Kara Talks to Roger McNamee About the Palm Pre
by Kara Swisher
Posted on January 12, 2009 at 5:22 AM PT
BoomTown did a video interview with Palm’s sugar daddy investor Roger McNamee at the Consumer Electronics Show last week, after the debut of its Pre smartphone.
Via Elevation Partners, McNamee has invested a total of $425 million in Palm, aimed at reviving the company that pioneered the smartphone market.
But Palm soon saw its business gobbled up by the BlackBerry from Research in Motion (RIMM) and the iPhone from Apple (AAPL). And, of course, there is the G1 phone from Google (GOOG) too, along with competition from Nokia (NOK) and many others.
And Palm is following the less-than-stellar last launch of the Foleo in 2007.
Thus, the company and the private equity firm have banked a lot on this revival, so McNamee was out in full force at CES in Las Vegas, talking up the Pre.
The Pre launch was indeed the highlight of the show, and also gave Palm’s moribund stock a boost.
And, indeed, the Pre does look pretty cool, with a sleek design and a new operating system, although the real proof will be when it debuts to consumers later this year.
In any case, here is the always hopped-up McNamee giving it his best for the Pre:
