HP offers employees discounts on Palm phone service, support hotline 28
Tue, 12 Oct 2010 11:01 am EDT 
Obviously HP’s pretty gung-ho about Palm. It may not be their biggest purchase, but it’s one that stands to have a huge impact and monetary pay-off if they play their card right. And to get as many people on board as they can, HP is turning to their 300,000 strong employee base with some pretty sweet offers.
First up is a new support line for HP employees using Palm products. The new line is open late, weekends, and every day, and is offered free of charge to HP employees. For obvious reasons, we’re not going to give you that phone number. Palm and webOS are still fairly foreign to a lot of the HP base, which was previously a Windows Mobile camp. Granted, they didn’t seem to care much about Windows Mobile, but the phones were there.
Second is a new discount program exclusively for HP employees. Contrary to what you think, it’s not a discount on Palm hardware (which can already be had for free through HP). No, it’s a discount on cellular service for said Palm hardware on Sprint, AT&T, and Verizon. The plans go live on November 15th (hmmm), at which time we should be hearing more about how much of a discount they’ll be, though HP has promised that their employees will be getting a “good value.”
We’re glad to see HP’s doing what they can to push Palm hardware into the hands. They’re even asking for employee input as to what they could do to improve Palm hardware, services, and apps. It’s these kind of touches that made Palm such a great company and we’re glad to see their new overlords carry some of the same employee benevolence (even if it runs counter to the gloomy attitude some apparently hold).
Thanks to two anonymous HP employees for the tips!
28 Comments
wonder if it applies to retirees? I will be 1st in line...
I doubt they'll include retirees in it. Most carriers specify current employees only on their discount programs
oops..
At 300,000 strong, this push within the company is hopefully enough to actually make an impact even if on a smaller scale in some way. Hopefully, possibly the pre2 will be released by then. I know a lot are waiting for the "ultra" phone, but for someone that hasn't experienced the pre or webOS at all, the hardware changes and a software upgrade (2.0), just might be the key for people to have a truly wonderful experience with the phone. I have a release day Pre and I have really enjoyed it. The few "quirks" I have with it sound like their getting fixed in this new release and if that's the case, I can see many people truly enjoying the experience of the pre2 along with webOS 2.0.
Ultimately I feel that the WebOS community is hands down the best there is and if we can take all the amazing things it has to offer and multiply that in a large amount, then I think we're finally on the right track to make an impact in the smart phone industry.
Thanks HP for not treating Palm as just another business purchase, but looking to actually make WebOS a standard in the company and a standard in the world.
I imagine the discount will be either 22% off plans and accessories or $10-15/month for unlimited. That seems like the typical discount carriers give to partners
sprint has steadily been increasing payment plans on employees. It's now up to 35 dollars a month for a smartphone. Up from 15 about 3 years ago. Not sure what it is with partners.
If Sprint carries the Pre 2 I will get it as soon as it comes out since I can renew anytime and wait for the Super Device!! Hopefully ti is the Super Device coming out SOON!!!!!
The discount is for HP employees in the US
lol "Super Device" i can hear the voice
HP already has a pretty decent discount available to employees on plans through the mentioned carriers. In order for this to be worth advertising to the employees, it would have to be an improvement over those plans. I wouldn't be shocked if they took away the existing discounts UNLESS you were using a palm.
Time to get the tipsters to react faster. The email announcement came out on Friday. Nonetheless, it will be interesting to see what they've got next in terms of monthly service and if there's more to announce. HP doesn't do teasers like this very often with the staff so I trust that it should be pretty good.
The only Hot line they need to know is Precentral.net XD
If the HP employees start using the phone on the HP Exchange servers, this will also highlight some of the issues that HP/Palm still need to address for business users. Not only will it be great to add a bunch more users, but it will provide some immediate feedback on issues that they still need to address.
And, could it be that November 15 will be an important date for Palm in some other way? Can we say "Pre 2"?
Wow! A hint that Sprint might possibly get the Pre 2 as early as mid-November! Coolness. Fingers crossed...
The discount will probably be about 23% ( for Sprint) through a 3rd party Sprint dealer. There's a couple of 3rd party vendors who handle accounts for large companies, hospitals, schools etc. As a Realtor at the Austin Board of Realtors I get that same deal...we'll see when the numbers are released, that's my guess.
What are the chances that this palm pre 2 is made by HP? Still too soon post merger?
johnner1999, I don't know why they would rebrand it if it's such a small update to the phone. Building and keeping a brand's reputation is hard and takes time. Plus the Palm brand for smartphones is a lot stronger than HP. When is the last time you saw someone get excited for a new phone from HP? Also, Windows Mobile has always seemed to be the strategy behind HP branded smartphones and PDAs so it would kind of be a waste to start mucking things up for both brands. I think they'll keep the Palm brand for all smartphones and everything else WebOS will be HP.
Sorry I should of been more clear. I agree the palm name should be on the device not HP. Rather was HP in control of QC or better yet produced by an HP supplier, which tight control over fit and finish.
I live really close to HP's Houston factory...I think I'm going to go apply for a job there...
[Random] woot spotted a Pixi ad :)
http://preview.tinyurl.com/2egn3b4
Gee, I get a 25% discount as a "partner" with Sprint. I'd hope the others get that good of a deal.
(Actually, I think 25% is the current discount for AT&T and Verizon as well for our company.)
it's $15/month unlimited if you bring your own smartphone and meet the other qualifications for where I work
% guess this is for HP USA only?
I suppose you could get a Verizon Pre Plus and discounted plan, but it wouldn't really work well outside of the US.
I agree Derek. I hope Palm has already begun work on an GSM/LTE based device to throw on Verizon's network by the end of the 1st quarter as their network upgrade should be complete. It would give Palm a major competitive edge over other smartphones and would entice businesses to adopt Verizon and Palm over AT&T. I'm sure HP will make that push since it seems like they're starting to target businesses more. Once Palm rolls out a WebOS 2.0 device with at least a 1GHz chip, LTE, and better display I'll be buying a new phone. 802.11N would be nice to have with it too but I'm not that picky
This is very comforting to hear. Palm's in good hands.
The discount is already 25% with Sprint (with or without a Palm device). Maybe they are planning to go up to 50%. :) That would be nice since I have a family plan.
I was wondering last week if the 'HP' employee's were responsible for the 'Flat Line' increase Palm's WebOS experienced recently??
what ever came of this?