Palm's glimmer of hope
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| The new Palm 800w. Image: Palm |
At the end of the campy old Batman TV show, the one with Adam West, you could often count on a cliffhanger where some ne'er-do-well was moments away from offing the caped crusader, by dropping him into a vat of bubbling acid or setting him on a conveyor belt bound for the blades of death. It's a decent metaphor for the predicament Palm finds itself in these days, only in the merciless technology world there's no guaranteeing a last-minute escape.
Like TV land's caped crusader, Palm (PALM) is running out of time. While its Treo once made it the leader in the smartphone category, it has been eclipsed by Research in Motion (RIMM) and now Apple (AAPL), whose iPhone 3G recently sold 1 million units in a single weekend. Palm, meanwhile, hasn't done much interesting with its hardware or software in quite some time. Instead of releasing innovative products over the past few years, the company has slimmed the Treo by a few millimeters, eliminated the antenna stub, rearranged some buttons on the face of the device, and passed it off as new. Customers by and large haven't been impressed; aside from the bargain-priced Centro, none of the Palm designs have made much of a splash. Palm executives now say bold new devices will arrive in the first half of next year – but how many BlackBerry Thunders will have sold by then, and how many iPhones? Will phones running Google's (GOOG) Android software beat Palm's new wares to market? Will next year be too late?
Perhaps. But for those who still hold out hope for Palm (and you can count this longtime Treo user in that number), the company has proven hard to kill, despite its many self-inflicted wounds. Monday's announcement offered fresh evidence of the company's verve: the Treo 800w.
True to form, the 800w looks about like you'd expect – similar to the Treo 600 design Palm released five years ago. To be fair, the 800w is better looking; slimmer, higher-resolution screen, etc. But the best thing about the device is its nuts-and-bolts specs. It runs Windows Mobile 6.1, a critically acclaimed update to Microsoft's (MSFT) business-targeted software. It is the first smartphone to run on Sprint's high-speed EVDO Rev.A data network, and offers GPS, WiFi and other goodies for $250. (Yes, it costs more than an iPhone; but companies that are standardizing on Windows Mobile software won't care.) Though the Treo 800w looks like a perfectly capable device, it's hard to imagine it will do much more than offer the company a glimmer of hope until it can get something truly innovative out the door.
Let's hope that happens in a few months, as the company has promised. With a fresh team of executives including former iPod division chief Jon Rubinstein and Sidekick software designer Matias Duarte, Palm certainly has the talent to mount a comeback. But will that be enough to save the company? Tune in next year to find out.
Opinions are like you know what … everybody has one. You'll never see a world where there's just one kind of anything. For me … Treo is fine. I love the real keyboard and one hand functionality. I can't wait until Verizon supports the 850W. I remember back when IBM was written off. There's room enough in the smartphone world for several winning phones.
After having a blackberry 8830 for a year, I just got the Treo 800w. Why? because i got tired of its propietary blackberry OS that is not flexible and compatible. Blackberry is a great option and I'd like to try for a while the Iphone, but having windows 6.1 gives me FREEDOM and FLEXIBILITY. It's the same reason I choose a PC instead of a mac….COMPATIBILITY!
I went to Windows Mobile this year, then after a few months went right back to the Centro. Palm has one of the best products on the market because *it works*. It is not as flashy, and you have to add better apps to it (Agendus and ChatterMail), but it is the best for a good calendar+email device.
Unfortunately, Palm has screwed up the marketing, the default apps, and hasn't refined the hardware enough. I'm still there because I like it best, but I have little hope for Palm as a company.
I think most people comparing an iPhone directly to any Palm device (or Blackberry or any other smartphone) don't realize how large the Smartphone/Cellular market really is. There are over a Billion cell phones in this world. No single device will fit all needs.
The iPhone is very cool and I've always been an Apple fan. However, I need my phone to get my job done and I'm not willing to shell out $50/month more for AT&T service (I have 2 smartphones that share 2000 minutes and the Sprint cellular card for my PC).
Most texting/email fanatics will tell you that a hard keyboard is still superior to a screen. I'm pretty sure that's the case for me.
Anyway,long story short,Palm can be completely trounced by the iPhone in terms of devices sold, but if they can manage to make a device or two that really fit a specific niche, they can still make money.
Then all it takes is for them to come out with something truly revolutionary (or at least ahead of its time) in the next few years and they'll take off again. The race is never really over because technology changes too fast.
Look back at Apple in the late 90s right before they came out with the iMac (and subsequently the iPod)…people were saying the same thing about them as they are about Palm now.
I've had 3 Treos (600,650,750) and I always love them…for the first year. Then, the problems start. The 750 is by the best yet but the buttons on the keypad are acting up. Now, it's running slower and slower each week. It's too expensive of a phone for these problems to happen after only a year. In all fairness, the 750 did clear up most of my problems (with dropped calls, etc) but with the iPhone a mere $200… we'll go with that.
As for the comment on companies not caring and buying Treos… this author is out of touch. Most companies use Blackberries now, not Treos. Get with the times, man.
Every third call is a dropped call on the TREO. Phone is old, bulky, and cheaply made.
TREO functions are outdated and always 3 years behind everyone else.
Sprint overcharged my small (US) company for over $50,000.00. We caught them doing it and now they refuse to refund the over-payments. You can read the full story at http://www.sprint-really-sucks.com
I also wrote an open letter to Dan Hesse the Chairman and CEO of Sprint Nextel. It is a good read so please consider reading the letter.
http://www.sprint-really-sucks.com/open-letter-dan-hesse.aspx
I have been a Palm fan since the Palm Pilot VII when the 700wx came out I purchased it and loved it. The design was beautiful and even though there were some thing lacking it its functionality it was almost a work of art at least in my book. I recently as in Monday purchased the new 800w and will probably go back to my 700wx until I can justify breaking my contract to move over to ATT for the new iPhone. I think Palm completely missed the boat on this one. I never liked the Centro which was brought out to be a budget device and now they make their flagship device look more like a Centro? Not cool I think Palm will not see many of these sold and except for a few die hard fans who take anything Palm puts out as awesome they will loose alot of their customer base. Its over priced and under delivered.
Not so fast with all the praises of the Treo. Myself, and the few friends that have managed to hang on to the Treo, have had to put up with it freezing up and relentless dropped calls. Yesterday I went in to replace it. I even inquired about the new Treo on the self, but was told by the salesman that that too was plagued with freezes and dropped calls. I am now considering the IPhone but will miss my Windows.
Palm based products were the only way out for mac users, because windows mobile and blackberry people have ignored compatibility issues with mac users all along. But now with the iphone and even ipod touch palm has ultimately lost all the mac users. Because iphone works so much better than palm treo and as for other non phone palm PDA's even ipod touch can do everything a palm based PDA does and then more.
So unless palm has some magical offering coming out, I am afraid the company is a goner.
I bought the first Palm Pilot when it first came out, in fact I still keep it as a museum piece. Palm used to be a great company with great innovative products. Unfortunately that is no longer true today. Palm is dead, end of the story.
Next year is too late, I've been a Palm Treonut for years but I'm jumping off the boat for the new iPhone, Windows 6.1 won't keep me now that the iPhone can support corporate Exchange email.
This is not the 1st EVDO revA phone on Sprint. There are at least 2 before this, the Mogul and Instinct.
Yes, Palm has been too slow to update the product line, but the new products expected early next year should have an all new Palm OS, and might make big change.
Palm has some protection from the iPhone in North America, because most users here are on CDMA networks which the iPhone doesn't work on. And the CDMA providers (VZ/Alltel, Sprint) have dramatically better 3G coverage than ATT/iPhone.
I just switched form a Mogul to a Palm 755p with fewer features, becasue the 755 does what it does do so much better.
I bought a Blackberry Curve and turned it back after 3 days to buy the Treo 755 with a touch screen. Treo is a better product than others, so why change it much. I bought mine for $200 with Sprint. The Sprint Instinct does not offer a good keyboard option for one hand operation and you have to use two hands to thumb across the wide keyboard. I think Microsoft or Dell should buy this hand held computer company.
Palm has misssed the boat and next year is too late. Minimally tweaking the design and using the Windows opearating system is a no-go for me. The Centro is minimally different from my Treo 650 in functionality. The Palm software has not changed much in years. The Palm is going the way of the Swiss watch.
Everyone is so quick to predict the demise of Palm. Yet the Centro has been selling, it is now across all the major carriers. Windows V. 6 , wasn't it on V 3 like a year ago or was it two? one gets confused since Windows works so well. Someone called Palm old technology that has not been improved on. Well Microsoft improved on XP and came out with Vista? Blackberries are also old technology with there claim to fame being push mail. Well Windows is here bye bye to Blackberry also? I doubt it. There will always be Palm people, Blackberry people and the bleeding edge of technology Windoze people. Don't count anyone out yet