Goodbye to sub-branding
Tag: Tungsten Zire
The release of palm TX marks palm's first step in moving away from the sub-branding and concentrate on the newly purchased $30m Palm brand name. To me, it just feel weird.
I still remember the meaning behind Tungsten and Zire sub-brand name.
Zire is the sub-brand name for the consumer product line. "It basically came out of the mouths of our test subjects. Like desire, it's whatever you want this thing to be,"
Tungsten is the sub-brand name for the professional product line. "Not only is Tungsten an element, it also has a cool connotation. Tungsten is the material in a light bulb which is the universal symbol of innovation."
These were the words from Page Murray, VP Marketing, palmOne (now Palm). The article is written back in June 2004 and can be found here. I find the article a very good read for anyone who is into marketing.
Tungsten and Zire are well thought of name. In fact, the sub-brand Tungsten and Zire still engrave deeply inside the minds of many palm users today. How many sites do you see the mention of Tungsten X? Or Zire 22? There isn't any Tungsten X or Zire 22. There is only TX and Z22.
It is sad to see the 2 sub-brand name go away just to make way for the Palm brand name. Tungsten and Zire sub-brand, and maybe LifeDrive and Treo too, means a lot to consumer. When I want to shop for a palm for office work, I know that Tungsten series is my best bet. If I want to get a lower end budget palm for normal usage, I'll get a Zire. If I want entertainment, it will be LifeDrive. If I want a PDA phone, it got to be Treo.
Simple as that. They are wonderful sub-brand name. Sometimes, I don't understand the reason behind dropping the sub-brand name. Palm is your brand name, if your sub-brand name is popular, so will your brand name too. When people think of Tungsten, they would think of palm. If so, why the need to remove the sub-brand name?
What will happen next? Palm has too many different product line for different group of consumer. If Palm really walk away from the sub-brand name, there might be some confusion especially to non-palm users who want to buy a palm. Just like HP PPC. If you never read the news article about HP PPC, would you know which is the latest high end HP PPC model? Don't ask me, I'm not into PPC.
I wish Palm would retain the Tungsten and Zire sub-brand, together with LifeDrive and Treo. In fact, I wish they could come out with a few more product line. I've always hope that Palm would give Tungsten E2 and Zire 72 another sub-brand name. These 2 palm are different from their respective sub-brand. Zire 72 is a PDA with camera and Tungsten E2 is a budget yet powerful series.
My my.... that will mean 6 product line. Well, no 1 product fits everyone. Its good to have different product lines to suit the different needs of consumer. So long as it doesn't confuse the customers or make the company lose focus.
PS: While google-ing for some info for this article, I came across this article from palminfocenter. Notice at the bottom, they mentioned that palmone also trademarked the word "Veld". That was 2 years ago. Till now, no sign of any product by the name Veld by palm. Anyone got any idea what happened?
The release of palm TX marks palm's first step in moving away from the sub-branding and concentrate on the newly purchased $30m Palm brand name. To me, it just feel weird.
I still remember the meaning behind Tungsten and Zire sub-brand name.
Zire is the sub-brand name for the consumer product line. "It basically came out of the mouths of our test subjects. Like desire, it's whatever you want this thing to be,"
Tungsten is the sub-brand name for the professional product line. "Not only is Tungsten an element, it also has a cool connotation. Tungsten is the material in a light bulb which is the universal symbol of innovation."
These were the words from Page Murray, VP Marketing, palmOne (now Palm). The article is written back in June 2004 and can be found here. I find the article a very good read for anyone who is into marketing.
Tungsten and Zire are well thought of name. In fact, the sub-brand Tungsten and Zire still engrave deeply inside the minds of many palm users today. How many sites do you see the mention of Tungsten X? Or Zire 22? There isn't any Tungsten X or Zire 22. There is only TX and Z22.
It is sad to see the 2 sub-brand name go away just to make way for the Palm brand name. Tungsten and Zire sub-brand, and maybe LifeDrive and Treo too, means a lot to consumer. When I want to shop for a palm for office work, I know that Tungsten series is my best bet. If I want to get a lower end budget palm for normal usage, I'll get a Zire. If I want entertainment, it will be LifeDrive. If I want a PDA phone, it got to be Treo.
Simple as that. They are wonderful sub-brand name. Sometimes, I don't understand the reason behind dropping the sub-brand name. Palm is your brand name, if your sub-brand name is popular, so will your brand name too. When people think of Tungsten, they would think of palm. If so, why the need to remove the sub-brand name?
What will happen next? Palm has too many different product line for different group of consumer. If Palm really walk away from the sub-brand name, there might be some confusion especially to non-palm users who want to buy a palm. Just like HP PPC. If you never read the news article about HP PPC, would you know which is the latest high end HP PPC model? Don't ask me, I'm not into PPC.
I wish Palm would retain the Tungsten and Zire sub-brand, together with LifeDrive and Treo. In fact, I wish they could come out with a few more product line. I've always hope that Palm would give Tungsten E2 and Zire 72 another sub-brand name. These 2 palm are different from their respective sub-brand. Zire 72 is a PDA with camera and Tungsten E2 is a budget yet powerful series.
My my.... that will mean 6 product line. Well, no 1 product fits everyone. Its good to have different product lines to suit the different needs of consumer. So long as it doesn't confuse the customers or make the company lose focus.
PS: While google-ing for some info for this article, I came across this article from palminfocenter. Notice at the bottom, they mentioned that palmone also trademarked the word "Veld". That was 2 years ago. Till now, no sign of any product by the name Veld by palm. Anyone got any idea what happened?
posted by DK at
5:23 PM
3 Comments:
In my personal opinion, Palm had to consolidate its sub-brands, as it has lost substantial market share since its peak. As the Palm brand is no longer as popular and well-known, sub-brand will only serve to dilute its Palm branding further.
During its peak, Palm was synonymous to PDA (Personal Digital Assistant). But now, if you talk about PDA, people are likely referring to PPC (Pocket PC).
As a Palm loyalist, it is a sad situation but this is mainly due to Palm not responding to market trends.
Palm didn't give us colour screens when it was ubiquitous in PPC. Similarly, Palm didn't give us Wi-Fi until it was also ubiquitous in PPC.
This had obviously caused many new PDA users going for the PPC solution. This has also caused some Palm users to switch to PPC.
I still prefer and support Palm products. Hope their current action is not too little, too late.
By
Cobalt Paladin, at 12:19 PM
I believe palm's drop in popularity is not due to the sub-branding but rather, like what you mentioned, the slowness in reacting to market trend.
I do not see how sub-brands will kill the brand itself.
When someone mentioned the word Tungsten, people will think of PalmOne (or rather Palm now)
By
DK, at 12:48 PM
The drop in popularity has nothing to do with sub-branding, which I agree. However, by continuing to have sub-brands, my point is that it'll just dilute Palm branding which it can't afford now. This may be why Palm is consolidating all its sub-brands so all it products will be presented as one united front, a Palm PDA. At least, that way, new users will not be faced by different branding like Tungsten, Zire or Palm and feel confused. Usually, only Palm supporters can tell that Tungsten and Zire are the sub-brands of Palm. Now, new users just have to buy Palm PDA with different model name.
For the sake of all Palm supporters, like myself, I hope this works.
By
Cobalt Paladin, at 5:18 PM
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