.KEYWORD holiday
.FLYINGHEAD GIFT IDEAS
.TITLE Palm rolls out fun holiday promotions
.FEATURE
.SUMMARY The holiday shopping season is upon us, so it’s time to start coming up with gift ideas. Contributing Editor Steve Niles is ready to help by pointing out the great promotions being offered on Palm OS handhelds by your favorite industry leaders.
.AUTHOR Steve Niles
It was still a good two weeks before Halloween when I walked into the local mall to discover an elaborate gold and green Christmas tree display. I hold the belief that not a note of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer should be played before the Thanksgiving dinner dishes have been washed and put away, but the holiday marketing gods have other ideas. Seasonal good cheer becomes part of our diet earlier and earlier every year. If my calculations are correct, any time after Labor Day is now fair game.
Of course, this holiday season will be fortified by the fact that grotesque consumerism in the name of bolstering the economy has become a patriotic duty. This year, our stockings will be red and white and blue as well. It’s not about the giving or the receiving. It’s about the spending. Which is fine with me, if it justifies my buying myself a DVD player.
As the holiday shopping season begins to kick into high gear, Palm has already announced its first round of special demonstrations and promotions to get you out to the stores to buy for all the good little boys and girls on your list.
.H1 Free expansion card
First out of Santa’s sack we find that with the purchase of a Palm m125, m500, or m505 handheld, you can mail in for a free 16MB Panasonic SD (Secure Digital) expansion card and $250 worth of coupons for additional expansion products. The promotion runs through January 7, 2002.
SD cards are postage stamp-sized cards that can back up data, increase memory, and add content, such as games, ebooks, and reference materials. They fit into the expansion card slot built into the new Palm m125, Palm m500, and Palm m505. This expansion technology is the smallest and lightest way to expand the capabilities of any handheld.
This is a mail-in offer, so you’ll have to submit the redemption form (available at participating retails stores), the original UPC barcode from the Palm handheld box, and a copy of the sales receipt dated between November 1, 2001 and January 7, 2002. The envelope must be postmarked by February 7, 2002.
Palm will then send you the free Panasonic SD expansion card and the coupon book. The coupon book includes savings on expansion products from partners such as Corex, Cross, FranklinCovey, Franklin Electronic Publishers, Handmark, Hewlett-Packard Company, Intel, Pocket Express, Rand McNally, Northstar Mobile, MidWest PCB Designs, and Novatel Wireless. The offer is only valid, where permitted, in the United States, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, and Canada.
.H1 Palm m505 price reduction
Palm has also lowered the price on its Palm m505 color handheld, resulting in an estimated street price of $399 (previously $449). To learn more about the Palm m505, check out Chris Phillips’ review in the June 2001 issue of PalmPower at http://www.palmpower.com/issues/issue200106/m500001.html.
.H1 Demo Days
While you’re out on your shopping excursions, keep your eye out for Palm’s "Demo Days" promotion. To encourage shoppers to try out the dual-expansion capabilities of the new Palm handheld models, in-store and sidewalk demonstrations are being set up across the country. Demo Days will take place from early November to mid-December, providing shoppers with hands-on experience with the devices as well as personal product instruction and education. The in-store demonstrations will be held in 150 key retail locations in the top 25 metropolitan markets. You’ll be able to spot the sidewalk demonstrations because they’ll be marked by Palm branded vehicles and banners. They’ll take place in high-traffic locations in the top 12 markets.
So, just what is dual-expansion capability? Well, I’ve already mentioned the SD and MultiMediaCard expansion slot. The other piece of this puzzle is the Universal Connector. Palm has standardized the connector, normally used to attach the handheld to the HotSync cradle, across the three newest models and all future product releases. This makes it easier to invest in the large variety of accessories that attach to the connector, such as the Kodak PalmPix camera (at http://www.kodak.com/US/en/digital/cameras/palmPix/), the Minstrel m500 Modem (at http://www.novatelwireless.com/palmtop/minstrelm500.html), and the Navman GPS (at http://www.navman-mobile.com).
You can use both expansion features at once, so, for example, you can insert the PalmPak Travel Card: Rand McNally Road Atlas into the expansion slot, while at the same time you connect the Navman GPS receiver to the Universal Connector. You can then track your movements on the displayed maps.
.H1 Other deals
There are a variety of other promotions being offered at the Palm Store on Palm’s Web site at http://store.palm.com/Catalog/promotions/promoindex.asp. These deals are only available until December 1, 2001, so you’d better act fast.
For example, you can get a Palm m505, a travel charger, and the Palm Travel Card for only $419, a savings of $59.90. You could get the Professional Bundle, which includes a Palm m125, the Slim Leather Case, and the PalmPak Dictionary/Thesaurus Card for just $269.95, a savings of $43.95. Then there’s the Fun and Games Bundle, which provides three snap-on faceplates and the PalmPak Game Card with the Palm m125. This is available for $249, a savings of $59.80.
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.H1 Visor deals
Handspring is running a bunch of promotions as well. You can check them out at http://www.handspring.com/promos/. Most of these include free accessories with the purchase of various Visor models. The biggest deal of all, though, is on the Visor Prism, which is now $299, brought down from $399. The Visor Prism features a 65,536 color screen. You can learn more about it in Claire Pieterek’s review in the November 2000 issue of PalmPower at http://www.palmpower.com/issues/issue200011/prism001.html.
.H1 Happy shopping
It’s never too early to start your holiday shopping. I know. My Christmas list has been sitting in my Palm handheld’s Memo Pad since June. One of these days, I’m going to have to start paying attention to it, if not to make my friends and relatives happy, then at least to bring a smile to Alan Greenspan’s face.
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.H1 Product availability and resources
For Chris Phillips’ review of the Palm m500 and Palm m505 in the June 2001 issue of PalmPower, visit http://www.palmpower.com/issues/issue200106/m500001.html.
For more information on the Kodak PalmPix camera, visit http://www.kodak.com/US/en/digital/cameras/palmPix/.
For more information on the Minstrel m500 Modem, visit http://www.novatelwireless.com/palmtop/minstrelm500.html.
For more information on the Navman GPS, visit http://www.navman-mobile.com.
For a complete list of promotions at Palm Store, visit http://store.palm.com/Catalog/promotions/promoindex.asp.
For a complete list of Handspring promotions, visit http://www.handspring.com/promos/.
For Claire Pieterek’s review of the Visor Prism in the November 2000 issue of PalmPower, visit http://www.palmpower.com/issues/issue200011/prism001.html.
For more information on Palm handhelds, visit http://www.palm.com.
.H1 Easy, flexible article reprints
ZATZ now offers a quick, easy, flexible and inexpensive way to use article reprints in your marketing and promotion efforts. You can now get article reprints for a one-time fee of only $200. For details, visit http://mediakit.zatz.com/reprints.
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.BIO
.DISCUSS http://powerboards.zatz.com/cgi-bin/webx?50@@.ee6fa82
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