Ok it's been a while since I bought my Palm Pre, and I've been meaning to write about a few interesting observations about its packaging.  For most people, this topic couldn't be less interesting, but for me it's at least worth a mention.  I heard that Palm hired a few people from Apple to design the Pre, and I wouldn't be surprised if these same people had something to do with the packaging, which, while it mostly performs the function of "containing" the device, it also adds some sort of aesthetic value that's hard to quantify.  Here's what I noticed: 

[gallery /img/2009/07/p0712172611.jpg:::/img/2009/07/p0712172611-150x150.jpg:::The box itself is sturdy and simple, and it's angled on one corner so it can double as a display case.:::/img/2009/07/p0712172538.jpg:::/img/2009/07/p0712172538-150x150.jpg:::The inside of the box was bright orange, which was a nice touch.:::/img/2009/07/p0712172641.jpg:::/img/2009/07/p0712172641-150x150.jpg:::A curled piece of orange corrugated cardboard had the statement "NO DETAIL IS SMALL" which was kind of self-referential and pretty cool.:::/img/2009/07/p0712172724.jpg:::/img/2009/07/p0712172724-150x150.jpg:::There was a thick piece of clear plastic that cradled the phone when it was in the box, and it was made from #1 recyclable plastic, which was encouraging.:::/img/2009/07/p0712172840.jpg:::/img/2009/07/p0712172840-150x150.jpg:::There was another piece of plastic (this time non-recyclable) with the odd statement "Inspired by and designed in California" which made me question what inspiration a state can actually provide.:::/img/2009/07/p0712173058.jpg:::/img/2009/07/p0712173058-150x150.jpg:::Several of the small instructional booklets included in the box had the top right corner of their first page neatly folded down, probably as some sort of indicator or accessibility trick.:::]

All in all the packaging was pretty cool and even though it was heavily copied from Apple, it conveyed the idea that if they spent this much time with the packaging, surely the product received at least equal attention.  Yeah, I think it did. #technology