Palm Computing in 1994
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Palm Computing in 1994

by Rashi Glazer, B.J. Asirvatham, Tim Mai, Narayana Mani, Paul Rogers


In 1992, Palm Computing was founded to create add-on software for the emerging Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) market. Initial buyers of PDAs were often computer-savvy and enthusiastic about new technologies, and while industry analysts and the press expected PDAs to be the next trend in computing, many offerings failed as badly as earlier pen computers. By working with many different PDA vendors, Palm gained experience with the strengths and weaknesses of PDA products then on the market. Many Palm employees used (or, at least, tried to use) PDA products themselves. Users of Palm's add-on software provided valuable feedback about what they wanted and did not want in a PDA. Palm then developed the Pilot device, and the next task was to create an equally solid marketing plan.

Learning Objectives

The goal of this case is to encourage students to think like entrepreneurs; to think about the product attributes that suggest that a new entrant might be successful where others had failed, and to apply well-known marketing concepts to create an effective marketing plan from scratch with limited resources. The purpose of the case is not so much to teach new marketing principles as to provide a wonderful example of how to apply principles to a real case.

Details

Pub Date: Nov 30, 2000

Discipline: Marketing

Subjects: Computer software, New product marketing, Personal computers

Product #: B5619-PDF-ENG

Industry: Personal computers

Length: 9 page(s)

Berkeley Haas Case Series
Berkeley Haas Case Series The Berkeley Haas Case Series is a collection of business case studies written by faculty members at the Haas School of Business. Cases are conceived, developed, written, and published throughout the year, on subjects ranging from entrepreneurship and strategy to finance and marketing. Each case includes a teaching note for use in the classroom.
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