Ampers & Dot

I try to steer clear of writing about marketing here (because that’s what I do during the day) but there’s been one big topic bothering me for too long not to address: product launches.

As a total gadget geek, I do my best to always know when the newest and gadgetiest devices are coming out. I read lots of blogs and forums, and go to networking events, and even email and talk to industry experts whenever I can to stay ahead of the curve (I’ll never argue that I have a healthy interest in gadgets… it’s really almost problematic). Over the years of tracking gadgets, I’ve watched dozens of products come and go.

Usually, at least with the cooler gadgets, there’s a fair amount of online buzz long before the device is ever released into the public. For example: any upcoming Windows Mobile device usually has WinMo enthusiasts talking in forums for about six months before it ever hits shelves. With any gadget, the big tech blogs usually speculate on a release date far before one is actually announced. This gives the fans something exciting to read and speculate about to pass the time until the gadget is actually real. (It’s a strange obsession, I know.)

But that’s where things get screwy: launch dates. Why do we have to speculate? Shouldn’t we know? Shouldn’t the company selling the gadget promote the date on which you can actually buy it?

Most recently, there’s the hype around the upcoming Palm Pre. The Pre actually looks pretty cool. It’s this season’s iPhone competitor featuring a brand new OS, obligatory touch screen, and a very Palm-like keyboard. Check out more details on the official Palm Pre site here. Also, while on that site, please notice the “Coming Soon” text on the left. That’s right: we don’t know when the Pre is going to be publicly available. Why not?

Honestly, I have no idea. There’s actually a LOT of speculation around the actual launch date, including a hint from this morning that it might launch as soon as NEXT WEEK. We could be a week away and not know it? That seems ridiculous. Wouldn’t Palm want to get people excited - maybe build some buzz about an upcoming launch… maybe some marketing to build the hype? Well they’re trying… but without a launch date.

See, I think launch dates work. They get people excited, build the online and offline buzz, and get people to line up for your product (which perpetuates the hype and gains even more news coverage). Like the iPhone. (Of course Apple did this right, marketing is one of the things it does best.) With each iPhone there was substantial buzz around the launch date - to the point that people stood in line for DAYS.

When the Google Phone launched, it too had a firm launch date - and people lined up! Overall, the G1 sales have been rather low, but there was still enough hype around the launch to get crowds lining up. Why isn’t Palm doing this with the Pre? Seriously, I want to know!

We could be five days away from the Pre launch. If this were a new iPhone, fanboys would already be packing up their camping gear to wait in line. This is supposed to be Palm’s chance at a resurrection - you’d think they’d let people know about it.

So here’s my question: does a gadget get more coverage without a launch date - having fans and blogs constantly speculate? Or is it better to have a firm date, announce the date, and have people stand in line to build the hype?

Maybe it’s that I’m just impatient, but I think that having a real, confirmed date is just much more exciting. What do you think?