Palm Announces the Get Social This Summer App to Help Planning for a More Exciting Summer

WINDSOR, UK, 15 June, 2010 – Palm Europe Ltd has today announced research (1) findings which reveal the plans of British women this summer. The country may be about to explode with football fever during the World Cup, but new findings show that nearly a third of British women under 50 will be doing everything they can to avoid it over the next four weeks. And while the next couple of months could be the perfect opportunity for women up and down the country to have a summer of girly fun, not least after such a bad winter, it seems many have no idea how they are going to fill their time while many men take up residence in front of the footy on TV.

The research paints a rather bleak picture for the social lives of women in the UK over the coming months: more than three quarters of respondents say they never make plans any more than a week in advance, while the vast majority (83%) anticipate attending fewer than five ‘events’ over the Summer. Instead, British women are becoming increasingly impulsive, with a huge 90% of respondents happy to do something spontaneously.

In response to the research results Palm is helping women embrace summer activities with its new Get Social This Summer website and app, which provides handy tips on a wide range of events, locations and things to do daily throughout the summer. Visitors to http://getsocial.palm.com  will have access to a daily calendar of activities and things to do across the UK as well as the opportunity to upload their own suggestions along with reviews, pictures and videos to provide further inspiration for those looking for something different to do.  Palm recently launched its latest Palm webOS phones in the UK, Palm® Pre™ Plus and Palm Pixi™ Plus.  For Palm webOS phone users there is a free Get Social This Summer app which is available to download from the website, Palm’s UK Facebook page (www.facebook.com/PalmUK) and Palm’s App Catalog.  The app will allow users to synch the summer and ideas and suggestions of their choice to their own calendar on the phone.

Rachael Ward, UK Marketing Manager, Palm said, “After the coldest winter in decades, we’d have expected the women of the UK to be out in droves enjoying everything the summer has to offer, but unfortunately it looks like they haven’t got much planned. Hopefully our Get Social This Summer app will help to make sure that they can take advantage of the great events and attractions on offer; there’s no excuse for feeling bored this summer!”

The research also reveals that when deciding on their summer plans, women would still rather place their organisational faith in technology than in their menfolk, with twice as many turning to their gadgets instead of their partners. Phones which offer easy access to messaging and the web are also playing a bigger role in the organisation of summer activities, with 60% of British women explaining how the planning of social events in their friendship group tends to happen via text message, with email and social networks also high on the list.

The research goes on to highlight how British women – despite what some rather miserly bosses might imagine - are extremely conscientious when it comes to their working life during the warmer months. The poll found that a significant number claim to have never phoned in sick to enjoy the weather (63%) or have a morning of passion (81%). In addition, the vast majority say they would not skive off work in order to beautify themselves before attending a social function such as a party or a wedding (78%).

How the country breaks down:
•   Women in Glasgow are significantly more likely to call a friend to arrange a social event than women in other UK cities, while women from Birmingham are the least likely to call up a friend to arrange a date
•   Women from Belfast are the most likely to pull a sicky so they can sunbathe
•   Liverpudlians are the most honest with only 4% saying they’d pull a sicky to enjoy the sun. Or at least they claim to be!
•   Bristolians were most likely to pull a sicky to have a morning in bed with their partner
•   Women from Southampton were most likely to skive off work to have a beauty treatment ahead of a party or wedding; 30% admitted to having done so before
•   BBQ’s are the favourite summer activity for Britons, with nearly half of respondents saying it was the thing they enjoyed most
•   Southampton looks set to be the most social city this summer with 10% of respondents saying they intended to attend ten or more events
•   Women in Edinburgh are most against the World Cup, with 44% saying they’ll be doing everything possible to avoid it