Palm hit a milestone today: two million Palm Centros sold since the Palm OS smartphone was introduced. In fact, they hit the one million milestone just a few short months ago. Amazing and a good example of why price does matter in mobile technology. Actually, it’s two million examples, but why nitpick?
Here’s a smartphone that you won’t pay over $99 for after the standard two-year commitment and subsidy. In fact, I’ve seen the device on sale at brick-and-mortar retailers for as little as $49. A year or two ago if you had said to me "I think we’ll see a full-featured smartphone for under $100", I would said "You’re right, but what year do expect to see that in: 2010 or 2011?"
Why raise the "price matters" argument? Because it emphasizes the backwards trend we’re witnessing in the netbook market. Even the original $200 Asus became a $399 device for most… new models are even higher and that’s going to hurt consumer adoption to a degree. Congrats to Palm, however. They take a fair amount of ribbing on their product line these days, but you have to give them credit: they not only saw the potential for a low-cost smartphone, they got such a product to market. Two million of them to be precise.
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