Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!torsqnt!tmsoft!itcyyz!gchow
From: gchow@ipsa.reuter.com (george chow)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.handhelds
Subject: Re: HP Promo??
Keywords: Equation Solver, promo, 48sx
Message-ID: <1990Aug14.151002.15396@ipsa.reuter.com>
Date: 14 Aug 90 15:10:02 GMT
References: <1990Aug12.023453.10030@ipsa.reuter.com> <90Aug12.215445edt.19137@me.utoronto.ca>
Reply-To: gchow@itcyyz.UUCP (george chow)
Distribution: na
Organization: Reuter:File, Toronto Ont., Canada ( Old Name:I.P. Sharp)
Lines: 52

In article <90Aug12.215445edt.19137@me.utoronto.ca> davin@me.utoronto.ca (Davin Yap) writes:
>In article <1990Aug12.023453.10030@ipsa.reuter.com> gchow@ipsa.reuter.com (george chow) writes:
>
>>I was down at the local dealer (Downtown Electronic on Yonge St) looking at the
>>48sx.
>
>>  o they say that there is a promo starting August 15 whereby if you buy a
>>    48sx, you get a coupon that you mail in to HP to get the Equation Library.
>
>If this is true, I'm really going to be pissed off.  I had one of the
>first 48's in Canada (3006A...); neglecting their most ethusiastic
>customers, those who rushed out and bought the first 28C, then the first
>28S then the ... 

So far, I've got confirmation from two people, one of them a salesman at the
U of T St. George Campus Bookstore. The other is another HP48sx owner from UBC 
(my university).

>...Well, it just doesn't seem right.  Usually companies have introductory
>offers when they first announce a product, rewarding those that support
>the new product in its infancy, those that have enough faith in them, in
>their reputation, to trust that they will get it right the first time.  I
>bought my calculator when I did largely because the name "Hewlett Packard"
>means something to me; with the controversy over the ROM revisions and
>now this...   ...this slap in the face - I'm tempted to lump HP in with
>the other big, monolithic American companies with, "We don't care.  We
>don't have too" attitudes.
>
>   I realize that the equation library wasn't ready until recently, and
>that they probably want to attract the "back to school" market, but to
>neglect their strongest supporters...  ...in the long term, this will
>hurt them.  Certainly I'm not the only one who will share this sentiment.
>It looks like the marketing/accounting types have HP steered towards short
>term gains, but long term pain.  I wonder how much their reputation is
>worth to them; I certainly won't be recommending HP products with the
>same conviction I had in the past.  Playing these marketing games was
>something I thought was beneath HP, something that Radio Shack would do,
>nothing that gives me unwavering trust that I'm being dealt with fairly.
>If HP goes ahead with this coupon promo, while neglecting present 48
>owners, the 48 will be the last HP calculator I'll buy.

I think the ``back to school'' market is what HP is aiming at.

>Potentially peeved beyond reconciliation,
>
>Davin
>--
>Davin Yap, Center for Computer Integrated Engineering, University of Toronto
>davin@me.utoronto.ca  davin@me.utoronto.bitnet | 5 King's College Rd., Toronto
>  ...{pyramid,uunet}!utai!utme!davin           |    Ontario, CANADA, M5S 1A4

George Chow