Are dummy phones turning away potential customers? 55

All the Best Buy's that I have been lately in the Phoenix area have real Pre's on display...

When I went to the Sprint store to buy my Palm Pre, they actually had a dummy phone out. I asked them to let me see the real thing, and they did have one, but the battery was dead and I had to wait 15 minutes for it to charge enough from a USB port to get powered up.

I happened to have a lot of time on my hands that day, and I am a patient cat, but I know most people wouldn't have put up with that, and would have probably left or looked at other phones, giving up on the Pre.

So this is a problem in Sprint stores too. I haven't been in a Sprint store lately so I don't know if they've fixed this issue, but if they're still putting dummy phones on display they need to fix this quickly.

I had the same thought when i first purchased my pre, I was like those dummy phones almost made me not get one, and when i held the pre for the first time, i was like it feels good in the hand, actally got some weight to it.

You are right on. I went to the Sprint store down the street from my office a couple days after it was released to play with it.

But when I finally decided to buy one in August I went to Radio Shack (I will NEVER call it The Shack) to avoid the mail in rebate. In the interim between release and buying I did dstop in a couple of Radio Shacks and a Best Buy, none of which had a working model on display.

I kind of thought the same thing. I saw a dummy Pre at the Best Buy that I bought mine at and thought "wow, nobody's going to buy one based on this!" Fortunately for me I had done my research and was already obsessed with the Pre before even walking into the store, but what about the person making a casual, or last minute decision?

I think this was more justifiable when stock was tight, but now that's under control they definitely should have real phones out there.

I work at Best Buy and my store has two working on display. Some stores have more of a problem with theft and may decide not to display the working ones. If you ask to see one they may pull one out for you though.

My store had two working models on display in late July. The rep there even showed me the homebrew apps that he had installed on his phone. Maybe it depends on the volume of sales for a particular store on what displays they get?

Dummy devices (mp3 player, phones, cameras, etc) all serve to make the indecisive consumer more apt to buy what he has used before. Circuit city lost what was almost my certain purchase of the Archos 5 Player because there wasn't a device I could hold. I wouldn't have bought the Pre if I couldn't have held it and tried it (after being burned by the brick of a HTC 6700).

Then when people can see the iPhone (or iPod) in all it's glory, of COURSE they are going to buy from the one they recognize and can already work.

Having to ask for a device from behind the counter means that the folk who really don't know about the device will be lost. and the ones who just might not want to speak to a salesperson will be lost as well.

nb

I was determined to get a Pre. I agree that the dummy models are not up to par with the models of other smartphones on Display. Using the real phone is a completely different and more enjoyable experience. However, if I had no knowledge of the potential of the Pre and used a dummy model in one of the stores I wouldn't think it was a smartphone.

I've always thought there were two things Palm (or Sprint, or whoever) could do to make the Pre more appealing. First, people need hands on experience with this OS. Second, make the Touchstone cover the "stock" cover. When I first handled a "dummy" Pre in Best Buy, it seemed bland and felt cheap. When I played with a working phone in the Sprint store, not only was I impressed by the capabilities of WebOS, I also thought the Touchtone cover made it feel much more substantial (and quite honestly, more aesthetically appealing). Quite simply, it seemed like a different phone.

I can confirm this trend as well. When deciding to purchase a new phone my brother in law went into a best buy and wasnt impressed with the dummy pre - all he noticed was the small size and cramped keyboard. He said the screen was small and he was thinking of the touch pro 2.

I encouraged him to go to a sprint store (the corporate sprint by me has a working model w/ touchstone), and after he used and saw the screen in person he was sold. But he needed to see it working in person to have his mind changed.

Now he, his wife, and my younger sister all have pre's =)

Great article, and I hope more manufacturers take this to heart.

Smartphone or dumbphone. It doesn't even matter (though maybe slightly more for smartphones). I'm not buying something so expensive, and so a centerpiece of my day-to-day based on the tale told by some dumb piece of plastic!

I have never seen a working phone in a Best Buy or Radio Shack. I just figured it was there policy not to do that. Sprint stores sometimes do sometimes don't. In the 1st couple months after the Pre came out I saw a lot of working ones, but now i rarely see a working Pre in the store. I think a lot of it has to do with the likelihood of theft in a particular store. I know stores where you will never ever see a working phone on display. Same way some Best Buy's will ask for ID to use a credit card or check your bags when you leave, and some stores don't.
I've worked in retail for a store that will remain nameless but I worked at different locations and I could see the difference in policy about stuff like this from city to suburban locations.
If you wanna see a live phone, go to a store far from the hood.

I visited multiple stores all across California (ranging from Southern California [Orange County], middle California [San Luis Obispo], and northern [San Fran]). By no means was this an extensive research experiment. I just wanted to play with a Pre (before I got one).

I only managed to get a real live working one in two stores (Sprint), out of all the ones I visited (Best Buy and Radioshack).

It was truly sad.

I agree completely with this article! When I bought my Pre last month I had to go to a Sprint store to actually play with one to see if I even thought it was worth the switch (Way worth it my Storm sucked compared to this). But the phone at Sprint would have cost me to much out of pocket so I went to my Best Buy later that day and bought 2 (no mail in rebates and $70 worth of rewards certificates). They didn't have a working model there and I told them that I considered that a must have to show off this phone capabilities. Worth noting is that all 3 Best Buy associates were sporting a Pre though!

At my Radio Shack where I purchased the Pre, I went in because a colleague of mine was buying a replacement BlackBerry. I had the chance to ask about the Pre and luckily enough one of the sales clerks had one and handed it to me to play with. To properly sell these you need to also have a video display on how to use the gestures, and features of default apps.
In my opinion, these stores definitely need at least one working model to provide users to play with.

I work at a local RadioShack (we hate calling it The Shack, too... and can't figure out who EVER called it that?). I bought my Pre on opening day (June 6th, second guy in town to own one!), but had to buy it from Best Buy, because RadioShack didn't have any, yet.

We got the dummy phones about a week or two later, but because I had my personal phone, I was able to demonstrate it for potential customers.

Now we have Pres in stock at the local RadioShack stores, and each of the local stores here has a live "store demo" model that we can use to show customers. It allows the store employees who don't have Pres to show them off. It also allows us to show of a Pre without any customization (mine is completely hacked and themed, so...)

As to why we have dummy phones? It's obvious - people will steal ANYTHING. In fact, we frequently have people STEAL THE DUMMY PHONES! Argh, drives me nuts. They'll steal a 50 cent connector, and buy a $60 converter box at the same time. It's not the item, it's the act of theft, and the thrill, I guess.

Anyway, my 2-cents.

Even Wal-Mart (in my area) has a working Iphone. I too wanted to see what the pre was all about on opening day. i went into the sprint store, which was a small one and fairly empty. asked the guy if i could test a palm pre. he pulled his personal phone out of his pocket which was a pre, and let me use it. It may not be the same everywhere, but thats customer service. I bought my pre that day.

Article right on time! Yesterday, I went to bestbuy to check out some stuff. I saw the Pre and went to play with it. It was a dummy phone and I thought "who wants to pay $149(other than the precentral gang) for something when they don't even know how it works or what it does?". Well the next day, this article pops up. But I did see another fully functional Pre at bestbuy yesterday but it was to show off a charging mat.

Yes! Dummy phones have to be the worst thing for palm pre sales! Who wants to buy something that they cannot play with first? That is a risk that people don't wanna take with an expensive smartphone!

The sprint store where I bought my Palm Pre had two phones on display to play around with and the Sprint Reps were very helpful with all of my questions that is why I went ahead and orderd mine that day. When my phone actually came in and I went to pick it up there was a Palm Rep. right there in the store. He took the time and showed me all kinds of tricks to do with the phone from the very first day. I've always really liked my phone. I've never had any issues with Sprint or Palm when I've needed answers or exchanges.

Palm had an impressive presentation when they introduced the Palm Pre... all of the main points of that presentation should be placed on video and played at all of the sprint and partner stores (on a small TV). Hands-on demo is good; but it is more effective if the phone is being demo'ed by people who know the features and how to access them:

> Show the Quick Launch Panel - and the special shadow effects
when all the panel items are moved up into the display area
(the press were impressed at this feature including the
Gesture Area when the phone was first introduced).
> Show the use of the Gesture Area - the right-to-left swipe
> Show features like Drag, Flick, Pinch-and Spread, Double-
Tap, etc.
> Show programs in Card View
> Show the Memos program with a few Notes on the Board
> Show Cut, Copy, and Paste
> Show Sync with Pre
> Show use of the Dial Pad
> Show Drag up to Answer a Call and Ignore a Call
> Show the Pre as an Organizer and Show Scheduling Events
> Show Local Search and Searching (and using) the Internet
> Show Sprint Voice Navigation and Google Maps
> Show Using the Camera and taking Pictures
> Show Playing Videos
> Show Playing Music and Internet Radio
> Show Sprint TV, NFL Network, and Disney Channel
> Show Charging the Pre with Touchstone
> And much more...

Conclusion: Palm and Sprint should start marketing the phone by showing potential customers the unique features of the Palm Pre phone.

Couldn't agree with this more!!! I want a PRE BAD!!!! I am on ATT and not willing to switch but getting rid of the iphone and going back to Palm when it comes to att. I would love the Pre but may take the "pixi". So went to best buy and it was a dummy..made me feel used. Went to sprint and this was where I was shocked. DUMMY PHONE!!! Are you kidding me. How are you going to compete with att with basically dedicated diplays for iphones that are all interactive. I am a huge apple fan just tired of the iphone...too much of a toy!! Come on att bring me the PRE!!

@ lucky410,
i'm in a store in UT, and we all have them as well, and if Utah has them, every store has them, like you said:
just ask to see them, we have 'em!