The full All Things D (D7) chat with Palm Chairman (now CEO) Jon Rubinstein and Elevation Partners investor Roger McNamee has been posted on the All Things Digital website. It's chock full of now-broken iTunes synchronization goodness, Roger McNamee’s accidental chauvinism, Kara Swisher's ripostes, and Walt Mossberg looking decidedly more magisterial here than he does in more recent internet incarnations.
It’s nothing new, but hey, now you can see the whole thing and figure out whether you want to laugh or cry during the iTunes demo. Plus, you get another chance to watch McNamee and Rubinstein ham it up together. It's over fifty minutes long, so grab your coffee first.
Filed Under:
News; Tags: Walter Mossberg, sync, Roger McNamee, pre, palm pre, palm, Jon Rubinstein, itunes, Elevation Partners, d7, CEO, All Things D
Comments
The demo phone has white blotches on the screen
I know this video is a little old by why is this just being posted now on the homepage?
wow Roger McNamee is a DOUCHE - thanks for investing, but he's super condescending. As Derek Kessler said, his chauvinism shines through.
I am looking forward to switching to this phone though - looks very promising and simple to use. September can't roll around soon enough.
You'd think that for a business meeting and video interview, MacNamee would atleast wash his hair and wear a girdle.
I'm an original iPhone owner. I've had the Pre for one week now. While it works well, the UI still has a while before it matures (seeing it took iPhone 2 years to fully mature). I respect touch execution on the iPhone even more after trying the G1 and the Pre. Apple has touch precision nailed.
At this point, I'm pondering switching back to iPhone; perhaps I'll just wait out until Apple comes out with multitasking.
Not that I have seen myself too much to the point cuz i haven't been tuning in so much... but assuming that McNamee is a douche it's irritating to see the people that are talking to McNamee and Rubenstein be so agenda driven. They keep asking questions in a way to make them look like jerk offs... They keep trying to set up things to make them say that apple sux or something like that... of course they are competing against apple... what kind of crap is that? They also are very aggressive towards them. Ok, if you have gripes against them, leave that crap out of it, get the facts don't turn your shit to prove your own personal point on the audience.... Also, I have seen a video on Mossberg but that's the that guy comes off as a jerk in the video. I am not a palm fanboy, in fact I am probably going to be getting an iphone pretty soon here
(sorry pre, i need smartphone now and you are just too new, maybe on your next iteration as webOS looks amazing and while i can see you being the gamechanger that you are, you just aint it right now cuz of you lacking all the app goodness that the iphone has... other than that, i find myself pretty annoyed with apple and all their BS but whatevs... i need me some smartphone action)
but seriously, Mossberg says things like well that's nothing new and such phone does that already... or but's in and says the people don't care about how it was done and what not.... he is dead set on deflating what these guys are here to present.. what's up with that? was he the same way with apple and the iphone? (honest question since i don't know)... I mean c'mon... I hate people like that... k, enough of this caffeine induced rant... /rant
I felt the same way. Walt and Kara seemed to be interviewing in a way to try to keep the Palm group on the defensive throughout.
which is a good thing.
No, the mark of a good interview is a balanced interview
nah, you would get 100% puff pieces. A good interview doesn't ask softball questions, it asks the hard questions and follows up aggressively when getting idiotic, condescending and evasive answers.
I agree, the constant taunting - you can hear it in the background from the lady interviewer with comments like "and I am sure you asked Apple for permission" and the most irritating response from the interviewers when Roger dared to mention the PRE had a mirror for women !
OH MY GOD tell me what is wrong with saying they thought of women when designing the phone? Just how many men need to look in the mirror compared to men? How many carry mirrors compared to men !?
These have to be some of the worst interviewers I have seen.
They were trying to get them to say we are having a war with Apple e.g "Who do you see as your competitors and don't say the market is big enough etc "
Oh so you mean answer the question your way only !
Michael Parkinson these folk are not! The purpose of an interview is to skillfully guide the conversation to get the maximum benefit for the audience not to run your own agenda.
I actually switched off after hearing the response to the mirror.
I am not against giving someone a hard time but you do it with calss and intellect not badgering.
These guys were not interviewing, they were badgering at best and they should be ashamed of themsleves as so called interviewers. They let the rest of their profession down.
Perhaps they are amateurs and I would believe it if they were. This is not a Palm gig and I think Roger is a fantastic asset to Palm and pationate about the PRE and answered many of the questions with knowledge, intellect and style where I would have just floundered.
If I was on the hot seat I would have felt seriously attacked at certain points of that situation.
I think if they went back to interview school they would have been hauled over the coals by the lecturer and used as an example of how not to conduct a professional interview
Actually the interview is excellent journalism. You seem to be advocating Larry King type interviews.
It isn't badgering at all to ask a strong followup when the subject simply doesn't answer the questioned but delivers a canned PR pitch as a non response to a question.
Roger comes off very poorly in interviews, he is the one who pitches the idea of "iPhone Killer" so he ought not to whine about being asked pointed questions on comparisons to Apple.
I love how they grill them on the itunes permission stuff.
Nice...
It ended up being a false promise from Palm -- so the grilling was spot on.
rofl 420!!!!
I like how this interview went. It wasn't very smooth which I think shows how much of a real, non-scripted and non bias interview it was. You might be thinking "Non bias? Why were the interviewers so hard on them?" Well to me, that's called critical thinking. It's called asking the hard-hitting questions in an effort to get as close to the truth as possible so that people don't waste hundreds of dollars on this product. We should have more interviews like this with more companies' head people.
Personally, I love my launch-day pre which I keep in mint condition and use constantly. Hint for use: use cards as reminders. Take a picture of something and keep that card open until you get home. If you need to write a long reply, keep a card of an email up until you can write that person back on a computer. The task application is VERY useful. I don't consider my hundreds of dollars wasted.
I strongly agree with your statements regarding hard hitting questions and all that in interviews. But, there was clearly some animosity towards McNamee on the side of the interviewers. It was clear that they think he is something or the other. Hence there was a bias. I don't care whether they like the guy or not. I can see him as potentially being a jerk off, but the interviewer needs to leave that crap at the door. They need to find facts, not prove their own sentiments. When he said something like our customers are people who buy the pre... while goofy on his part, was it neccessary for her to be such a B and say "people who buy the pre are your customers for people who buy the pre.... wow..."... i mean that just shows her disdain for the guy... like i said, I am not a McNamee fan or hater, I mean the guy clearly has some things going against him... mirror comment... but I don't really care, it's just irritating to see crap like this...
Seriously... I watched the video.
I still don't get the mirror thing.
Are women offended that we say they need mirrors?
I guess what he meant was "women often carry mirrors around, so why would we not provide one on the back of the phone?"
He said the exact same thing in numerous other interviews, and - even women interviewers - thought it was great... and weren't the least offended by the comment.
I just don't get all the fuss about that.
I think it was all fine until the demo started... when the poor Palm bloke couldn't utter a word without the interviewer saying "this is not new"... "this is like the iphone" and stuff... not that it isn't... but at least let the guy finish his explanations.
And regarding that "customers for the pre are..." McNamee and Rubenstein both gave answers that the interviewers thought were too broad... so what can you say when you run out of things to say? State the obvious!
I think the only one who was really great in there was Rubenstein who was professional, yet friendly and remained calm even when the questions were a bit of a joke.
McNamee was great at the beginning with the "I know I say things... but come on, that's just for fun" and all... but then it seems the interviewers pissed him off and he started getting agressive.
And the interviewers... well... it looks like they've seen it all and don't believe in Palm. All the questions about "why Palm" kind of sum it up, I believe.
All in all, it could have been a great interview, but it kinda got into a cock-fight.
Here's an example http://www.palminfocenter.com/news/9827/fox-business-interviews-roger-mc...
Now there is more professional interview !!!
Roger certainly has an answer for every question in both interviews. His knowledge is unquestionable. However the second interview shows how much better things turn out when when asked in a proper manner.
actually that interview is a "set piece" that is why "Roger" looked good.
OK just for my benefit because I may have a blind spot here but what EXACTLY did he say about the mirror thing and what was wrong with it.
I am not talking about his reaction (which I thought he did well with considering the unusual reaction) but his initial statement appeared (to me) to be a statement of fact with no prjudice at all.
I think he said something like "We designed this phone with a mirror on it for Women"
He respnded to say more than 40% of the population are women so why wouldn't you design a phone with them in mind AND HE IS RIGHT. Look at the boring black, blue and grey/silver bricks that are the PDA's of today.
What is wrong with stating that women use mirror more than men ? Is it untrue, insulting...???
Please enlighten me - I am happy to be convinced otherwise.
There is a difference between hard and badgering a good interview does not involve constantly interrupting somebodies response to their questions to the degree where you can't even take a breath.
I think they held up very well to this but Palm probably learned a lesson here and would need to pre-arrange an interview more carefully next time.
I would certianly draw up some rules of decency if they were ever to see these folk again. Somehow I doubt they will ever get the chance to interview Palm again.
But it isn't a badgering interview.
yeah the interviewers remind me of your everyday iphone fanboy trolls. The female interviewer took offense to the mirror comment because she is homely to say the least, and a constant reminder of her less than average looks inside her purse is probably too much for her to stand. To tell ya the truth I wouldn't mind if everyone on that stage fell into a puddle of hepatitis.
So she evidently has a bug stuck somewhere. She seemed to suggest that because she doesn't wear much makeup everyone else shouldn't and therefore shouldn't need to check the state of the makeup !
Somehow it is obviously a sore point for her.
I don't care if she has personal bias, keep it out of the interview.
If she doesn't like makeup great ! All strength to her but you have no right to try and enforce your personal opinion on people and you definately don't do it in an interview.
If I were her boss I would be sending her (and her co-host) off for some remedial interview training and make it clear they sort their sh*t out)
There are so many people out of work in many industries (including this one) how do a pair of unprofessional people manage to get a wage for that sort of work.??
Good lord! Walt Mossberg clearly shows how much he wants to Bruno Apple/Steve Jobs.
Oh dear lord. Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg made me sick while watching this. I like tough questions but you can CLEARLY see Mossberg's boner for the iPhone throughout.
Also, really Kara Swisher? You're really that offended by the mirror comment? Give me a break and get over yourself. The women's rights class you took in college obviously went to your head a bit too much. Relax.
Thanks for naming these two unprofessional folk, I will be blacklisting them from any of my future reading.
What people do these so called interviewers work for. I would like to send them and their managers a link to this thread!
The interviewers would probably get a raise, it was a good interview.
I have just replayed this and can now see what this lady interviewer is thinking and in my mind she obviously has bias.
She states (at around 33mins)
"wait, wait, women need a mirror than you?
DA!
YES THEY DO MUCH LIKE MEN NEED STUFF MORE THAN WOMEN DO!!!!!
This have got to be some of the most antagonistic interviewers I've ever seen. Fucking old douchebags!
LOL! Just started watching this now, I loved his response for the time of day when the original iPhone users will all buy Pre's when their original contracts run out: 4:20PM!
Legalize it! LOL
Walt Mossberg works for the WSJ and according to Wikipedia he is one of the most highly paid journalists ...WHY!!!!!
Because he doesn't just tow company lines
I think the Pre is a fresh contribution to the smartphone market.
The nice smaller form factor and the powerful new webOS and its nice integration with the hardware is nothing to smirk about.
Disappointingly Walt in this interview appeared to be a prick about it. Just about every positive thing presented was shot down by Walt.
I currently use a Blackberry but I'm interested to see how Palm develops.
Kara Swisher could stand to look in a mirror once in awhile.
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