Palm Pre Untouchable at CTIA 2009!

It appears that Sprint and Palm are being over protective and secretive of their precious Palm Pre at the ongoing CTIA 2009 in Las Vegas.

According to a some reporters, Palm and Sprint are not permitting anyone to touch or hold the Palm Pre with two hands! This strict supervision of the Palm Pre has been observed at other major mobile phone shows including CES and GSMA 2009.

Here's Bonnie Cha's frustrated comment on this issue:

Sprint, Palm, what is the deal with not being able to hold and use the Pre with my own two hands? At CES, GSMA 2009, and now CTIA, the companies have required that a Palm or Sprint representative have at least one hand on the smartphone at all times even when we're just trying to take pictures and we're not allowed to touch certain functionalities, and I just don't get it."

Sprint and Palm released separate responses to this isuue:

Sprint:

"Palm Pre is still in development, and we want to make sure we show the device in the best light.  We have several demo'ers onsite who have been through a few hours of traning to provide a robust view of the device."

Palm:

"We aren't trying to be precious or anything. The device simply isn't available yet, and we want to make sure that no particular person gets more time with it than others. It's challenging to control that, and the overall experience, in a room full of people clammoring to touch it. Overall, it's really about fairness."  

We can certainly understand the reporters' frustration of not being able to fully handle the Palm Pre because it's one of the most anticipated device for this year. However, we also understand that the Palm Pre is not yet fully developed so we can live with the tight supervision. Sprint and Palm are also pinning their hopes on this handset so they are doing all they can to ensure its success.

[Via: Business Insider]