Scott,

If Poken was so ridiculous, why would IBM endorse it by using it at one of their conferences? Do you think IBM is stupid?

The little face is plastic case is a marking gimmick. The Poken hand which you connect is a marketing gimmick. But, there is nothing silly about what happens once you put that flash drive into your computer and visit your Poken website to manage your contact data. This is smart. This is efficient. This is connecting with your contacts in such a way that they update your contact information FOR YOU.

Aalap listed in his post what his Nokia E71 can do in terms of exchanging business card information. But, social media information is NOT listed there is it? And, that's part of the appeal of Poken. More than 30 social networks are included in the Poken mix. And, all you did to have access to all those 30 networks is touch your Poken's hand to someone else's. This is absolutely awesome! The fact it is handed to you in a rather simplistic and admittedly silly-looking way is something you should let deter you.

Think back to early discussion about Twitter. How silly! Who in their right mind is going to care about answering the question, "What are you doing now?" Who in their right mind is going to be willing to limit their response to 140 characters? Well, as it turns out, the answer is - A LOT OF PEOPLE.

The reason I believe the folks at Poken designed the latest version of their device, The Pulse, is because they want to expand there market to serious business professionals who are turned off by silly faces and have no desire to be associated with a product that promotes a fun interaction at a business networking event by its very appearance. These are the stuffed-shirt Wall Street types who are only interested in inviting business CEO's to banquets. The No. 2 man at the company need not attend.

There are some folks who refuse to shop at Wal-Mart for a wide range of reasons. However, they will not hesitate to shop at Neiman-Marcus and pay a high price for merchandise - even though they could get the exact same item for a much lover price at Macys. Why pay more for the exact same item at Neiman-Marcus? The box. It's not just about the product. It's about the package it comes in.

So, Poken is changing its packaging with The Pulse. It's more expensive. It's more business-like by design. It's actually designed to appeal to Wall-Street types. See for yourself. Click here. Please do not expect Poken to remove the hand. That's part of its branding effort. It needs to be known by its four-fingered hand.

Lamar Morgan
CDMM - Synergistic Business Marketing
(707)709-8605
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