There is nothing bigger for television executives than the all important sweeps season, which begins tonight and picks up steam throughout May. Major networks will pull out their big guns in an effort to see big numbers and steal viewers from competing stations. While FOX, NBC and CBS duke it out, it might also be a good time for a certain challenger to enter the smartphone wars. RIM’s BlackBerry Storm has lost steam and Apple is busy approving, then subsequently removing high-quality applications like ‘Baby Shaker‘. Hype within the blogosphere is at an all time high, but there is a growing frustration with a lack of information regarding a Palm Pre release date. Sprint has slowly started to sprinkle Pre appearances in their campaign, the latest coming yesterday in the form of new banner ads which featured the Pre. Has the time come for Sprint and Palm to take the next step?
Sweeps Breakdown
According to USA Today, the following shows are expected to bring big audiences.
- Tonight: 30 Rock
- Saturday: Streisand: Live in Concert
- Monday: Chuck/Heroes
- Tuesday: NCIS
- April 30: Private Practice
- May 4: Medium
- May 6: Scrubs
- May 7: Bones
- May 8: Dollhouse
- May 10: The Amazing Race
- May 11: The Big Bang Theory
- May 12: Fringe
- May 14: Grey’s Anatomy
- May 17: Desperate Housewives
- May 18: 24
Not included in this list are "The Apprentice" and "Survivor". One of our forum members has an interesting theory on why "The Apprentice" might be the show to launch the Palm Pre. Rather than one show, it needs to be a cross section including all of the above and it needs to happen sooner than later.
To capitalize on the next stage of Palm Pre hype, it would be Sprint and Palm’s advantage if they were able to announce the release on national TV. Palm was able to keep a tight lid on the webOS and Palm Pre before CES and the result was massive coverage during CES. Sure it would have received coverage, but the excitement level would have been somewhat dulled if details of webOS had leaked weeks prior. The release date will be big news, so the platform needs to be just a big. If the release date comes out via some tech blog who comes across an Excel spreadsheet noting the big date, this will end up as a missed opportunity. The stage is set, the time is now. It doesn’t get any bigger than sweeps season. The only thing bigger for readers of this site would be a Palm Pre release date.
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