Best Buy (BB) was going to get the new Palm (PALM) Pre I would sure to be getting one, correct? Incorrect! At about 5 AM cars starting showing up and a car dropped a guy off right in front of the door which forced me to get out and wait in line behind him... So here I am thinking I have a good chance of getting this phone, as I assumed they'd get at least 3 and I was second in line. So 7 AM rolls around and the Best Buy employees start coming into work. We kept asking them: “how many Palm Pre's do you guys have?”, and they simply answered: we can't tell you... So we wait some more and finally at about 9:30 a Best Buy Mobile guy comes out and takes the first 3 people in lines info to verify they are eligible for the Pre. So I was one of them, and very excited, as I've been waiting for this phone since January. Well after 10 minutes of taking our numbers and info, he says: "due to inventory constraints, we only got one Pre in". I was pretty upset at first, but then the guy starts going on about how long the activation process will take and all these other "bad" things about the Pre, as if he wanted the guy first in line to leave. He was saying it would take more than a month to learn all the gestures; it was definitely for a business person (the guy in front of me couldn't stop talking about the facebook syncing deal... I told him I trade stocks off my HTC Touch Pro every day, and manage my online website GoldenAgeCheese.com (my family business for over 25 years). Well the mobile guy got to bashing the Pre and the guy in front of me seemed pretty scared (I didn't care, as Palm stock has paid for this phone 100 times over for me), he kept asking when they'd get more in, he didn't want to wait but he didn't want to be upset, etc... So I am saying I want it no matter what, I don't care I won't be returning it anyway, and the Best Buy mobile guy wanted me to take it (as I told him what I'd be doing with it versus line stander #1 and I could tell he was pulling for me ;-) ).
So the guy in front of me definitely had every right to the Pre as he was first in line, but he was kind enough to offer me a coin flip. Sure enough I had my lucky "pocket analyst" which has a bear on one side of the coin and a bull on the other, I told him to call bull or bear, he chose bear and sure enough it was a..... BEAR! Fair is fair and the guy deserved it. However I feel Palm, Sprint, and Best Buy all blew this wonderful opportunity to sell many more phones today.
I did get the guy to reserve the next one they get for 24 hours though since it was such a close call. In a way I am kind of happy I didn't get it, this way I can check out more opinions online.
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11 comments:
Where did you go to college? I just stumbled upon your cheese youtube video. :) it's really cool you make cheeses.
I'm sorry you didn't get the pre. I am posting this comment from mine. Of course I got mine from a sprint store where I'm stuck waiting for $100. I guess for me, waiting for $100 is less difficult than waiting for the pre.
You might want to check a sprint store. I went back to where I bought mine to ask a question. They said they expected more phones early in the week,
Nic, I didn't learn making cheese from school, but I was brought up in the cheese business. My father founded the company in 1983 (I was born in 1986) and we've been blessed ever since. I created and still maintain our cheese website. Thanks for dropping by!
mjh, thanks for stopping in and for the advice! One question I have been wondering is about the battery. When I am on the road, I trade stocks all day from my phone. How is the battery for the Pre? I appreciate it!
Oh wow that's cool. I just clicked over to your family's website. I'm looking into trying out making my first cheese... and really want to try a blue stilton. What do you think? I was asking which college you went to because I'm still in college, and noticed you seem really knowledgeable in economics/investing/options. Congrats on your e-book success. I'm a year younger than you.
Nic, we mainly produce Cheddar and Mozzarella cheeses. I am not too familiar with making Blue cheeses. I've attended two schools in upstate NY; University of Buffalo and Elmira College. However I must admit that most of my investing knowledge was not gained from school, but my parents, researching, and jumping feet first into things. Email me, and if I can dig something up about the cheese making process for Blue Stilton, I'll send you it. Thanks again, and good luck to you
Unfortunately, the battery is pretty bad. In fact, it's worse than the centro's battery. Of course, I've only had it about 30 hours. But it looks like I'm getting about 6-7 hours out of it with moderate to heavy usage. I'm hopeful that when I settle into a pattern, the usage will get better.
If I were you, I'd *definitely* get the car charger.
Okay thanks. That was one of the "negatives" the Best Buy Mobile guy was telling me... Although he said 4 hours (not even talk time) which seemed far fetched.
I've been using my Pre for 8 hours straight today (after five 30 min phone calls, texting & chatting on aim) and the battery life is at 86% now. I don't see how you can name your blog "Palm Pre disappointment" when you don't even have on as yet. You should rename it "My Best Buy Disappointment". Plus, if you did your thorough research, there's a pdf file online that showed which stores and the quantity each store was going to get on June 6th (ie: http://www.softsailor.com/news/4194-full-list-of-best-buy-stores-which-have-palm-pre-in-stock.html). Sprints stores received about 39 phones each. I went to a Sprint store & stood on line for 30 minutes (i got there at 730am and they open at 8am). I left the store with my Pre at 8:45am. So far, the only thing I don't like about the phone is that there is no yahoo app (and how important is that, really?). They said there will be an update in a couple of weeks for the yahoo app.
Chanel thanks for dropping by. It's great to hear your battery is holding up. I am not disappointed with the Pre, as I am still going to buy one when I have the chance. I am disappointed that I didn't get one. I think Palm should have made a lot more of these devices for launch. I know the "hype" marketing strategy behind it and all, but as a shareholder in the company, I am a bit disappointed they didn't sell more off the bat. I think there would still be a shortage at 150% the volume sold at launch, not to mention a lot more happy people.
I think they put out as much as they could to beat out the new iPhone, that's rumored to drop this summer. Sprint needs to win back some people also. I remember when Sprint used to to have the BEST phones, until they denied taking the Razr. That's when I noticed a lot of people crossing over to other providers.
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