PalmOne Goes Retail?
from the but-why? dept
PalmOne (and before it, just plain old Palm) has often been compared to Apple. There are certainly a lot of similarities, so maybe it’s not that surprising that PalmOne has decided to (quietly) open their own retail stores. While they’ve apparently opened up 11 stores, they’re only now making a big deal by opening a “flagship” store at the Philadelphia airport. Who knew that people went to airports to buy expensive digital organizers? It’s more likely, of course, that they view these stores the same way Sony views their own stores, as a walk-through advertisement for their products, rather than as a place where they expect to make a direct return on investment. As such, airports might not be a bad place to put them. You get a lot of business travelers, many of whom may have some time to kill before they get on their flight.
Comments on “PalmOne Goes Retail?”
A few interesting things about something
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Not a bad place?
Based on the prices you pay at the airport vs. what you pay at the same brand store not in an airport I would guess that the lease on an airport location has to be at least double what it would cost to be in a high-end shopping mall.
I like to peruse Brookstone and other stores while I’m at the airport, but I seldom ever buy anything there because their too damn expensive.
And when it comes to a device like a PDA, I’m going to be doing my shopping online or in a store like BestBuy, CompUSA or Circuit City where I can do side-by-side comparisons with the competition.
Re: Not a bad place?
As I said, not a bad place for *advertising purposes*. I don’t think they expect people to buy them – just browse.