Verizon advertising says Droid is for men, Pre is for women (video)
By Vlad Savov 
posted February 4th 2010 8:11AM
posted February 4th 2010 8:11AM
posted February 4th 2010 8:11AM
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When did it became women-ish to have a Pre ?
@Renal who knows... it sucks the Pre has such a crappy marketing effort behind it. I own one, and everyone who tries out my phone is instantly sold. Why Verizon and Palm have given it's public image to awkward women is beyond me...
Hopefully the AT&T WebOS phone will be MANLY.
***engage Tim Allen-style grunts***
Well, it WAS exclusive to Sprint for a while...
@Renal
Who is the Pixi marketed to then
btw I liked when you had to click to see the replies to the first commenters
If they really want to market the phone to women, why did they not ask Palm for a pink version? That's been standard practice for years.
@CapnShiner If they did I hope Rubinstein punched them in the face
@CapnShiner
It is almost Valentines Day... And seeing how women never really get men anything, Everything is being marketed towards women. It will be like this through Mothers Day, and then fade when Fathers Days comes.
Ugh. Sure, I bet the Centro sold good with moms but this is just ridiculous. Nothing wrong with ads subtly targeting moms but by going all out like this Verizon is thoughtlessly ruining Palms brand permanently.
@kopmis
IDK. I think Palm started ruining the brand by creating a phone and naming it the Pixi. If they didn't want to be labeled as a product for females, they should choose such feminine names.
@hey
... obviously, I meant that they shouldn't choose such feminine names, not should.
@hey Dunno how subtle the Pixi name is but I always felt they kept it at a reasonable level. When most companies want to make feminine products they usually slap on some sellout fashion house/pop artists name on it, color it pink/gold and ship it with a ridiculous looking pouch. I feel like they indeed are branding towards women, but still keeping it on such a level that most men wouldn't feel ashamed to have one.
the ads really will decrease the sales I think. Just think of it, I'm a guy and I have a Pre, and hell 3D games are clearly not for moms.
but for a normal person like me who doesnt know the Palm Pre will simply say, "well, I don't like a phone that is built for moms!"
what a lousy marketing campaign... Oh Palm how you shot yourself in the foot. You've greated a great device that is in many ways better than you're most obvious competitors (Iphone, Droid), yet your own marketing campaign failed to show consumers what the device is capable of. Now you allow Verizon to paint it as a "Momma's Device." I'm sure Mrs. Johnson will be very interested in downloading those 3D games you've worked so feverishly to get into your app catalog, invest in ur precious homebrew community. I'm sure she can't wait to experience the upcoming Flash support and WebOS 1.4 updates. Y don't you market this thing to those who will appreciate the features?
@mhunterjr Any company who signs on to such a big network as Verizon probably has no say on what ads they roll
@kopmis true, so it's up to palm to make sure that the public knows who would benefit from havin this phone.
@mhunterjr
take that anger and direct it to Verizon, it's really their marketing choice.
It's obvious that Verizon has invested A LOT into the Droid, and with the great webOS devices coming along, they want to advertise them while not undermining their billions spent on the marketing for Droid.
Hey whatever, apparently it just means I'm in touch with my feminine side.
@DizWhiz It's been a long time since I've touched the feminine side of anything :(
verizon and palm hugely missed the mark on this one...just makes no sense at all, palm has its history as a business device
hey guys can you fix the login for commenting, anyway regarding the pre's Verizon commercial I don't think it's a bad thing really. It's clearly targeting men to go check it out and get it for their spouse or girlfriend for Valentine's day in turn exposing them to the device in turn possibly turning a profit for him and her.
My wife is a "minimalist" and she had the Centro and a Treo before that. She didn't want the pre or the pixi but after she played around with mine a bit she was completely sold.
Palm gave up their business side when they sold off Palm OS to Access and outsourced their hardware development to HTC. Now they just focus on their consumer-oriented webOS.
I could understand this *maybe* if it were an ad campaign being specifically aired during programs aiming at the, well, suburban mom demographic, with a more generalized ad campaign running at other times, but why would they want to shoehorn themselves into this tiny little niche?
Granted, the adverts for the DROID have been rather stereotypically male-oriented, but seriously, if this is the image Verizon's going to project for the Pre then it'll be small wonder if guys decide they'd rather not own a device that's the phonic equivalent of holding their wife's purse.
Where are the unnecessary stealth fighters?
All I hear them saying is, "cliche gifts (chocolate, flowers, etc) are in the past. Get that special someone a cool phone instead." It's not like they're saying only women can buy this phone. They're saying if she likes being organized, the Pre is the way to help her. Why is that bad, again?
@daaper subtle undertones in the commercial are sexist. I think that's the point that's being made.
@theRise
Really? I didn't see it that way at all. I looked at it as them saying that those sexist times are over and acknowledging that women have real schedules and things to do in their life, not sit around hoping for guy to give them chocolates and a card. More like a "give them something they can actually use in their busy life" type message. Oh well...
The problem comes down to Palm's advertising and naming scheme. The Pre commercials were very feminine, and let's face it, "Pixi" is not very gender-neutral.
It might behoove Palm to man-up their advertising for the Pre. I'm not sure any amount of machismo will overcome the "Pixi" name, however.
Signed,
a proud, straight, Pre-using male
They need a manly phone, with a manly name, and most importantly, manly-sized keyboard buttons!
Palm Piston, anyone?
@Elranzer They need some manly specs to start.
if you pay attention to the Sprint commercials, it always shows a lady using Pre / Pixi now. Apparently this is the demographic they decided to target.
little did we know "pre" is short for "pretty", eh?
I hate gender profiling. So sexist.
It's always been a phone targeted at women/girls. Just look at the keyboard. What's surprising here is not the fact that Palm is only targeting women, but the explicit recognition of this by Verizon.
My girlfriend has a Pre. At work the guy to the left of me has a pre, the girl to the right has a Droid. I think this type of gender based marketing might make buyers feel like they made a poor choice. As far as customer satisfaction goes, every one of the people I mentioned love their phones.
I'm waiting for an HTC Bravo before I get rid of my G1. But i'd love a Pre too.
it's not like verizon did this without palms okay. Palm hinted since the beginning the pre and pixi are were designed with woman in mind. Hopefully this means we'll be getting some Webos with "webos" soon.
@ACMartin mint I like that ''webos'' and true I aree
I don't mind them marketing to women the Pre is awesome and every one should have one, but im going to be pissed if people start heckling me for having a chick phone!
@FbRider Unfortunately, stupid people will start doing that because of ads like this.
Um, the Droid is fucking ugly. Why can't the cooler more expensive looking or be manly as well? It looks like a pebble. Not a cardboard box. Pebbles are manly enough. :D
I have always felt that the Palm Pre & Pixi was mainly targeted to women(imo).
@Denimourson
I never really saw that with the Pre. But with the Pixi, yea you got me there ...
Every time I see a Verizon commercial I dislike them even more. It's sad to see the biggest network controlled by goons :(
Droid is for men, Pre is for women and iPhone is for everyone...
sorry i have to say it
@viclauyyc ...for everyone... in between?
(joking!)
@grellanl
the between market is kinda tiny, i have to say.
@viclauyyc the iPhone is awesome, its just not for me. The n900 is what I'm interested in.
Not on Verizon but if I was I think I would take a Droid over a Pre anyday. I kind of like it's square-like design. But then again I don't usually go for the stuff advertisers like to push on womenfolk anyway.
Sprint has positioned the Pre similarly in their commercials as well.
I think the most offensive part is the slogan, "The Smartphone smart enough to for mom." I think that roughly translates to, "The smartphone smart enough to make up for mom's stupidity." As in, "it's so easy, even a woman can use it!" But cleverly disguised as propping up "mom's" intelligence.
@(Unverified)
Why do I show up as unverified?
@sonicyoof,
I do not agree. The Palm Pre is a smart phone, but it is also a sophisticated mobile computing device. Its capabilities are incredible but yet elegantly designed into an intuitive, easy and fun to use interface. Verizon wanted to convey the fun, friendly, and useful aspects of the phone.
The Verizon ad is addressed to "mothers" who may have thought about smart phones as intricate technology devices. It is clear from the advertising that the ad is targeting mothers (and not men or women, boys or girls!).
Conclusion: This is a very good Ad; it should broaden the appeal of the Palm Pre phone.