Verizon launching early upgrade program to push webOS phones into dumbphone users' hands 61
Mon, 05 Apr 2010 5:45 pm EDT 
You are a Verizon customer using a something other than a 3G smartphone and you’re not eligible for any upgrade discounts. If this describes you, Verizon has a deal for you. Effective April 6, Big Red will be running a nationwide promotion to push the Palm Pre Plus and Palm Pixi Plus into the hands of Verizon dumbphone users (and those that have been hanging on to that Treo 650 for way too long) at the two-year discount price. Most of you, our fantastic readers, probably aren’t in that boat, but chances are you have a friend or family member that is. Here’s what they need to know:
- The early upgrade is only to a Palm Pre Plus or Palm Pixi Plus (shucks, I know).
- You cannot currently be using a 3G smartphone.
- This will reset your upgrade eligibility - i.e. you won’t get another upgrade for a year.
- Your contract end date will be extended to two years past the upgrade date.
- The line must be at least six months old, and you can’t have used an upgrade in the past year.
As always, there’s plenty more fine print, but this promotion should be enough to spurn your living-in-the-past associates into the 21st century with a brand-spankin’ new Palm webOS smartphone on Verizon.
And yes, we have no doubt that this is in response to the lack-luster sales of the Pre Plus and Pixi Plus on Verizon. How this is going to be promoted we aren’t too sure about, but we wouldn’t count on seeing any on-air advertisements for such a targeted promotion.
Thanks, anonymous tipster!
61 Comments
hahahaa now no one can claim first...
I'm pretty sure that posting to prevent anybody from claiming "first" is actually worse than just posting "first." Perhaps something useful, insightful, or witty instead?
I was wondering...could I claim -1? I mean, that way I could be before first...and although I don't have anything 'witty' to say...I could say something 'negative'.
How about imaginary numbers...awww, never mind, I never really grasped them anyway.
first
Awesome. More Pres out in the wild the better. Besides, it is these 'dumbphone' users that become app fiends b\c they've never experienced them before.
This is a stroke of brilliance on Verizon's part because they clear their channel of inventory and drive feature phone users to a larger monthly bill because it requires a data plan.
sarcasm noted!
Verizon - what part don't you get that the reason why people are still using "dumb" phones is because THEY DONT WANT A DATA PLAN and virtually every phone company requires it for a smart phone! Lose the required data plan for this offer and just watch how many people will buy the phone! Heck, I'd even buy one for all my kids!
Unfortuntely by design of the webOS phones, you can't activate them unless you have data access. You can't even enable Wi-Fi before you create the Palm Profile, which is mandatory. (well, outside of homebrew methods, that is..)
You realize that only about 10 phones on their network don't require a data plan of some sort?
webos is one of the easiest phones to use versus any other os. It's better looking and simpler than the iphone and it is way easier to navigate than android. Good move verizon.
This is a fantastic use of excess inventory. Now, a high number of new smart phone users will be Palm users. Way to widen the user base to a whole new market, Verizon!
clear inventory, sell data plans, and take the legs out from under AT&T right before the launch the Pre+.
Not sure this helps Palm, but it should definitely flood the market with webOS phones. Hopefully they have a no-return policy when they go from week-long battery life to charging every day, as is the case with all smartphones...
I wonder if Verizon feels partly responsible for Palm's recent downturn? Or maybe it's their last-ditch effort to help a company that is facing bankruptcy/buyout?
Or they have thousands upon thousands of Pre Plus and Pixi Plus boxes sitting in warehouse across the country.
That's the primary answer. They have a lot they need to move, and they need to do it before AT&T launches.The phones built for Verizon can't be sold by any other carrier.
I keep thinking that Verizon should send one to each person that bought a Pre+ to date, so we each have a spare. We could give it to a friend if they promise to activate it and use it for 6 months!
Talk about viral marketing!
NICE!!
the more webos phones out there the better I mean I go to work in the mornin and 4 out of the seven guys I work with have iphones
LOL Big V doing everything they can to get rid of Pre and Pixi. I don't know if this is good or bad. Either way I think I'll be checkin out that EVO when its drops if Palm doesn't announce something that can match it by than
Palm is just pushing carriers to get rid of the Pre/Pixi because they will probably reveal a new WebOS flagship phone soon, and also the excess amount of Pre/Pixi phones stored away.
If that were the case, why would AT&T be launching the Palm phones that Verizon already has?
I highly doubt Palm would give AT&T the (future) flagship phone. They wouldn't devise a whole new product just for AT&T either so it's smart to just give them Pre Plus etc.
I wonder what this means for the long term relationship between palm and verizon.
Are they just clearing out webos inventory to dump palm altogether?
or.....
Are all these deals to make up for a botched launch and we'll see some new webos hardware on Verizon this summer?
And is at&t at all going to respond??? (prob not... interesting...)
this makes claims that verizon is trying to dump their pre and pixi line to make room for something else look more credible. I love webos and I would love to have a pre plus on sprint...but every time I have gone into to verizon to talk to their sales reps about the pre they just try to push me into a droid, evn thought as far as I can tell it is just an android device with good marketing and not much to differenciate it. It just blows me away that palm did not do a better job of getting vz sells people to buy into webos.
That's because Palm didn't pay VZ to sell their device.
double edged sword. More WebOs in the in consumer hands will be good for WebOS marketshare. But having to spoon feed it to consumers might leave a bad taste in Verizon's mouth. I also have a feeling thatnpeople who aren't interested in smartphones might have a hard time getting over the hump to webOS despite it's intuitve UI.
Another thing is, how much of this increased demographic is actually true "smartphone" users? Like as in, how many of those will actually buy apps, sync everything, surf the web, beyond the basic making a phone call?
I know several people who have a Pre and dont do anything on it, but phone. I have shown them the apps and they download a couple, but are realy not interested. They just want a phone.
I received an upgrade email from Verizon - about the Pre Plus and Pixi Plus. They also mentioned the FREE mobile hotspot as a seling point in the email! I hope this leads to more people giving WebOS a chance. More users = more apps/cool stuff = more users...and so on.
I'll take it.
This is great news-- I've already had at least one friend who was on Verizon mention this to me. If we can't convince people to buy them, then fine, give the damn things away. I just want to see the numbers climb-- get enough people using it, and they'll be able to sell the next version.
Great move for both Palm & Verizon, Palm sales more units, Verizon gets extra money for the data plan.
Anyone know if I could upgrade the one regular phone I have on my account to a Palm Pre Plus and then just switch it to one of the other lines on my account and still be eligible for this promotion? I currently have two Droids and a regular flip phone for my mom and want to actually switch back and forth between the Droid and the Pre Plus.
You should be able to, but I would contact Verizon just in case or go to your local Verizon store.
Yeah I'm used to jumping around and upgrading phones and swapping them back and forth, but with a promotion that's aimed specifically at upgrading dumbphones to smartphones that would totally be me cheating the system and keeping that old dumbphone right where it was heh.
I don't know that I can see this as a good thing. If Verizon is so desperate to unload their inventory, likely at a loss, they may not be willing to buy into the next WebOS device when Palm finally releases one.
I really hope I'm wrong, but this is really looking like the end of the road for Palm.
Really Verizon could offer ALL their phones free with a 2 year contract and still be pretty deep in the black with their monthly plan costs.
I actually could see them eventually doing that with smartphones and bank of the fact that people jump at a free advanced phone without looking at the data plan cost.
Now if they would just let us poor bums that are 16 months into their 2 year contracts upgrade, I would be thrilled. My Curve is getting annoying with all of it's limitations, and I am just dying to switch phones. August can't get here fast enough for me.
"and those that have been hanging on to that Treo 650 for way too long"
FYI, Verizon doesn't carry the Treo 650... it's a GSM phone. Verizon's version is the 700p.
yes verizon had a Treo 650. I still have one activated. I reactivated after I returned the disaster RIM called the Storm.
I think this promotion is more of a policy with the retention department. It might actually work, and get some pre's moving into people's hands. If a new 1 million of out of many millions of verizon customers get a pre, that would be enough to keep Palm afloat. I also think the pre is great retention device from getting people not switching to the iPhone.
Maybe if Verizon store actually pretending that the Pre existed (I didn't even see the Pixi at one store), they wouldn't have to have this fire sale. That said, I was actually eligible this weekend for a new phone, so I went with the Pre.
I saw this day coming about 2 months ago and also was writing an sketch of an article
"Pixi Plus webos the new standard, bye features phones"
I did not uploaded it on any site, maybe it was to early, but not now anymore.
I think this will be a success for everyone--for consumers first because like me, surely there are many others who are stuck in the middle of their 2-year term who'd love to switch to a smartphone, especially if the up-front cost is low, and $1/day for the data plan is a bargain especially now with mobile hotspot thrown in for free! I ordered pre pluses for 3 of my family the day we qualified to upgrade. Verizon and Palm only benefit, too in gaining committed users. Even if the motive for Verizon is to move their inventory, it's their own fault for not marketing Palm phones in ways that could have been more profitable. Their mistake will give a great chance for more people to consider the possibility of making the leap. I will feel free to urge several friends to do it!
Another good idea to move out the Pre inventory would be to offer purchase credit toward the "next" device.
Does everyone also know that they have a promo where if you sign up now, you can get mobile hotspot free for the life of ur contract?
Anyone have a link to this promo? I'm not seeing it anywhere on Verizon's site.
No one at my local VZW store knows about this promo, and the website still show the full price for upgrade (599). Anyone have any more info?
Looking to upgrade my wifes phone to pre plus but cant find a link to this upgrade option.
I don't really care what Verizon's intentions are with this promo...all I know is I was able to use this to upgrade from my Storm 1 (which they must consider a dumb phone, 'cause I know I do.)
So even though my "new every two" wasn't due till November, I was able to Pre up. All is good in my cell phone life now...I hated that POS. Life is good with webOS.
BTW...the reps at the store had no idea how to work the pixie or the pre. They didn't even know about the hotspot feature and they kept trying to stuff the Droid down my throat...Loosers.
Do you guys know anything else about this deal? I contacted a Verizon rep. and they said that this is not an offer they have.
I think I'm calling b.s. on the "Anonymous Tipster" unless we can get this validated. I would be all over this - I couldn't justify paying so much for a pre plus with so many gripes about the hardware, but if I can get it for dirt cheap/free and not be stuck with it for 2 years, then sign me up!
Well it does say that you would have to sign a new 2 year contract. Yet, I'm starting to think that this is bull, seeing as Verizon doesn't seem to know anything about it.
Does anyone know how to do this upgrade? My contract is up in just over a month, but I am very impatient to get the palm pre plus. I've looked on verizons website and can't find anything on it.
Thanks for posting this to precentral. My wife has been looking at my pre+ since I got it and has an LG dare (geez I hate that touchscreen). I just upgraded her by calling the main verizon wireless# (1-800-922-0204) and mentioning the details of this promotion. The rep had to look up a lot of information and confirm how to do it - but I paid 49.99+ tax and upgraded her quite a lot earlier because of this promotion. She was thrilled to hear about it. Should have the phone to activate later this week.
This is definitely a promo that is running in the indirect channel (authorized agents). It's very possible corporate locations are not offering the same deal.
"Buddy Upgrades" or alternate upgrades don't qualify. The handset has to be activated on the line that is upgraded.
yeah i called like tekkshaman(thanks) said and the lady new everything about it and apologized my local store was clueless about it. I qualiflied and have had everything from the omnia to the droid, pre, pixi etc(all out of contract though) on my line and thats recent. I just switched to the brigade(out of contract). I told her there were 3 other stores and i would try the other 2 first then will order on the phone if i have to. Cheers! cant wait to have the pre+ again!
I'm a happy sprint pre owner but today I walked into Verizon to see about upgrading my boyfriend's Razr to a Palm Pre+. The store had no working model of any WebOS device, even the dummy models were in a box on top of a 7 foot tall display case in the back of the store, the Sales Rep asked why specifically I was interested in the Pre+, and then pulls out Nintendo DS looking thing and tells me, "I'm a droid man myself".
I told him, "Well my BF is a 'whatever phone I get him cause I'll have to teach him to use it' Man. So he's getting a webOS device or he'll stay with the dumbphone :)".
So yeah, big ups to Verizon for coaching their staff to promote the Pre+ (sarcasm)
lol nintendo ds looking thing...thats funny stuff, the pre at one of my local stores is busted you can tell its been dropped also they are pretty clueless about most everything webos one lady that worked there claimed to a own pre but didnt know the update for 1.4 was coming out for video recording a few weeks ago. But they sure knew 2.1 was on its way for droid! But there not all bad one guy said he liked webos and he wished they had released the webos devices first and it has been overshadowed to much by android...most everyone at my vz stores own a droid i have heard a few though say they own/or are getting a pre(but not many).
I've been hearing commercials on the radio in the San Francisco Bay Area about an SF area promotion that's essentially a superset of this. If you have a dumbphone, you can upgrade to *any* smartphone right now, no matter where you are in your contract, and they say something like, "That means you can upgrade to a phone like the Droid", and they don't even mention the Pre Plus (drat drat drat).
It's a limited time promotion...I don't remember the end date, if they gave one.
do u still get a free pre/pixi if u purchase it during this promotion?
cuz thats the deal on the vzw website