How 30 Apps Could Have Been A Pre-Cursor To Success, Rather Than A Curse

There has been a lot of speculation as to whether or not the Palm Pre is a hit and selling up to expectations. If you read this blog and follow me on Twitter you have probably gleaned that I love my Pre and think it is a spectacular device. That said, I am enormously frustrated by the lack of any new applications since its launch more than a month ago. It seems that I am compelled to check the "beta" App Catalog multiple times a day on the odd chance that finally something new will miraculously appear. (In truth, I am wishing hard that the next new app to emerge will be the Amazon Kindle app - without Orwell's 1984, of course...)

TIMING IS EVERYTHING...

At the beginning it seemed like things were on track. There were 18 apps in the catalog at launch, and within a matter of days it grew to 30 apps. Then, NOTHING. For weeks and weeks and weeks the app reservoir has been dry. Barren. APPallingly inactive. All things considered, if the Palm team were aware that the population was going to be limited only 30 apps for the foreseeable future, I think they would have been much better served by doling them out two or three a week until they were ready to open the app floodgates. Even if the total number of apps remained small I think the Pre would have maintained much more continuous momentum, and the related "buzz" and sales demand, if there had been a constant flow of new apps emerging in the catalog.

LIKE CARLY SIMON SAYS... ANTICIPATION!

Yes, buzz and demand can be created by anticipation... to a point. However, after too long a wait I believe the risk is that anticipation unfulfilled leads to frustration, or even worse, boredom, and then ultimately a lack of interest. With constant competition from the iPhone, new Blackberries, and a new Android Hero, Palm should be doing everything in its power to maintain the excitement and momentum that a steady stocking of apps would bring.

IS THE STRATEGY APPARENT?

What do you think? Is a slow steady rise more effective than a big quick launch followed by a flat line? How would you have handled the thin initial supply of apps if the Pre were your product? Have you had similar experiences or challenges with other product launches?

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Re-Kindling My Love of the Sunday Times

I am a New Yorker. I have lived in Florida for the past 15 years, but as the saying goes, you can take the boy out of the city, but you can't take the city out of the boy. As a New Yorker, I was weaned on The New York Times and grew up in Queens with the ritual of the Sunday Times as deeply ingrained as a cream cheese "schmear" on a fresh baked bagel. The "Times" was such an important part of our lives that in Social Studies class at Forest Hills High School we even learned the "art" of folding the New York Times into a thin vertical quarter, making it easy to read it with one hand on the subway (leaving your other hand free to hang on for dear life!)

A Section At A Times...

The Sunday Times is an entity in and of itself. Thick, heavy and filled with "sections" rich with meaty, pithy content. Every true New Yorker has their favorite section: Sunday Business, Arts and Leisure, Travel, Book Review, The New York Times Magazine, Sports Sunday, Real Estate, Week In Review, Sunday Styles, even Obituaries... everyone has a section they pull out and read first. Everyone has their own Sunday Times routine. My Dad's started Saturday evening, when, on the way home from dining out Saturday night, he would always stop at the corner newsstand to get the early Sunday edition, usually delivered by 10pm Saturday night.

Sunday, Bloody Sunday...

When I lived and worked in Manhattan, my own Sunday Times routine often started with brunch and a good Bloody Mary (or two). I'd organize the sections into my preferred reading order and dive in, starting with Arts and Leisure, and ending with Sunday Sports and the Magazine. If I was pressed for time, I would set aside (and never get to) the less essential sections. The comfort of the Sunday Times ritual was such that even when I moved north to Rockland County, and years later south, to Florida, I had the Sunday Times delivered to my home and did my best to continue the tradition.

Not So Special Delivery

In time, I realized that Sunday Home Delivery of The Times outside of New York was a less than reasonable facsimile for the experience I knew and loved. The "Florida" version of the paper did not contain all the Sections and delivery service was sporadic at best. It just wasn't the same and before long I canceled my subscription, and, as a rabid consumer of online news both on my PC and mobile phone, I more or less forgot about the good old "Times."

Enter The Kindle

Since getting the Kindle 2 when it first came out, I have used it to read books and documents I send to it, but I had not tried reading any newspapers... until today. This morning I was poking around the Kindle Store when I realized I could download the Sunday Edition of the New York Times for only $.75, a fraction of what I used to pay for the Home Delivery version. So I did, and it was great. For the first time in years I enjoyed a lazy Sunday morning sitting on the couch, sipping coffee and reading all my favorite sections of the Sunday Times. I am already a big fan of ebooks in general and the Kindle specifically, and I found the electronic Sunday Times experience every bit as enjoyable as the papers of my past. I now know what my new Sunday routine is going to be. Time to break out the Bloody Mary mix!

How about you? Have you tried reading the Sunday Times or other Newspapers on the Kindle? What did you think? If you don't have a Kindle, you can get one here.