Shortly after Palm had announced the Pre, its new webOS-powered smartphone, Roger McNamee made the rounds on financial shows touting the product and the company. McNamee, in case that name is unfamiliar to you, is an investor with Elevation Partners, one of Palm's major shareholders.
Here's one of his interviews; he talked about webOS and the Pre, as well as EP's stake in Palm, on CNBC on March 6th, 2009. Below the video is a transcription of some of the claims he makes about the Pre.
"It has a clock, it has your calendar, and it has GPS. So it knows not only where you are, it knows where you should be. So, for example, if you were going to be late for a meeting, it not only alerts you that you're going to be late, it will automatically email ahead to the people you're going to see and tell them. It automatically downloads all of your maps each night before your meeting for the next day."
He made similar claims in another interview around this time (I cannot find that video, though), so this was not a one-off mental slip.
I don't know about you, but I've watched darn near every walkthrough and demo video I can find on the Palm Pre and have never seen these automation features mentioned anywhere other than by McNamee. If the Pre were so advanced as to be able to link its calendar, GPS, and email apps to effectuate the type of autonomy McNamee is describing here, well, I just don't think Palm would've kept it a secret until now.
What do you think? Was he exaggerating, or does Palm have a surprise in store for us come June 6th?
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