Movie Illustrates Mainstream Adoption of Handhelds

Posted By: Ryan Wednesday, August 4, 2004 1:19:47 PM

When Revolution Studios' "Little Black Book" hits movie theaters nationwide on Aug. 6, palmOne will make its first major onscreen film debut in the romantic comedy, which will be released by Columbia Pictures.

In "Little Black Book," Stacy Holt (Brittany Murphy), an associate producer for daytime talk show hostess Kippie Kann (Kathy Bates), is frustrated when her boyfriend Derek (Ron Livingston) refuses to discuss his past relationships. With the encouragement of co-worker Barb (Holly Hunter), she delves into his palmOne handheld to learn about his ex-girlfriends. The digital footprints of past and present romances are kept on a TungstenC handheld from palmOne. This little black book, used for work and play, is the technology star of the film.

Although it's not unusual for technology to appear in an action or science fiction film, this is the first romantic comedy centered on a palmOne handheld. Vibrant and colorful, the Tungsten C handheld from palmOne becomes the technology star of the film when it plays a vital role in the movie's plot as the source of Derek's secret love information. This movie signals a major shift in mainstream market adoption and cultural perceptions about handhelds -- moving from business tools and consumer convenience to an established place in popular culture. Since its introduction of the Palm Pilot in 1996, palmOne has sold more than 26.4 million handhelds and smartphones. palmOne and its products have become cultural icons that need no explanation to the millions of people who will see "Little Black Book."

"palmOne created the handheld category, and now it's the de facto standard," said Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas, a partner in Revolution Studios and one of the film's producers. "When we were making the 'Little Black Book' movie, we knew it had to be a Palm handheld. The only question in our minds was, 'which one?'"

During the past 12 months, palmOne worked closely with Revolution Studios to make sure that the cast and crew were comfortable and up-to-speed using the latest features, such as how to store a digital color image on the handheld. At the New York movie premiere, palmOne equipped the cast with new Zire 72 handhelds, the hottest multimedia device, capable of shooting video and still photos as well as playing MP3s. In addition to the Zire 72 handhelds, the cast also received one-of-a-kind black leather handheld cases designed by Vaja, embossed with movie title, "Little Black Book," and the stars' names. Similar cases are available from palmOne online.

"While normally this type of product placement is paid, palmOne did not pay fees to place its products in this movie," said Page Murray, vice president of marketing for palmOne. "We were honored when Revolution Studios selected palmOne handhelds. We love how the tech-savvy screenwriters created an interesting movie plot while highlighting the way people are using handhelds for work and play."

Sweepstakes
palmOne's "Little Black Book" sweepstakes offers cool and fun prizes through Aug. 31. All entries are free of charge and do not require a purchase.

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Palm is still currently a modern icon

InsGuy @ 8/4/2004 5:33:41 PM #
I find it pretty nice that the producers wanted a Palm, with their only 'hard' decision being, "Which one?" Given the huge numbers of palm OS handhelds sold over time, nearly everyone can readily identify with the use of a modern 'black book'. Hope its a good movie as well...

All good things...
RE: Palm is still currently a modern icon
RhinoSteve @ 8/5/2004 4:39:01 AM #
With this type of placement the Tungsten C is alive and well!! The BEST selling enterpise PDA of all time!
RE: Palm is still currently a modern icon
bobthegeek @ 8/10/2004 10:25:34 AM #
If Palm-One gave all the cast Zire 72s in special cases, why there were only 2 palms seen in the movie? and why other than the primary "c" the other palm was a Zire 71 ?? and when one character gave instructions on how to "reset" it, she gave told her how to adjust the contrast

You've Got Mail

Gekko @ 8/4/2004 5:38:49 PM #

The end is near...

http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0128853/



RE: You've Got Mail
mikecane @ 8/4/2004 7:30:54 PM #
Stop being obtuse. Just what do you mean?

(And you can't be getting much bloody use out of your Axim of Evil if you're visiting and commenting *here*.)

RE: You've Got Mail
momon526 @ 8/4/2004 8:00:42 PM #
huh? what is it about this "you've got mail" movie?

RE: You've Got Fried Brain
Hal2000 @ 8/4/2004 8:25:36 PM #
What do you mean Nancy?

Zodiac2/T616
1.128 gigs under the hood.
RE: You've Got Axim, and the condition is terminal
Foo Fighter @ 8/4/2004 10:35:33 PM #
What does this old chic flic from 1998 have to do with anything? Come on, Gekko...don't leave us spellbound with your cryptic post. What are you implying?

-------------------------------
Contributing Editor, http://digitalmediathoughts.com
Editor, http://Pocketfactory.com
RE: You've Got Mail
Gekko @ 8/4/2004 10:55:14 PM #
My point was that back in 1998/1999 the Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan movie 'You've Got Mail' "Illustrated Mainstream Adoption of AOL". And we know what happened to AOL shortly thereafter despite the Time Warner merger (which would have made the decline even worse)...

AOL loses $44.9 billion

Big charges recorded; Turner stepping down as vice chairman; shares tumble after-hours.
January 30, 2003: 11:56 AM EST
By Chris Isidore, CNN/Money Senior Writer

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - AOL Time Warner reported a $44.9 billion fourth-quarter loss Wednesday due to another huge charge for the shrinking value of its America Online unit and announced vice-chairman Ted Turner was stepping down.

The charge left AOL Time Warner, the nation's biggest media company, with an annual loss of about $99 billion, the biggest ever for a U.S. company, according to Chuck Hill, director of research for earnings tracker First Call. Still the loss was not caused by operations, and the Internet and media conglomerate posted operating income slightly better than analysts' forecasts.

MikeCON - I currently own a T3, not an Axim. However, the Axim may be my next handheld. I'm a PDA agnostic - I go with the best value. I understand you own a Sony S320? Please.


RE: You've Got Mail
JonathanChoo @ 8/5/2004 12:20:39 AM #
The movie You've Got Mail illustrated the mainstream adoption of e-mail services not AOL e-mail services.

Just as this movie will highlight mainstream adoption of PDAs.

If they have chosen an Axim instead would you have posted the comments above?

--
PalmOne Tungsten T3/256Mb Panasonic SD; HP h4150/512Mb Sandisk Ultra-II, Sony Ericsson T630

RE: You've Got Mail
TobyG @ 8/5/2004 9:43:38 AM #
No, that would have been proof positive of the vision of Michael Dell and how dominant Dell hardware was in the industry. ;)

RE: You've Got Mail
mikecane @ 8/5/2004 9:50:28 AM #
Gekko, must I do the tiresome thing and go post links to all your fekkin plugs for the Axim? absoco, that's YOUR job, dammit! Stop having sex with your Palm!

RE: You've Got Mail
RhinoSteve @ 8/5/2004 12:51:24 PM #
AOL lost a lot of money, yes. However PalmSource and PalmOne has a lot better management that those east coast guys. I'm sure it will be very very helpful.

Not think of the PPC version of this movie. "... she delves into his Dell Axim handheld to learn about his ex-girlfriends. The poor memory managment of the address book and strange performance of ActiveSync produces a while comedy of errors when people that does't even know her boyfriend are in the 'Black Book.'".
RE: You've Got Mail
zlogic @ 8/7/2004 4:28:07 AM #
RhinoSteve - I've really laughed on that one :-)

Nice to see mainstream use

Hal2000 @ 8/4/2004 8:27:01 PM #
I hope this does not get us *Ahem* secetive users in trouble with the masses who may now have incentive to search. Thank-you password protection.

Zodiac2/T616
1.128 gigs under the hood.
RE: Nice to see mainstream use
cbowers @ 8/5/2004 12:50:30 PM #
and yet, odly enough, the Tungsten C at the time had the most out of the box security in a palmos device. But it does sort of make the case for the need of encrypted storage apart from the login.

Mainstream, eh?

SeldomVisitor @ 8/4/2004 8:43:58 PM #
Sure am glad PalmOne told us their devices are mainstream because one appearred in a movie.

Never woulda known otherwise!

Giggle.

???

ssummer @ 8/4/2004 9:18:47 PM #
Shouldn't this have been a "Black"berry? Right now they have more sex appeal than Palms...
RE: ???
abosco @ 8/5/2004 4:19:19 AM #
Who the hell is having sex with their Palm. Please tell me.

-Bosco
NX80v + Wifi + BT + T616
RE: ???
mikecane @ 8/5/2004 9:51:20 AM #
I am sending you my medical bill. I busted my gut over that post, abosco.

RE: ???
Foo Fighter @ 8/5/2004 10:44:38 PM #
Zire 72 has so much sex appeal, its skin is 'a peelin' off. Good thing PalmOne doesn't design condoms.

-------------------------------
Contributing Editor, http://digitalmediathoughts.com
Editor, http://Pocketfactory.com
RE: ???
mikecane @ 8/6/2004 8:09:37 AM #
Foo: That's a feature, not a flaw! It *sheds* its skin like a snake. Trouble is, the skin *regrowing* part doesn't work yet...

RE: ???
Foo Fighter @ 8/6/2004 8:07:04 PM #
Ha! Funny part is - there is actually a breed of snake known as the Blue Racer. I think we’ve just found a new, more appropriate, name for the Zire 72. :-P

-------------------------------
Contributing Editor, http://digitalmediathoughts.com
Editor, http://Pocketfactory.com

I'm surprised

Jeffry @ 8/4/2004 10:40:46 PM #
Sony made the movie but they used PALM handhelds for this one. Shocking.

RE: I'm surprised
hkklife @ 8/5/2004 12:59:04 AM #
Sony Computer likely gave Sony Entertainment/Columbia a head's up wwaaaaaay in advance that they were bailing on the handheld/PDA market. What I am surprised to see is that it's not a Sony Ericsson smartphone or even one of their tiny XP-handhelds. Guess the movie was tied up in limbo too long. There are usually between 8 months to a year between a film's actual conclusion of filming and when it hits cinemas.

By that rationale, A T|C was very cutting edge at the time of the film's planning & filming. Sony knew that by the time the movie finished its theatrical run and was on home video & cable/sat, all remaining Clies would be long gone from retail.

Btw, if this movie ends up being popular at all, it'll be like Office Space and become a cult classic after many years and word of mouth buzz).

RE: I'm surprised
JarJar @ 8/5/2004 11:04:34 AM #
Sony Pictures and Sony handhelds have little to do with each other and I doubt anybody gave anybody else an advance notice.

Palms simply make more sense in this movie because Palm has far greater name recognition than Clie by a huge amount. The movie guys just want the most generic name.

If the movie guys needed a handheld game player they would likely choose Nintendo over Sony.

Well, to be picky about it...

viqsi @ 8/5/2004 2:23:17 AM #
...technically speaking, since palmOne was formed out of Palm which was formed out of the Palm Computing division of 3Com, http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0120885/">Wag The Dog was first.

But, who really cares, honestly?

When is palmone releasing their fall line?

superkid @ 8/5/2004 3:00:34 AM #
arounf when is it. How long should I hold out before buying a new one?
RE: When is palmone releasing their fall line?
hkklife @ 8/5/2004 9:38:44 AM #
Units will likely be announced in early October or so, with stuff trickling into stores around late October or early November. I got my T|T the first week of November '02 and it had been out for about 2 weeks at that time.

RE: When is palmone releasing their fall line?
JonathanChoo @ 8/5/2004 10:09:18 AM #
Not really. The T2 was released in August and the T3 was released at the end of September. But we did have rumours months before the release. PalmOne is suredoing all their best to keep people quiet this time round.

--
PalmOne Tungsten T3/256Mb Panasonic SD; HP h4150/512Mb Sandisk Ultra-II, Sony Ericsson T630
RE: When is palmone releasing their fall line?
mikecane @ 8/5/2004 10:41:17 AM #
Who can wait THAT long?!!?

RE: When is palmone releasing their fall line?
MountainLogic @ 8/5/2004 11:51:54 AM #
OK, I'll be the silly wag.

I expect that Palm will be releaseing their fall line in the fall.

RE: When is palmone releasing their fall line?
Fernando @ 8/5/2004 1:46:05 PM #
now that would be too logical wouldn't it/

RE: When is palmone releasing their fall line?
hkklife @ 8/5/2004 2:27:53 PM #
The T2's release seems to have been a one-time, one-off deal just to get a new unit out to replace the T|T ASAP. I wouldn' call it a "normal" Palm/PalmONe release. For all practical purposes, they seem to be settling into releasing higher-end stuff & Tungstens in the fall and Zires in the spring.

I know that the T3 took quite a while to trickle into the retail chains whereas the cheaper Zirs are often available for sale (remember the Zire & Zire 71s going on sale early at Target?) a week or more before the actual announcement by Palm.

RE: When is palmone releasing their fall line?
JonathanChoo @ 8/5/2004 8:37:42 PM #
Not for me...I got my T3 3 days after the release. ;)

But we need leaks!

--
PalmOne Tungsten T3/256Mb Panasonic SD; HP h4150/512Mb Sandisk Ultra-II, Sony Ericsson T630

RE: When is palmone releasing their fall line?
hkklife @ 8/6/2004 12:12:02 AM #
I live in the south....NOTHIN' arrives early here. With the exceptions of major new DVD relases every Tuesday, hardly anything hits the shops here when it is supposed to. Heck, I had to hit 7 stores the other day just to find one place with Doom 3 in stock!

At any rate, i'll rephrase my suggestion here that PalmOne REALLY needs to add a 3rd slot to their annual releases:
Spring: Zirs & low-end models
Fall: Tungstens & high-end models
July/August: Treos & interim OS/bugfix/ROM update announcements.



RE: When is palmone releasing their fall line?
Altema @ 8/6/2004 1:20:54 PM #
"Not for me...I got my T3 3 days after the release. ;)"


I got mine 15 MINUTES after the release! It would have been 10 minutes, but it took an extra 5 to convince the store that such a device existed, and that they had it in stock. I was going to wait, but became consumed with gadget lust that morning... Still enjoying it after 10 months.

RE: When is palmone releasing their fall line?
gulmatan @ 8/15/2004 3:42:35 PM #
Hi all.

I got my T|T in October when they were newly released. I then got a Zire 71 in March when they first came out. My point, I seem to remember that Palm/PalmOne's two new product cycles are March and October.

Matt A.

"Little Black Book"= Big Fat Yawn

Strider_mt2k @ 8/5/2004 2:07:58 PM #
How crappy is this movie that they had to hype the handheld connection?

It's obvious that the handheld plays a minor part, as whomever could just as easily find an actual paper "Little Black Book" which would drive the story in exactly the same fashion.

And a T/C of all things! Is that all they had laying around in the props room?

This is a non-story featuring a non-issue on a slow news week folks. Take it as that.

RE:
G M Fude @ 8/5/2004 7:41:39 PM #
They probably used a T/C because it photographs well, or the screen is particularly visible on camera, or some other unknown filmic reason.

I wouldn't want to comment on the film further until I'd seen it; and judging by the plot precis, that's unlikely!

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