Palm Centro smartphones navigate City Chase participants to the Finish Line

Little Bill | Reporter
Date: 04/23/2008

Palm, Inc. and City Chase Inc. today announced that Palm Centro smartphones will aid thousands of U.S. contestants competing in physical, intellectual and humorous challenges during the 2008 City Chase events in eight major cities - Philadelphia, Atlanta, San Francisco, San Diego, New York, Boston, Seattle and Chicago. Over four months, the Palm Centro will help teams complete tasks, search for ChasePoints and ultimately win a spot in the national and world championships of the City Chase urban-adventure race. 





Centro provides easy access to the web, maps and directions, texting and calling - all of which help the two-person teams make quick decisions as they run, walk or use public transit to navigate their way throughout the city. City Chase, an internationally recognized organization that provides reality experiential one-day events, invites everyone from couch potatoes to athletes to reality TV fanatics to compete in the challenges that will take them out of their comfort zones, and maybe around the globe.

"City Chase is all about teamwork, resourcefulness and the ability to make decisions on the fly," said Jason Erkes, City Chase Inc. "Palm's Centro is the perfect tool to help contestants, whether it's connecting with teammates through SMS or browsing the web for information to help teams navigate--it's just a matter of who's faster."

"Centro offers a simple and fun way for contestants to stay connected throughout the race and earn ChasePoints more quickly," said Brodie Keast, senior vice president of marketing for Palm, Inc. "With all the features of a typical smartphone packed into the convenient size of a traditional mobile phone, it's the perfect tool for racing from landmark to landmark, or from work to happy hour."

City Chase kicks off in Philadelphia on May 3 with thousands of participants using Centro to complete mobile challenges throughout the city and find ChasePoints. While in the City of Brotherly Love, two ChasePoints will revolve around using key Centro features:

-- SMS: While separated, team members will use their Centro's SMS feature to communicate with each other. By answering trivia questions correctly, one member of the team will have to navigate his/her way to a desired location.

-- Video, Photos and Email: Teams will be on a hunt armed with Centro smartphones and a list of videos and photos they must capture, including landmarks such as Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell. Teams must email the videos and photos to a specific address in order to earn a ChasePoint.

Palm has sold more than one million Centro smartphones since its introduction last fall, demonstrating the product's mass appeal to customers ready to get all the power of a smartphone at the price of a traditional mobile phone -- just $99 (after rebate and service plan). With voice, text, email, web, contact and calendar capabilities, a color touch screen and full keyboard, Centro brings Palm simplicity and organization to users who want to stay connected with friends, family and co-workers -- all in one small, fun compact phone.





Toronto-based City Chase Inc. (CCI) is the operating company of City Chase, a global consumer event series, offering unique experiential one-day events in various major markets throughout the world. 2008 is again a year of expansion and growth as City Chase extends to 15 countries across the globe with regional events and a National Championship in both the U.S. and in Canada. In addition to U.S. events in Philadelphia, Atlanta, San Francisco, San Diego, New York, Boston, Seattle and Chicago, City Chase events take place in Australia, Canada, England, Hong Kong, Singapore, France, Portugal, Italy, Germany, Ireland, and Spain. Winning teams from around the world compete in the World Championships to be held in a secret destination.

Palm, Inc. is a global leader and innovator of easy-to-use mobile products that simplify people's lives and help them stay connected on the go. The company offers a range of products -- including Palm Treo and Centro smartphones, Palm handhelds, services and accessories -- to meet the needs of consumers, mobile professionals and businesses.