Amazon Drops Pre to $99.99, Future Shop Offers Discounts Too 30
Attention Pre Shoppers: Amazon has dropped the price of our beloved phone to $99 with contract. As everythingpre notes, that's a cool $99.99 without rebate.
Meanwhile, as we wait for Bell to officially match the US price of $149.99 for the Pre, Future Shop isn't waiting around. They have it for $149.99.
Update 1: An anonymous tipster sends word that if you chat with an online Sprint rep at Sprint.com when you're opening a new line of service and mention that Best Buy and Amazon are selling the Pre for $99, there's a better-than-even chance that Sprint will match the price
Update 2: Sorry for all the updates today, everybody - things are moving fast for some reason this Friday morning.
Update 3: Yeesh, when it rains it pours. Reader Mike sent in a Future Shop flyer showing that in addition to the $150 price point, they're offering $75 worth of accessories
Thanks to everyone who sent this in!
30 Comments
Does this mean the Pixi will have to drop to $49?
That is too cheap for the Pre. The 16 or 32 GB version must be coming in late Oct or November.
Can't help but think that a higher capacity Palm Pre is right around the corner... 16gb? Maybe 32gb??
Hopefully this will get the Pre into more hands. It's such a great phone the word needs to get around...
sometimes early adopt stings. so long as the webos gets the attention it sorely deserves.
Is this "Triple-Confirmed" too?
If they come out with a higher gigabyte Palm Pre (16gb or 32gb) I'm going to be upset, this is crazy I bought my Palm Pre a MONTH ago...I purchased the Pre for $199, but Sprint changed the price to $149 two weeks later so they gave me a $50 credit, now AMAZON dropped Pre's price to $99. I can't stand how they do this...with the price changing every 3 weeks it makes me mad because I should of waiting until December when my contract expired and then I could of purchased the phone under a 1-yr contract instead of two. What are they trying to do...it seems like they (Sprint)is putting the Pre in the cell phone grave yard!!! Is this because of the HTC Hero or the HTC Touch Pro2, which they are pushing to be "better" smartphones than the Pre!!! I was so excited to get this phone, but with the updates lagging on, I'm getting sick of the nonsense. The Pre could be a GREAT phone if they would only give us the proper updates (text forwarding, camcorder, and FLASH support)! Pre users please how do feel about the roller coaster PRICES on the PRE???
If you can't stand your phone not having text forwarding and camcording go get a phone that has it
Roller coster prices? IDK, seems this is what happens with all tech products. Prices drop as time goes one. Some drop faster than others. Why would you be upset with anyone but yourself for your own buying decision? The pre and/or other WebOS devices will still be here in December, so the only reason you missed out on the 1-yr contract thing is because YOU decided to miss out on it, no?
Also, you bought your pre "a MONTH ago" and are already complaining about "the updates lagging on"? Really? What's the average time between updates for any of the other devices out there and how do WebOS updates compare?
I think the updates come wicked fast based on what seems to be the standard in this industry.
You know sprint gives you a month to return your phone and cancel contract regardless..
The extremely rapid price drops piss me off. Its not a good idea for a company to let its customers end up feeling like they have been played for suckers. I felt the Pre was worth the $199 I paid. I endured exchanging it 4 times. Now Palm is telling me Ha Ha sucker, its worth $100 less than we made you pay. They don't even do me the courtesy of using any vaseline as they ream me. They do nothing to salve the feeling of being an idiot for buying it earlier. I also think they are diminishing the cachet of the device somewhat by dropping the price so far so fast on top of presenting a chaotic marketplace to the consumer and undercutting their own corporate stores. How does this make sense? What I pay depends on who I buy from? Its the same damn phone. You don't see the iphone retailing for all these wildly divergent prices.
Are you serious? The i-Phone dropped by $100 (1/3 off) only 68 days after its initial launch!
source: http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/technolo...
Quote from Steve Jobs:
"Even though we are making the right decision to lower the price of iPhone, and even though the technology road is bumpy, we need to do a better job taking care of our early iPhone customers as we aggressively go after new ones with a lower price."
Yes, I am serious. As I recall, Iphone early adopters were pissed off too and at least they got some lip service from Jobs about it, as you qouted. Further, correct me if I'm wrong, but you didn't have several different retailers offering the Iphone at several different prices all at the same time did you? This thing launched with a $199 price and a rebate scheme and many early adopter customers jumped through those hoops and now Palm is essentially telling them they were all a bunch of chumps and they are not doing anything to ease that feeling. Thats not smart. I like this device, I waited for it rather than going to another OS when I left my 755p behind.
But this kind of treatment is cooling my enthusiasm and us early adopters are some of Palm's best marketeers as well, especially considering the goofy ad campaign they have mounted and that I to have to wait for this device to get to the level of functionality I had with my 755p. I'm out here telling everybody this device rocks, blogging about it, posting to twitter and facebook. These all over the place prices however leave me feeling like Palm is standing behind me snickering. Thats a recipe for turning an enthusiastic customer and advocate to his peers into one who is much cooler towards the company and the device, and will stop urging people he knows to get it because the rapid price drops leave you feeling like Palm broke faith with you. Its not cool and because other companies did it does not make it feel any better to me.
Bottom line: Palm is not managing all this price differentiation well and this leaves a bad taste in the mouth of this customer who bought early with great enthusiasm. The enthusiasm is down, which means I tell fewer people they should buy a Pre. We're the best marketing campaign Palm has fielded. Screwing us over without a word is not smart.
I understand the feeling with "I could have bought a 16gb for the same price"... well there wasn't a 16gb on the market then. We pay for bleeding new and bragging rights but we gotta face it, that's the market and that hasn't changed.
If you want palm/sprint to do any good they need to sell units.. and we all know that the sales has slowed down. Give them a break and let them make money so that more users will drive more innovation, hardware, and app store.
You make some fair points and I can understand why you are feeling the way you do. For me I am not upset or surprised at all. I totally expected this. It happens with all the phones in one form or another. Palm has to react to the price pressures and constantly changing environment of its competitors to keep the phone attractive to *new* customers. Apple lowered its prices, HTC introduces the Hero on the same network as the Pre, etc. Without a growing base of new customers we existing customers will be hurt a lot more than the buyer's remorse one might feel after a price drop. I say do what you gotta do palm to gain market share.
I continue to tell my friends and family how great a phone it is, because well, it is! The fact that the price dropped gives me even MORE reason to recommend the phone to others, not less. Why should I feel slighted and have that curb my enthusiasm? I got to be an early adopter with full bragging rights. I absolutely knew that if I had waited 3 months the price would drop, but that did not stop me. Even after I heard it was going to be on Verizon (my then current carrier) in 6 months, but that did not stop me from switching carriers.
I stood on line at 5am on June 6th (launch day) and was the first along with my wife to get the Pre at our local Sprint store. We spent another $500 in accessories and Sprint threw in a Blackberry Curve for free that I gave to one of my kids. We sent in the rebates and promptly received the checks. My wife is coming from a Razr on Verizon and is ecstatic (of course). I came from a Treo 700w on Verizon and although there is some missing functionality on the Pre the fluid easy-to-use user experience of the Pre trumps everything for me. The annual cost savings compared to Verizon are significant as well.
Just so you know -- Neither I nor any of my family or friends own any stock in Palm, although I wish I did! I want this platform to be more successful because I admire Palm's innovation over the years and think competition with Apple can only help all of us consumers regardless of which Smartphone we choose. Also, on a selfish note, more Palm users means more app choices for me, and I just love apps. :-)
Since you felt what you paid was worth it, then stop complaining right there.
Besides, Palm doesn't set the prices. The Market does. Palm sells their product to carriers, who then sell them at whatever price they want. Sprint hasn't lowered their price to $100 but since Amazon has, Sprint would probably match it if it's worth the loss of $50 more.
Palm makes its money up front while cellular carriers recoup it over time via usage fees.
8 GB is probably fine for the majority of folks. Those who want to store their entire music collection on the Pre rather than a subset of their most listened to songs could probably use a 16 or 32 GB Pre.
Once Video Recording capabilities come to the Pre the demand for the larger capacities will spike.
Another base of users who would benefit from larger capacities are those who want to hold a couple of movies on the Pre. Problem is I don't think you can watch a 2 hour movie on the Pre on the battery alone.
Palm isn't lowering the price to $100, Sprint is ultimately. Palm gets a lot more than $100 bucks for it. This thing drives business for Sprint and they are competing against a $100 iPhone 3G. Obviously they think it is worth subsidizing the cost for the monthly return.
If it pisses you off that the price has dropped, grow up. Nobody put a gun to your head to be an early adopter, and you had 30 days to take the phone back if you didn't think it was worth it, and Sprint has been extremely generous with many people with the first $50 price drop, offering credits way past the 30 day limit. I have 4 of them in my house (and 2 iPhone 3Gs incidentally) and I'm happy Sprint sees benefit in lowering the price.
More phones sold is a huge benefit for all of us. More users of WebOS attracts developers and ensures Palm has continuing incentive to keep developing it. If Sprint thinks lowering the price will help the phone compete and sell better with all the competition...great. Glad they're lowering it then vs keeping the price high on principal and keeping it's market small.
I understand your logic in telling me "so sad, too bad" for buying early. Fine and dandy and I take my lumps. The flip side is that Palm also pays a price in unhappy customers who feel they got dealt with a little dirty. And you're telling me Sprint is the one cutting the deals for the Pre with all these different retailers? Palm has nothing to do with the price its product is sold at? I find that hard to believe, but I could be wrong.
I get all that biz logic of low prices. Fine and dandy on that. Since I got reamed over, I'd appreciate it if they get this thing up to cutting edge pronto. Video, txt fwd, cpu scaling and the rest. I'm less patient now, since the company has made me a bit of a sucker.
exit thought: your position is buyer beware and fair enough, but for a company fighting its way back to relevance is it smart to tick off customers like that without even some lip service or acting like you gave a crap? Customer good will is worth something to the bottom line too.
Excellent point on who is controlling the price. We so often forget that the carrier (Sprint) is who is setting these price drops, not Palm. Sprint makes their money back in the plan over the two year contract, and you get the benefit of not having had to lay out as much money up front thanks to this subsidy. Heck, the plans are fantastic too -- very competitive.
Any word if this price is valid for those of us eligible for the 22 month upgrade or is it strictly for new customers?
Also, if one of my lines isn't able to upgrade until February 1st, what would happen if I bought this now for $99 and upgraded that line early?
Thanks
Wirefly.com has been offering it for $99.99 for a couple of days now. Amazon is catching up.
Sprint will definitely match prices. I purchased a Pre in August from a Sprint retail store. I asked if they would match the (at the time) current Best Buy price of $199 with no rebate hassles. They immediately marked the phone down to $199. Since i bought a touchstone, the sales rep waived the activation fee and gave me a $30 credit on my first bill. Then when Sprint dropped the price to $149, they gave me another $50 credit on my bill even though I was out of the 30 day window to get the $50 back.
Who says Sprint has bad customer service?
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I am actually waiting on my sprint saleperson right now to call me back with either yes i can credit you the $159.99 ($100 mir + $59.99 diff on amazon pre sale price)
I chatted with a sprint rep this morning online, she said yes they will price match, but have to go to original point of sale to do so.
I called a sprint service rep and he told me i would have to return the phone (2 days old for me) within the 30 days, wait for that money to be credited to my account, cancel that account and port the existing cell number to the new sprint account to get that price break from amazon. Lot of hoops but it's $160!!!!!! and no MIR bullstuff.
This is not surprising given several factors: first being the rumored Nokia takeover of Palm, second being Verizon's decision to skip the Pre, and third being the launch of the HTC Hero on Sprint's network in a few weeks.
The build quality of the Pre has apparently not really improved much. I was in a Best Buy store the other day and the Best Buy Mobile rep told me the return rates of the Pre were running close to 60% at that store and about 45% in the district.
With consumers unhappy, carriers opting to pass on the product, and better phones coming to the market or already there, the Pre has some significant obstacles to overcome. Even if there is a higher capacity Pre coming to market, the build-quality issues have left a lasting impression on corporations and consumers - Palm has to do something to stimulate the demand of the phone.
Palm dropped the ball by bringing this product (which could have been exceptional) to the market without good quality control and the early adopters are paying the price - literally.
i just talked to an online rep and they will match Best Buy's price of $149 and offer free activation and no shipping and handling. I can post a transcript if you guys would like.
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My wife talked to Sprint customer service earlier tonight and they agreed to match the $99 price with no rebates required. The Sprint store said they could not authorize this price, as they are not a true Sprint-owned store in our area. So they had us call Sprint customer service from inside the store. Note that my wife is a current Sprint customer who is currently eligible for a new phone.
camcording works on the pre. ive been shooting videos all day all pumped.
$79 at WalMart http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/26/pre-drops-to-79-99-at-walmart/