PDA Decline due to terrible Marketing Stratergies

[rohanch]

I think that the problem is that it isn't advertised as a multi-purpose device at all, yet it is one... after all it is basically a handheld computer - you can use it like a computer, which means you use it as it suits you, picking the functions as appropriate just like you would with an ordinary PC or laptop :)

I too use my (very old now) iPod for music and not my Axim. However, I have a friend who uses his x51v for music to avoid carrying his 1GB MP3 player around with him all the time. In my view the Axim is just as much as a music player as, say a PSP, and many people listen to music on them.

The Axim is almost as versatile as a laptop and much more portable. You see people using Laptops in different ways all the time every day. Some people watch films, some people do work, some play games, some browse the internet... everybody *knows* laptops can do all of these things and buy laptops with this in mind (either for one of those purposes or for a combination of them). A PDA can do most of those to in a portable situation - but do everyday and even most more technical people know this?

If I showed one my friends in school the Axim they'd either see it as some kind of expensive business phone or a "glorified diary" as the original poster put it. Many people have never even heard of one before, let alone know what it can do. Yet the Axim can do many of the things the laptops or PSPs or video iPods can do as I pointed out above. Everyone I show my x51v to seems surprised that they can sit their browsing the internet or playing some old SNES games or AOE. As soon as they learn it isn't some boring business device (or at least entirely a boring business device) they actually see why I wanted one in the first place and stop thinking of it as an "organiser" and more of a "handheld PC" which I feel describes its abilities much better.

I think that PDA manufacturers have this whole mentality that PDA users are all business users who all already know exactly what the PDA they are buying will do. Yes, I won't deny that PDAs have always been great for work and that was what they originally came out in mind for, and that's always going to make up a large % of sales. However, if people knew the power of these devices (and Dell was marketing them at the public) and all of the other potential they have then I'm sure they would sell a lot better.

:)

[Kevin1a]

It's my new marketing stratagy! OK so it sucks, but not bad for 5-10 minutes.

[Richard Haynes]

I've had my Axim X51v for a year, and I'm still finding new things to do with it, new mobile-formatted Web sites that make it more useful, new software that make it more fun and functional. But the damn thing has become a hobby! I have to ferret out all these things from Pocket PC Web sites and blogs and forums like this one. Yes, Dell missed the boat with initial marketing, but also with follow-up. The manual that comes with the device is minimal. I had to buy "How to Do Everything With Your Dell Axim Handheld (Second Edition)" to understand the device's possiblities. Axim buyers should be getting an online newsletter from Dell that tells about all the new sites, software and stuff you can do with this Pocket PC. Something like that could have helped spread some buzz and enthusiasm about Axim.

[Wehawken]

Dell don't make it easy either.. this moving target pricing thing they do is as bad as a car salesman.. I mean set the freakin price and let folks buy it already.. I spent way too much time trying to catch a good price on mine and I have only had it a short time and have sold 2 friends on buying them.. my advice to them was.. plan to blow $500 on it and if you get lucky it may be less by the time you get the bells and whistles that go with it.. Dell really missed the boat on marketing and it's no wonder their reputation is in the toilet. They didn't even build the thing and they really don't know how to sell them.. it's a shame.. but I still love this thing :)

[JMJSelect]

my thought is that the pda is really a niche product.

if you need power that's mobile you have the laptop.

if you need mobility without needing that much power(but enough to complete tasks) you have your feature phone/smartphone.

and in todays world looking out into the future two things will ruin what is left. wireless connectivity and power.

-wireless connectivity: we're looking into a world where wireless always on internet is a must. yeah you could get away with a wifi'd city but always having the internet from a carrier will be the next big thing. and if you have the internet then why not a phone too? that is where the smartphone comes in and pushes out the pda.

-power: face it umpc's is what will replace the traditional pda. power of a computer @ the size of a pda or slightly larger. palmos and winmob is just too weak when there's a comparable sized machine running full xp.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

I don't really blame the marketing so much so as the product itself. not that it's bad or anything, it's been a really good product. but it's place in the market.

it'll be a niche product. and yes I will sorely miss it, I kinda already do in a weird sort of way.

[technofreak]

It's my new marketing stratagy! OK so it sucks, but not bad for 5-10 minutes.

haha nice dude.....it really looks like it might work actually! whenever i bring my axim x50v (now x51v) to school.....i walk by my ipod welding friends....... i say sup and they start cramming their stuff into their pockets cuz they wanna see my pda......... they know the power these things have(thanks to me), its just not a thing they can find at the nearby circuit city or somethin......

lol it was great fun arguing with my friend saying the ipod nano and video could beat my axim x50v......sure the video can beat it in maximum storage space, and on time, but with a tiny ass screen that isnt even hi-res, a basic music player design that gives no control over bass, treble and the other stuff like x50mix can do, and pocketmind's pocket music can school it in sound quality when playing mp3s

TCPMP gives us all the features to play movies and all that good stuff....and with a VGA screen, we take full advantage of the movies ripped in 640x480 res

sure the battery life and memory are alittle small, but it stores more than the nano, browses the internet, IMing, bluetooth, email, voice recorder, and connect to the bluetooth phone wirelessly for more fun

pocket PCs will RULE!!!!!!!!!

my thought is that the pda is really a niche product.
...
-wireless connectivity: we're looking into a world where wireless always on internet is a must. yeah you could get away with a wifi'd city but always having the internet from a carrier will be the next big thing. and if you have the internet then why not a phone too? that is where the smartphone comes in and pushes out the pda.

-power: face it umpc's is what will replace the traditional pda. power of a computer @ the size of a pda or slightly larger. palmos and winmob is just too weak when there's a comparable sized machine running full xp.

it'll be a niche product. and yes I will sorely miss it, I kinda already do in a weird sort of way.

I have to disagree again.
UMPC??Don't make me laugh!! The size of a PDA??Have u really seen one?Try to put that in your pocket!!!

Wireless connectivity?We have that in the Axim!!I can't see a why the next PocketPC couldn't have 3G incorporated.
I mantain my idea, in the race for the convergent/AllinOne pocket device the PocketPC is the closest to win. Much closer than Ipods.
Phone+Camera+MP3Player+MediaPlayer.
There are Smartphones with cameras.They are nearly there. As the speed of technology goes we can see in less than 3 years a better camera,better screen, more memory (Flash memory prices are falling all the time).
The only issue is the battery one but Toshiba and methanol battery cells could break that barrier or those other batteries that just need 1 minute charge to get back 85% of the total capacity.

PD: Again I consider Smartphones on the same group as PDA. A Smartphone is a PDA with mobile phone capabilities.
PD2: Another advantage for the PocketPC i forgot to mention: GPS. Have yet to find an Ipod or PMP with GPS.

[Kevin1a]

I think the problem for dell would be getting some big name games onto the axim. Nintendo has games for the Gameboy SP sony has games for the PSP sega had games for the gamegear microsoft needs games for windows mobile. Quake Mobile is a start. Sim city 2000 for pocket pc is kickass. What we need now is some real advertisment. I think someone should tell dell to make the next axim lime green :)

[w3iner]

It does have an aura of nerdyness. I mean who wants to roll out to teh clubz with a PDA? I do but alot of people don't

[AndyO]

I totally disagree with AndyO. The product is a great product.
Screen too small for a useful business tool??what kind of bussiness??Image editing??
Carry around a bag for spare memory cards?Have you seen a SD card?
The screen is much better than the one on the Ipod or any other MP3 player.
The volume of sales of Ipod?MARKETING!! It is not even the best Media player out there. Most expensive!!You even have to buy the charger as an extra!!No FM radio...not to mention others...
So that is what this thread started... the failure to make a good marketing campaign for the PocktetPc. That is why they have a narrow market.......

I think you missed the point a little. The fact is that whatever any of us individually regard as the strengths and weaknesses of the x51v, iPod or any other product in this general sector of the market, the jury is the general public at large, and if you look at what sells and what doesn't, the jury's decision is in.

What's more, I think Dell and many of the other initial PDA players have recognized the fact too, and that's primarily why there has been no major redevelopment of the product or repositioning of it in the marketplace. It is simply not possible, with current technology, to economically build a PDA with sufficient memory to make it truly viable as a media center device. The largest cards for an x51v provide far too little capacity for any serious usage in that way, and mass-market users are not going to buy a bag full of cards and carry them all around in order to have access to all the media they might want on a trip or commute or whatever else they are doing. Where Apple got it right was in making the iPod at the outset a hard drive based device, meaning that ultimately storage is not the problem. And while it's easy to deride the iPod for it's failings, (and it has a few for sure), it's a product that HAS hit it's market firmly and squarely and in seriously big numbers. That's far more telling than an arcane argument over display size or quality.

The fact is that for the general public, the x51v is of little interest because it doesn't do what they want, and the kind of market that's really left for these devices is in a fairly narrow niche for those who want or need gadgets, or small, very portable devices for business or organizational tools. In the business world, these present products have little value other than in their PIMs, because for anything else, a larger screen and fully-fledged software is essential - and for that, there are no shortage of laptops.

Blackberrys on the other hand, are gaining in popularity because they not only combine these organizational tools, but also provide always-on internet access and seamless, live, email, and do so in one small pocketable device.

In the end, I think that points to the fact that Dell didn't so much miss a marketing opportunity as miss the opportunity to reposition the Axims into a product the public wanted by developing the right technologies to support the platform. Without significant technical redevelopment, I can't imagine Dell could have changed the public mindset all that much however hard their marketing strategies might have tried - and Dell as a corporate body are far from stupid, so I think they knew that pretty well by the time they were deciding what to do after the x50. They already knew by then that they had missed the convergence opportunity, that they had missed the media opportunity (else why would they have attempted to market their own MP3 player?) and had seriously underpowered the platform as a whole. They already knew that historically the PDA was not a widely popular product with widespread public need around which a marketing strategy could focus and lift demand. Ultimately, I think that's why we see the Axim range winding down, because they know it's not economically viable as an ongoing product. That doesn't mean that it is weak for those who value the resources it offers, but that for Dell, the market isn't large enough to sustain product development costs as the platform stands right now.

[Mr Gobz]

It's my new marketing stratagy! OK so it sucks, but not bad for 5-10 minutes.

:approve:

Yes I like this ad idea, along the right lines, especially when GL quake is released ( without the need for the contol hack ) using the proper power of th 2700g graphix chips. If only more classic 3D games were released.

Even better, someone should release a small analogue gamepad as well then they would really take off, cos lets face it the Axims buttons heela suck when it comes to `proper` games and using the freelook stylus mode on games such as quake only leaves one hand free for button control !. Must be a better controller than the official digital sony gamepad I once bought for my Clie TJ35, that really really sucked !

Also I`m bewildered by all this obsession for convergence devices in the past few years. All that the competing manufacturers usually come up with is a `Fisher Price` Activity centre for morons, ie A device that does nearly everything badly, I`d much rather have a device that does just a few things properly thus removing the need for me to bin it`s obsolesent ass 2 weeks later !

[axzilla]

Quote Jobs "Why would anyone want to watch video on such a tiny screen" Well people do want to watch video on something portable. The pdas were doing it first once people realized they had wmp on pdas then came the better players aka betaplayer pocket tv and such because there was a demand for it. The pda makers dropped the ball because they already had the ability to do what apple and others are trying to do now. If only the pda market would have offered video downloads or videos for sale for pdas in the beginning they would already have cornered the market or made it easy for the non-techie types to make their own videos foolproof and advertised it that way instead of just making it look like just an organizer.

[pinyon]

I'm another who just continues to find new uses for the X51V. I do wish for a 3G card like the rest but deal with bluetooth tethering to a phone right now. I also would love a usb port. That said.

Organizer
Email
Navigation
Topo Maps with GPS
Media player
Gaming
Internet Browsing
Presentation

I agree that the marketing hasn't been great and unless some phone capabilities happen the Axim will never be more than a beloved product to a knowing few.

For the few people that want 3G, what about devices like the Samsung Blackjack?

I like the fact that the Axim will play videos, music, games, plus more serious programs. I think it would help if it had been promoted differently. BestBuy used to have them in their weekly newspaper ads, now if they have anything they have a couple of Palms. I guess this is because everybody thinks of them as "PalmPilots", but the Palm doesn't have the versatility of the WM device.

Also I think it would help if it was priced lower. There are Ipods in the $100-200 range. You can't buy a new WM device for that, although used X50/X51's are near that range on Ebay.

[SolSie]

Slap 30GB hard drive behind the Axim X51v then forget about ZUNE!