TouchPad shown off at Cannes, celebrities agree tablets are crazy 32
HP dragged a handful of TouchPads and Pre3 phones out to France to show them off to the people at the Festival de Cannes, the people being the greatest genetic crop of humans: movie stars. On hand to check out the upcoming webOS phone and tablet were celebrities like Rob Lowe (above) who literally couldn't resist cracking a smile, Antonio Banderas, Famke Janssen, Mel Gibson, Jennifer Westfeldt, and Jon Hamm. No confirmation if HP asked Hamm for his advice on their advertising plans for either device, but we’re certain the Mad Men star is full of advertising wisdom.
Those celebrities that stopped by the Variety lounge where HP was camping out also were gifted an HP Veer of their own, as well as a TouchPad (well, more likely an IOU for a TouchPad). Needless to say, we've started figuring out how to get ourselves into the celebrity lounges at Cannes next year. Only partly because we want to get our picture taken with Rob Lowe.
Source: Palm (Facebook), The Sacramento Bee
32 Comments
He was damn good in youngblood!
Mel Gibson? really? Put it in the hands of the Big Bang Theory...these guys NO
That show is great
Palm uploaded a bunch of videos to their Youtube channel with some clips of these guys in them. I got a notification that they uploaded a file from youtube but they were set to private by the time I got there. Could be a part of their marketing plan?
I bet Rob Lowe has an iphone, glad he got to see it before actual people who love WebOS.
No, he has people to use phones for him.
That is LITERALLY most interesting thing I've heard all day.
I find it a bit concerning that they are 2 weeks from the supposed release date (Apotheker's comment from a while back) and still don't have a finished product to give out instead of an IOU.
Apotheker also said HP won't announce products that aren't ready within weeks. I guess his track record for telling the truth isn't exactly spotless.
Are there perhaps TouchPad features they don't want people to see until launch date?
There were several times when folks demoing TouchPads didn't want to touch some features on the device.
I hope that's what it is, that they have a finished product but still have a few tricks left up their sleeves that they don't want to reveal.
You also have to remember, it is running a version of WebOS that is unreleased. Regardless of launch date I am guessing they will be testing and tweaking up to product being released to retail (so far we haven't seen any actual product showing up anywhere). Add to that the article from the P|C home page where they are trying to get devices into the hands of developers, and see apps in development, can't imagine they would be giving the device away to celebs just yet.
I would also say we already know there are features in 3.0 that have not been released to the public.
"Are there perhaps TouchPad features they don't want people to see until launch date?"
With the product pages for both Pre 3 & TP in their current state, with all the details laid bare? Don't think so.
"There were several times when folks demoing TouchPads didn't want to touch some features on the device"
...because it was still very pre-release code, and as such, it tends to fail here and there, and them being professional presenters and 8+h/day on it, knew exactly where it fails, or performs poorly?
Usually, simplest explanations are the most accurate ones.
Lowe can bring the TouchPad to Pawnee, Indiana!
Ron Swanson has the Treo Pro.
sac bee link is broken
Glad to see that HP is indeed ramping up their webOS campaign, especially in high profile places. Let's hope HP has some top celebrities lined up to endorse the webOS devices. The next few weeks should be pretty interesting.
Good plan to get Mel Gibson on your side. You do not want that guy to be an enemy. I am starting to understand their marketing plan now.
That is lit'raly the best looking suit coat shown in any P|C article.
LoL, I had to laugh at this one
So tired of it being showed off and yet no release date or news.. Stop talking so much and back the talk up already!
Is it just me, or does HP seem to be concentrating on Europe, and kind of letting the US go to Android and iPhone?
That would explain why you can only buy an AT&T Veer at the moment. Oh, wait...
So then, how do I post an objection to... "the people being the greatest genetic crop of humans: movie stars."
Downright offensive.
Cant be mad at that statement. We tend to put movie stars on that pedestal
'Tis a joke. Sarcasm, even.
Well, stop it! This forum only permits
dramatic irony, metaphor, bathos, puns, parody, litotes and satire.
Very truly yours,
Doug Piranha
Face palm
Don Draper should be put in charge of marketing webOS devices.
Eh... HP should just save their money and use it in a REAL advertising campaign, or R&D. We saw this same stuff with Palm at celebrity events leading up to the Pre- launch in June 2009 .. and look where we are today. Waste of time doing these sorts of celebrity things. Nothing comes from it - other than some HPalm managers/employees getting a free trip and feeling important for a day or two.
E-xac-tly
I'm SO glad to see millionaires getting more free stuff...