DATE:  05/28/2009  TO:  Select Locations  
FROM:  RadioShack Communications  SUBJECT:  The New Palm Pre  
MEMO ID:  17345  
 

The New Palm Pre
(To Select Locations)

The following information is strictly confidential and is being provided to help you prepare for the upcoming Palm Pre Launch.

Congratulations on being one of our select stores selling the Palm Pre, beginning June 6, 2009. The Palm Pre is the award winning 3.1 inch touchscreen handset with a full slide out QWERTY keyboard, 8 GB of internal memory and the first handset on the revolutionary new Palm webO.S mobile platform with Palm Synergy. This device will only be available at Sprint stores and a few select retailers... and your market has been chosen to be among the first in the nation to bring the Palm Pre to RadioShack customers!

INVENTORY

 
Stores will begin to receive the Palm Pre (170-3650) around Thursday, June 2. Included in the initial inventory shipment will be a Live Demo Palm Pre (170-4893) to replace the current Samsung Instinct Demo (170-4182). This demo handset should be carried on the hip while you are working and used as an additional selling aid. 
As soon as you receive the Palm Pre in the store, place it in your backroom until the official launch date of June 6. You may NOT sell this handset before this date. 
Please note, in order to activate the Palm Pre Demo (170-4893) you will need to contact your local Sprint representative. 
Inventory transfers will be limited only to stores in your market that are authorized to stock the Palm Pre by the RadioShack corporate office. Transfers to non-authorized locations are not permitted. If any non-authorized locations request a transfer of the Palm Pre, refer them to your District Manager. 
EXTREMELY IMPORTANT - Stores CANNOT use the advance deposit functionality in the POS to "reserve" a Palm Pre for a customer, nor can any sales or "reservations" be made prior to June 6. Due to the production of the Palm Pre, initial supplies will be limited. For that reason, supply will be limited at the time of launch, and we want to ensure that all on-hand units are available for customers on the June 6 launch date. 
At launch, the Pre will not be eligible for any employee rate plans, so no employee purchases are allowed at this time. We want to keep all possible units available to meet customer demand. 

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TRAINING

 
The Palm Pre has many exciting features and unique benefits for the user. To ensure customers can fully enjoy their Palm Pre, the set up process ("first use") is more detailed than on other wireless phones. Details on the first use process, and how you can guide customers through it before they leave your store, will be provided prior to the June 6 launch date. 
Please note, the Palm Pre has to be activated on a Sprint Everything with Data or a Sprint Simply Everything Plan. The handset cannot be activated on a voice only plan (similar to the Instinct and other devices). Existing customers must switch to one of the Everything Plans if they upgrade to the Palm Pre. 
To support the launch, your store will be receiving multiple shipments of launch materials including a shipment from RadioShack containing POP as well as some training materials for the launch. Other shipments will be sent straight from Sprint and Palm and will contain vendor produced POP and training materials. These shipments will begin arriving as early as Friday, May 29, and will be in all stores by next Thursday, June 4. 
The printed materials in the kit will include a product feature "wheel" and a pocket sales guide. These items are intended to help associates get more familiar with the Palm Pre. 
An Answers Online Learning Center course on the Palm Pre will be posted on June 2. It will be available on your Learning Plan under the Palm Pre curriculum. All associates should take this course and watch the learning video prior to the June 6 launch. 
Please note, the course is approximately 30 minutes long and the video is 10 minutes. Ensure you plan accordingly to allow sufficient time for this training. 
Further Palm Pre documents will be posted to Answers Online (under Operations > Store Ops Manual > Selling Standards > Wireless > Sprint) before the phone launch of June 6. 

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POP

 
The shipments that your store will receive to help prepare for the launch of the Pre will include signs to support the launch including new window banners, a 5 x 7" sign for the counter, new 18 x 9" signs and a 16 x 20" sign for the Sprint wireless table. 
A Palm Pre "standee" (Free-Standing POP) and a Palm Pre demo video will also be sent to your store. The demo video must be played in a portable DVD player on the counter. 
Complete instructions for the standee, the counter display and all signs will be available by June 2 on Answers Online (under > Operations > Visual Merchandising > Special Projects). 
A "Coming Soon" handout will be posted to Answers Online (under Products > Price Tags > Signs Online > Wireless > Sprint > Palm Pre Signs) early next week that can be distributed to customers letting them know that the Palm Pre will be available starting Saturday, June 6. 


Additional details about the Palm Pre will be communicated over the next week as we near the official Saturday, June 6 launch date.

Material received about the Palm Pre is to be considered highly confidential until the June 6 launch date. As a reminder, RadioShack has policies in place regarding how to protect this sort of highly propriety information. You should not provide, post, or discuss this material with any outside parties. If you have any questions about RadioShack's policies on this topic, please refer to RadioShack's Confidential Information Guidelines policy on Answers Online.