Palm aims to score with Jordan

Palm aims to score with Jordan

		New handhelds offer tips and more from basketball legend
		The new M100 Jordan Edition Palm Handheld,

By Jonathan Dube
© MSNBC

June 19 — Wanna “Be Like Mike”? You may never have hands that can dunk like Michael Jordan, but now at least you can have Jordan’s Palm. The basketball star, a devoted Palm user himself, is lending his name to a new line of Michael Jordan signature Palm Pilots, complete with training tips and quotes from the legend.

THE STAR has traded in his trusty Palm Vx for one of the new Jordan m500’s and Palm, Inc. hopes others will do the same. But what the company really hopes is that using the basketball star’s valuable brand name will extend the company’s reach to those who might not normally buy handheld devices.
Always a master pitchman, Jordan said, “Between running the Washington Wizards, several business partnerships and being constantly on the go, I like the kind of help, information, versatility and the games that Palm handhelds deliver.” Jordan, who’s now president of he Wizards, gave each player on the team a Vx for Christmas last year.
The Jordan Palms are basically the same as Palm’s standard m100 and m500 devices, with some extra software and branding thrown in.
Both models will feature software applications supposedly “handpicked by Jordan,” including:

Quotes from Michael: “Inspirational” quotes from Michael to guide you “before a big meeting or before the big game”;

Washington Wizards President of Basketball operations Michael Jordan.

MJ Training Tips: A guide to staying fit by Michael’s personal trainer;

MJ Trivia: Test your knowledge of Michael and his career;

Shotchart: The “ultimate basketball scoring application,” which enables you to keep track of your favorite players or teams, and to follow one game or an entire season;

TotalCarMJ: An application that helps you track your car needs by allowing you to record everything from mileage to insurance premiums, as well as get maintenance reminders;

MJ Pinball: A pinball game, customized with a basketball theme and Jordan’s autograph;

MJ’s Restaurants: Information about Michael Jordan Restaurants.

Jordan through the years

MAKING PALM COOL
For these extras and the Jordan name, Palm is pricing the Jordan m100 at $159, $30 more than the standard m100, and the Jordan m500 at $425, $25 more than the standard m500.

Jordan Edition m500

	8MB memory
	Monochrome display
	Palm OS Version 4.0
	4.5 x 3.1 x. 4 in.
	Weighs 4 oz
	Expansion Card Slot
	Universal Connector

“Michael makes Palm cool,” says Peter Klamka, president of PTN Media, an Ann Arbor, Mich.-based company that created and is marketing the device. “People buy fragrances from Michael every day. People buy clothes from Michael every day. The Jordan Palm should tip consumers who may be considering a device, but aren’t sure which one to buy, over the edge.”
PTN Media joined with Palm to create the first celebrity-branded handheld computer in August, the Claudia Schiffer Palm handheld, which included diet and exercise software. Fewer than 10,000 Schiffer Palm’s were made and sold, Klamka said.

Claudia's handheld delight

Palm and PTN have much bigger aspirations for the Jordan handhelds. The new models feature more extra software than the Schiffer ones and will be marketed more aggressively. Klamka says he expects 100,000 will be sold in the next year.