Buy a Tire, Get a Zire

[Janak Parekh]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.michelinman.com/promo/2003springpromo.html' target='_blank'>http://www.michelinman.com/promo/20...pringpromo.html</a><br /><br /></div>I had to post this close to April Fool's -- it's too funny.<br /><br />"Whether you're driving the hottest sports car on the road, the toughest SUV or the family sedan, Michelin has a tire to fit your vehicle and driving style. Now, for a limited time, when you purchase four new Michelin tires, you'll receive a FREE Palm™ Zire™ handheld organizer."<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/parekh/news/20030402-Michelin-Zire.jpg" /><br /><br />I don't quite get this. Is it because Zire and Tire have the same suffix? And the Michelin Man looks so sad in black-and-white. ;) Besides, buying 4 tires isn't that cheap...

[FredMurphy]

I'm guessing this wouldn't be available in the UK. We have "tyres" over here.

[reidme]

Tires may not be cheap, but you can get four of them plus a Zire for less than the cost of a PPC...

[Foo Fighter]

Hmm....tires....and handhelds? Well that just makes perfect sense. :iamwithstupid:

[daS]

Michelin does this type of thing all the time, and there doesn't seem to be any logic to the giveaway item. I got a pair of Motorola two-way radios with my last set of tires.

Of course, there is one common theme: I've never used the radios either. :lol:

[Jimmy Dodd]

I'm guessing this wouldn't be available in the UK. We have "tyres" over here.

Do they sell "Zyres" over there as well?

[Joe Bogner]

I bet it's a marketing ploy to demonstrate how tough their tires are.
Consumers are to place the Zire underneath the tire and then back over it. The Zire breaks (no loss) and the tire is not damaged.

I can commend Goodyear for finding uses of outdated technology.

[Gerard]

Sadly, that Michelin Man is a decal. There's no 'white' on a Zire, only that background grey colour and shades of grey and black. So he'd look even more sad in Zire black and white... that's too bad.
Maybe Palm could release a special UK version for this deal, call it the Zyre?
Wait a minute! I just twigged to the real meaning here. Follow the logic:
'When it's time to re-tire, we'll set you up with a set of 4, PLUS a device that's ready out-of-the-box to retire!'

[Ed Hansberry]

Hmm....tires....and handhelds? Well that just makes perfect sense.
This is clearly used to put under your tire when your car is parked on a hill to keep it from rolling.

[amflores]

As far as I know, Bibendum (yep, that´s his name) the Michelin Man has always been black and white.... maybe just a little too grayish in the Zire anyway

[sesummers]

Tires may not be cheap, but you can get four of them plus a Zire for less than the cost of a PPC...

No you can't!!!

The Zire is Palm's cheapest offering, so you have to compare it to the cheapest Pocket PC- the Dell Axim. I got mine for $200. The lowest price I've seen published on a Zire is about $90. So please tell me where I can get a set of tires for $110.

[Will T Smith]

I bet it's a marketing ploy to demonstrate how tough their tires are.
Consumers are to place the Zire underneath the tire and then back over it. The Zire breaks (no loss) and the tire is not damaged.

I can commend Goodyear for finding uses of outdated technology.

I actually think this is very practical. You put the Zire behind the tire for when you jack it up so the car doesn't role. Though they should have included 2 to keep things balanced :-)

[DrtyBlvd]

They give you things when you buy tires? All I ever get is an empty wallet.

On the one hand, I would say 'You lucky People'...

and on the other I would say 'Shame Michelin aren't going to sell any tires'

:lol:

[Jonathan1]

Hmm....tires....and handhelds? Well that just makes perfect sense. :iamwithstupid:

Not as much sense as purchasing Lord of the Rings DVD and getting a free M515 :roll:
http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=2868&highlight=lord+rings

[Ed Hansberry]

Tires may not be cheap, but you can get four of them plus a Zire for less than the cost of a PPC...

No you can't!!!

The Zire is Palm's cheapest offering, so you have to compare it to the cheapest Pocket PC- the Dell Axim. I got mine for $200. The lowest price I've seen published on a Zire is about $90. So please tell me where I can get a set of tires for $110.
Not Michelins. 4 no name cheapies from Wal-Mart maybe.

[Vincent M Ferrari]

IN a slightly related story, yesterday our CIO went on Dell.com to order a new server for our office. The offer they're pumping is a Free Palm Handheld with purchase! So we got all excited because the owner of the company wants a Tungsten thinking that with a $7,500 server, we would get a high-end Palm.

Nope. Just the stupid Zire. Now the question is, who buys a $7,500 server and has any use in hell for a Zire other than keeping papers from blowing around their desk?!?

[RWlodarczyk]

This makes perfect sense... you can take your new tire and run over the zire with it. That's about as useful as it is. :D

[Gerard]

I'm guessing here, but wouldn't it suck to be a Zire purchaser? I mean, remember how they used to give away calculators with everything? Now Palm devices are getting treated the same way, like a keychain with a picture of Niagara Falls, or gift certificates for KFC buckets of deep fried bird parts....

[T-Will]

:rofl: I thought that was really an April Fool's joke, but it's real?!?!?! That's too funny! :D

[dean_shan]

This is the weirdest thing ever. I thought this was a joke at first. I guess they wanted something cheap to give away.

[Don Tolson]

I suspect Palm (and Michelin :roll: ) are attempting to clear out their respective warehouses...

[Underwater Mike]

Mmmmm... deep-fried bird parts. Like on this guy's head: :silly:


I'm guessing here, but wouldn't it suck to be a Zire purchaser? I mean, remember how they used to give away calculators with everything? Now Palm devices are getting treated the same way, like a keychain with a picture of Niagara Falls, or gift certificates for KFC buckets of deep fried bird parts....

[bbarker]

IN a slightly related story, yesterday our CIO went on Dell.com to order a new server for our office. The offer they're pumping is a Free Palm Handheld with purchase! So we got all excited because the owner of the company wants a Tungsten thinking that with a $7,500 server, we would get a high-end Palm.

Nope. Just the stupid Zire. Now the question is, who buys a $7,500 server and has any use in hell for a Zire other than keeping papers from blowing around their desk?!?
Another question: why would the maker of a Pocket PC give away a competing Palm product?

[Foo Fighter]

Sandisk should partner with KFC to offer free 32MB SD cards with every bucket of chicken. :roll:

[PetiteFlower]

Another question: why would the maker of a Pocket PC give away a competing Palm product?

Dell sells Palms on their web site too. They don't ADVERTISE them like they advertise their own stuff, but they sell them!

[Stik]

I bet it's a marketing ploy to demonstrate how tough their tires are.
Consumers are to place the Zire underneath the tire and then back over it.

Sorry to throw this a little off topic, but in a twist on your post, Intermec announced the Windows XP Rugged CT60 Tablet PC yesterday. Acording to their pr...

"It won't bend or flex and is so rugged you could drive a truck over it."

http://home.intermec.com/eprise/main/Intermec/Content/About/NewsPages/pressRelease?section=about&pressID=452

I doubt if Mack or Peterstar will be giving the Intermec CT60 away as a freebee anytime soon.

[Bosco]

I suspect Palm (and Michelin :roll: ) are attempting to clear out their respective warehouses...

I feel compelled to say, once again, that the Zire is the single most successful handheld in history. I don't think Palm needs to clear out their warehouse, it clears itself.

I don't see any PPC's being given away with tires. Maybe Michelin is afraid crashing is contagous? Don't want that kind of karma near your tires...

[Jonathon Watkins]

This advert is real?? :lol:

the Zire is the single most successful handheld in history
:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

[reidme]

Tires may not be cheap, but you can get four of them plus a Zire for less than the cost of a PPC...

No you can't!!!

The Zire is Palm's cheapest offering, so you have to compare it to the cheapest Pocket PC- the Dell Axim. I got mine for $200. The lowest price I've seen published on a Zire is about $90. So please tell me where I can get a set of tires for $110.

You forget, the Zire is free. Michelin has tires that sell for less than $50.

[Fishie]

Urm people this IS an april fools joke.

[heov]

This advert is real?? :lol:

the Zire is the single most successful handheld in history
:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

i dont' know what's funny, but the Zire is the most popular/sold PDA since christmas.

And I guess I see the humor in getting a free palm... heck you got a free palm w/ the purchase of WinXP, but this is going to be great for palm.

New user gets Zire. 1 year later, what are they going to buy? What's familiar to them or something else? Chances are they're going to buy another palm.

too bad we don't have cheap ppcs (really cheap, not dell cheap). I'm sure there's a market out there for something like the dell, single slot, B/W screen, 200mhz, mp3, etc. It'd be a great competitor if it was under 100.

[Ed Hansberry]

Urm people this IS an april fools joke.

Well, now I've confirmed you reply authoritatively with absolutely no real substance on occassion. :roll:

http://www.michelinman.com/promo/2003springpromo.html

http://www.palm.com/promotions/michelin/

[EHenry]

Yes, while everyone loves to laugh at Palm, here's my take on their semi-reasonable strategy.

They can make Zires for cheap-cheap-cheap. So they seed the market with these things for free. Once people have their data in them they're more likely to stick with Palm rather than try to migrate their data over to a PPC or something else.

It's a theory...

Also, Palm is trying to grow the consumer market for these things, which is a pretty tough task. Sony does such a better job it's not funny. PPCs seem to appeal to people who are already power users. Palm tries to appeal to everyone, especially non-power users. PPCs are, IMO, really more competitve with a low-end laptop rather than a Palm. I mean, I have a laptop and geez, my iPaq does almost everything it does, except run WebLogic. ;)

[Fishie]

Urm people this IS an april fools joke.

Well, now I've confirmed you reply authoritatively with absolutely no real substance on occassion. :roll:

http://www.michelinman.com/promo/2003springpromo.html

http://www.palm.com/promotions/michelin/

Weird, sorry.
I was told that it was an april fools joke.

[CharlesWilcox]

Palm isn't the one who's giving these things away... I would be almost certian that Michelin is giving them something per unit. Even paying full price for a Zire, there's more than enough margin in a set of 4 tires to cover the cost. Think about it... I don't think owner loyalty is enough to get Palm to freebie up when Michelin is making a fat profit on the tires.

There's a tire company up here (WA) that gives away free beef when you buy 4 tires. I would have to bet that the butcher's got a piece of the action. I'm not the only one that thinks so... There's a tire dealer down the street that has a big sign that says "If you got beef, you paid too much!!". :lol:

[GoldKey]

Urm people this IS an april fools joke.

Well, now I've confirmed you reply authoritatively with absolutely no real substance on occassion. :roll:

http://www.michelinman.com/promo/2003springpromo.html

http://www.palm.com/promotions/michelin/

Did you notice the fine print on the palm page

"* The screen shot drawing of the Michelin Man requires third party software, sold separately."

Since it shows a display color of white, it is not possible with any software.

[theone3]

it is a simulated screenshot from the palmOS emulator. The Michellan man program is real, it shows him when you turn on & off your Palm for a second or so.

Fortunately it is not required to be used with the free zire.

I don't know why people are complaining about the zire, it is the best example of a PIM available in the PDA market. Cheap, Simple and Small.

:soapbox:

[Jonathon Watkins]

I don't know why people are complaining about the zire

We're not complaining, we're laughing, loudly. :D :lol: :mrgreen: