Are dummy phones turning away potential customers?
 

Are dummy phones turning away potential customers?

http://www.precentral.net/sites/prec.../dummy-pre.jpgWalk into just about any Best Buy or Radio Shack The Shack and youll see a full compliment of smartphones sitting there awaiting your perusal. In the section dedicated to Sprint, youll find the Palm Pre, but if you try and do any of those crazy gestures youve seen online, youre going to be sorely disappointed by the display phones dummy status.
Cathy Stauffer of Gerson Lehrman Group (a consulting firm) brought up the issue, making the interesting argument that a smartphones like the Pre or iPhone are “highly experiential devices,” i.e. you have to truly play with one to understand why youd want one. I'm thinking back, and I seem to remember an awful lot of Palm phones being dummy phones when on display outside of Sprint stores. If the only place you can do that is at a Sprint store, then Best Buy and The Shack customers are going to be left out in the cold. And standing right next to them just begging to help keep them warm? A full live working iPhone.
Stauffer is right: Palm needs for customers to be able to experience the Pre and understand what makes it unique and not “just another iPhone killer wannabe.” That means getting their hands on the phone in person wherever possible, and better advertising that (as the iPhone ads do) shows what makes the phone special.


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Re: Are dummy phones turning away potential customers?
 

you know is crazy, you would think they would put a good phone out so that costumers get a great experience the first time...........

Re: Are dummy phones turning away potential customers?
 

much agreed, with a ppc it is a big dollar item and they should have a display of all big dollar items that work... it would be like sitting in a car without a motor for a test drive and to get the feel of the vehicle... doesnt make sense to me.... i hate the dummy phone aspect and never have nor will like it.

Re Are dummy phones turning away potential customers
 

my point exactly, makes you wonder how some of this people keep their jobs.......... thats just common sense....

Re: Re Are dummy phones turning away potential customers
 

anything to save them money.... they know that people will still buy it and see it on youtube and such so they arent too worried.... think about it, in technology the people that buy it first day of release or even first couple weeks of release are the real advertisers of the products... ahve you noticed that the original product is alwayas better than the 2nd productions and fourth on... look at the yellow tint in the screens of the htc devices that come out later....

Re: Are dummy phones turning away potential customers?
 

but sometimes later generations are better cuz they work out the kinks of the previous ones

Re: Are dummy phones turning away potential customers?
 

true but they than also have more time to make cheaper parts thus cheaper quality.

Re Are dummy phones turning away potential customers
 

true true therefore we can never get a perfect phone :sad:

Re: Re Are dummy phones turning away potential customers
 

exactly.... touche babe..... touche

Re: Are dummy phones turning away potential customers?
 

i personally think its bull shit cause i work for radioshack and when customers come in asking about a phone i simply tell them to visit sprint store and come back and let me know which one you like and then i make it seem like we have an EXTREMELY CHEAP PRICE.. when it's only like a 20 - 40 dollar difference.. yeah i ****ing hate having to do that.. a lot of my commision is lost cause of that.. but one thing that i hate the most is when i see the same people a week later asking me questions about there phone... after they didn't buy it from me...

Re Are dummy phones turning away potential customers
 

hahahaha, yeah, thats messed up. i would be pissed.

Re Are dummy phones turning away potential customers
 

Sprint stores are weird when it comes to that out here , Some of them you will walk into an all the phones you are able to play with, Then some only certain ones you can but the PDA an Smartphones you cant do nothing with lol !!!!! So i think they are right probably does turn people away from buying a phone if you cant use it at least once!!!

Re: Are dummy phones turning away potential customers?
 

plus hella people come in to see the iphone..(we don't sell) and the pre (no live models) and it's hard to get people interested in all the new tech that's out without them getting a taste... it's like telling them that it's sick and then not being able to prove it... on top of that.. i sell t-mobile but reception out where i'm at sucks so sprint and att sell best... the worst part of it all is i BRAG about how sick HTC is.. and yet i don't sell any phones at all.. i only tell them to check it out at sprint and get to moving on from the iphone... it's terrible... i get 35 for new activations, and 8 for upgrade... and for added features to an account when those activations are in process gets me an extra 5.. i lose HELLA MONEY DAMIT!!!... lol..

Re: Are dummy phones turning away potential customers?
 

I agree that it should be a standard across the board. The Sprint Store I go to, which is pretty nice usually has a working model. They did with TP + many others and they do w/Pre right now. I did not see a TP2 last time I was there. Not a dummy, not phone, not a one, not at all. lol, a little Dr. S j/m

Re: Are dummy phones turning away potential customers?
 

well if I walked into a dealership and wanted to drive a new vette i would hope it had a motor and trans to be able to test drive an possible investment. same thing with a phone, you know how many phones i have taken back after only a few weeks of use because i diddnt get to play it. well it waste money for the company cause now they have a used phone they have to deal with and they might have lost a customer for life cause their phone ruined their rep with me.