"Five reasons for Palm's slide"
posted September 29th 2005 10:40AM
Palm sure doesn't seem as, um, Palmy anymore with the whole, you know,
Windows Mobile on a Treo
thing. Obviously the company will live on, but with the very future of the OS in peril it seems like something must
have gone rather wrong at Palm to bring this once proud handheld manufacturer so low. An article over at ZDNet by Mike
Singer has one opinion of what happened, citing a slow move towards useful wireless, lacking corporate features, some
silly company restructuring, the loss of founders Jeff
Hawkins and Donna Dubinsky, and a couple of flubbed product launches that ending up stranding existing inventory of
products on the clearance rack of no return. Seems pretty spot on. Now if you'll excuse us, we're going to go have a
talk with our Treo 650 and try to convince him that it's not his fault, sometimes two companies just don't love each
other anymore but that doesn't mean they'll ever stop loving him.
[Via Slashdot]
I loved the Palm V and was really hoping they'd make even smaller versions in the future. Instead they got caught on the feature-itis kick and tried to be all things to all people.
If Palm offered a nano sized PDA I'd buy one today.
I'm not sure so Microsoft has it right either. Their Windows Mobile software is still lacking some much needed features
If the iPod had Palm OS on it I would have one. That would be a match made in heaven. All it would need after dat would be Bluetooth and 802.11. Whether I'll see that by 2010 is a good question.
I use a PocketPC. When people ask if I have a Palm, I say, "No, I use a PocketPC."
If I buy a PPC-OS Palm, what will I have?
--It certainly blurs the lines. We'll need new names to differentiate the two.
I wish there was more general freeware available for the palm platform. I know there are some sites out there, but most of it consisted of Trialware. Of course, it's no longer an issue since my Visor mysteriously died a month ago. No worries, i have a PSP, cell phone & Ipod for game/crude organizing/music needs.
If you have a Palm PDA operating Windows Mobile then you have a Pocket PC.
Oh, not again!
These news stories about Palm losing its grip are ridiculous. They are a first and foremost a HARDWARE company. Remember that they purposely split off the software unit (PalmSource) many, many years ago.
So whats the big surprise about using the Microsoft OS? Seems smart to me if they want to get into the corporate market even though the UI sucks compared to the PalmOS .. for now.
This was done to do just that get into the corporate market.
Perhaps is palmsource has updated the creaky, crappy palm OS in any sort of regular and timely fashion, the palm os wouldn't be toast. I had an original US Robitics Palm Pilot Personal back in 1996 (or somewhen), and the Sony TG50 I bought offered precious few improvements for a decade of OS evolution.
Half our office has Blackberries, half have Treos running on Goodlink. The former are jealous of the latter.
Does my Goodlink Treo use the Palm OS at all? Don't know the technical answer, but know that the hardware + Goodlink beats the pants off of anything else I have seen.
"So whats the big surprise about using the Microsoft OS? Seems smart to me if they want to get into the corporate market even though the UI sucks compared to the PalmOS .. for now."
The problem is that there's not much money to be had being a Microsoft hardware partner. Microsoft tend to cream off all of the profits and leave the hardware vendor with very tight margains. Just look at what happened to IBM.
What exactly does Palm add now? Microsoft make the OS and HTC actually manufacturer the Treo range. Palm is just a middle-man, increasing the cost of the device and probably the time-to-market too.
I've started treating my Treo 650 very daintily. While I hope a new 700p will come out in the Spring (if not this Fall), if it doesn't, my 650 is going to have to last a loooong time.
I can give you two reasons Palm OS has begun to flop:
- Graffiti 2
- No functional upgrades since OS 5.2.8 (just bug-laden eye-candy)
They need to wipe everything away and start over from 5.2.8. Add features that actually do something, and keep away from eye-candy and those useless launcher favorites.
They need to also have better options for input. They need options to toggle between Graffiti 1, Graffiti 2, and the onscreen Keyboard. That's at the minimum. Even better would to have customizable strokes. PalmSource should have licensed TealScript instead of Jot: that would have kept their customers happy as well as Xerox.
Why on earth do people winge so much about graffiti 2? Much much better IMO than G1.
Have you slouch lizards checked out MobiTV? My buddy downloaded it and it is so friggin' cool. Useful? Umm... this IS Engadget folks...
"keep away from eye-candy and those useless launcher favorites".
True dat.
The POS platform may not grow much in its current state, however POS on linux has the potential to be something quite robust, both design wise and functionally.
When Coke introduced 'New Coke' years ago, Pepsi was so delighted that Coke had basically admitted that Pepsi was better than Coke that Pepsi gave all their employees the day off.
Palm adopting windows basically is like Palm saying, ok Windows you have the better operating system and we are now giving you the GREEN LIGHT to become the undisputed smartphone operating system.
I dont think Gates could have been happier with a blow job than this victory over Palm.
So does Palm now put LOTS of time and effort into making the next Palm OS Treo better than than any previous Treo's (including Windows) or will it just fade away.
The next Palm Treo will be very telling of the fate of Palm. OS 5 Garnet = bad news. OS 6 Cobalt or other, = hope.
sorry peter and ryan, but i have to mention that actually, your treo650 was stillborn.
["Why on earth do people winge so much about graffiti 2? Much much better IMO than G1."]
G2 is buggy, inconsistent and slow compared to G1. It's completely illogical.
In the past Palm periodically introduced new models that were an undisputed high point, not only within the Palm product line, but in the entire industry. The PalmPilot Professional (backlight), the Palm V (small size, metal case), the Tungsten T (new CPU, high-res screen). IMO they haven't hit the same kind of mark since. Of course I say that because I have a Tungsten T. I'm sure that WiFi SDIO card support is coming any day now...