Comments on: The Sound of One Palm Clapping

By: the undude

the undude — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 10:54:36 +0000

I agree with Steven James 100%.

By: Zealot

Zealot — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 13:39:38 +0000

I agree completely that there must be more they can do with the trust the business community has in Palm. Now that early indications is that iPhone 3G is not cutting much more ice in the business community then the first iPhone did, there may be a window of opportunity. Perhaps there is some market to be taken back from Symbian or Blackberry.

Looking around my office, Smartphone wise, I would say we are 70 percent Symbian, 25 percent WinMo (mainly HTC) and a few iPhones and Blackberries scattered about. Of those users, I can’t think of any that are devoted to Symbian, where as the WinMo or other OS users tend to be dedicated to their brand. Perhaps Symbian is a nut that Palm’s business rep can crack a bit.

By: Steven James

Steven James — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 13:27:59 +0000

With Android, Symbian, Windows Mobile, Linux, and MacOS (iPhone) I highly doubt that Palm could have anything further to offer in the small-device operating system. They would be better off concentrating their efforts on UI and hardware design, as well as leveraging their well-known name in the business device market. The iPhone has only just added enterprise support, and at a fairly high cost. Marketing their experience and history would work well for Palm, I think.

By: doogald

doogald — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 13:26:38 +0000

I think that there are two markets for smartphone users – the geek crowd like us, who care about which technologies and OSes are offered, and a far higher non-technical market which cares more about price, basic functionality, ease of use – and looking cool.

A successful POS smartphone at a low price point, even with an aging OS, shows that it’s possible to succeed so long as you demonstrate good value to consumers. The only possible problem that POS may face is an inevitable increase in functionality of basic, “non-smart” mobile phones. If the manufacturers can figure out how to make them easy to use, the Centro may not look so desirable.

By: Zealot

Zealot — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 12:31:35 +0000

Flawless execution is certainly going to be a must. They will need to win back retailers who feel burned by them and show they deserve shelf space.

Hardware design has never been their problem, and I would not be surprised if they were not already looking to port the new OS into third party devices.

As for encouraging developers to create Apps, Palm’s greatest strength has always been the loyalty and fervor of their development community. They are STILL putting out great apps for Garnet, as old as it is. If Palm puts out the OS, the devs will come.

By: the undude

the undude — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 12:21:39 +0000

a new os from palm would be just the beginning of the work palm needs to execute flawlessly. add to the list excellent design, compelling price-points and some way to encourage isvs to develop awesome applications on the new platform

By: marianne

marianne — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 00:28:08 +0000

I must say that I’m one of those former Palm fans who is thoroughly disappointed with Palm’s lack of innovation and recent products. Why is it going to take them until 2009 to put out their new OS? With all the effort that’s going into this, it had better be good. And, for the love of God, make it stable! My Treo 680 and Treo 600 were absolutely terrible – with hardly any 3rd party applications on them, they crashed regularly and I felt like I could never rely on them when I needed them most. My iPhone, Apple’s *first* attempt at a phone, is 10 times more stable than my Treo 680 was. I hope John Rubinstein is teaching Palm R&D a few lessons he learned at Apple…