Palm's Ed Colligan laughs off iPhone

"We've learned and struggled for a few years here figuring out how to make a decent phone," Ed Colligan apparently laughed about with John Markoff last Thursday morning. "PC guys are not going to just figure this out. They're not going to just walk in." Ed, baby, sweetheart, a couple quick reminders. First: it's not hard to beat "decent," especially when your phones are on the 2004 cutting edge of design and you still haven't managed to slim it like a Q or WiFi it like an HTC. Second: PC guys already did figure it out -- that's why you're running Windows Mobile on your phones, remember? Not that we really have to continue, but third: as John Hodgman and Justin Long would have us remember, the sad, disgruntled differences between "PC guys" and Mac guys tend to transcend borders and cultures. Gates isn't Jobs, and Steve's phone certainly isn't going to be riddled with the same issues as our beloved WinMo. No, the iPhone will have its own set of annoying issues, but believe you us, Ed, Apple will "just walk in," so you'd better have a few and-one-more-thing-s up those sleeves of yours if you're thinking about stopping a mass defection.

[Via PalmInfocenter]

[LittleJoe @ Nov 21st 2006 5:36AM]

"This appears to be a heavily oppinionated editorial, not a report on someones comments." - Intrepid

And your point?

I do believe its a blog... not a news network. (as if those were even unbiased)

[Richard Dy @ Nov 21st 2006 8:17AM]

well, news tells us it's gonna happen so... and so if it's vapoware then nobody should also laugh at it...

[N.R. @ Nov 21st 2006 5:15AM]

I'd say: a little too optimistic :) maybe iphone would have a good design, but making a phone out of scratch requires a lot of time while they get themselves into the gsm scene, all those technologies, options, menus, etc. most manufacturers have gone through numerous generations of devices before they started making acceptable units. apple would require more time on it. i would guess - not earlier than autumn 2007

[Lostcase @ Jun 12th 2009 10:44AM]

"N.R. @ Nov 21st 2006 5:15AM

I'd say: a little too optimistic :) maybe iphone would have a good design, but making a phone out of scratch requires a lot of time while they get themselves into the gsm scene, all those technologies, options, menus, etc. most manufacturers have gone through numerous generations of devices before they started making acceptable units. apple would require more time on it. i would guess - not earlier than autumn 2007"

This is very funny to read in '09.

[Intrepid @ Nov 21st 2006 5:20AM]

This appears to be a heavily oppinionated editorial, not a report on someones comments. Either way, Apple may take the field quickly, but without a good product they may loose ground even quicker...

[tnkgrl @ Nov 21st 2006 5:27AM]

N.R., remember that when Apple originally designed the iPod, it hired PortalPlayer & Toshiba to supply a lot of the key technologies... Nothing stops Apple from contracting a GSM phone manufacturers like Samsung (whom they already have a relatiosnhip with) to supply the key technologies! Apple then polishes the design, UI, and software integration, and voila - iPhone :)

[DM @ Nov 21st 2006 5:31AM]

iPhone by Apple right?? How innovative. (sarcasm)

[tudaloo @ Nov 21st 2006 5:41AM]

Don't you mean iNnovative?

At least it's easy to remember and you know exactly what product it is, unlike the SGH-D900, VX8300, K790a, CU500 alphabet soup.

[Veritas II @ Nov 21st 2006 6:31AM]

The point is that these guys claim credibility and then pull stunts like this. Make up your minds Engadget, are you credible journalists or unaccountable bloggers?

[Vanillacide @ Nov 21st 2006 5:39AM]

Well the story goes that he's allegedly spent the last two years trying to sell Palm to Apple, who kept turning him down.

[DM @ Nov 21st 2006 5:55AM]

So it's the difficult to remember model numbers thats bothering you huh? And your solution to this is to buy some brand with models easy to memorise? Funny stuff.

[Billy Ash @ Nov 21st 2006 5:45AM]

There are known knowns, there are unknown knowns.....

No body really known what Apple is going to do, but the truth is, that a significant part of the success of the iPod has to do with Apple being there at the right time. It's debatable as to whether that was due to luck or design.

The thing with phones, is that the all-in-one solution actually sells phones. People WANT an MP3 player, emailer, picture taker, radio player phone. But historically apple has shied away from that in order to keep things simple.

[DM @ Nov 21st 2006 6:06AM]

So basically, if this is all true, iPhone is like an iPod slash cellphone right? Apples iPod low battery life has been an issue, now imagine that with a cellphone capability.

[joram Oudenaarde @ Nov 21st 2006 5:50AM]

Wether Apple did it or someone else, doesn't matter.
Look at the iPod... made from scratch, even though there were others before them. Instant hit.
Look at the iMac G4 and G5/intel... made from scratch, instant hit. Others dit before, but they designed and created it.

Perhaps it's still vaporware, who knows... but Ed Colligan talks nonsense when he says it can't be done. There are numerous products (also from other manufacturers) that were made from scratch, and became an instant hit. Of course the iPhone (if it comes) will have it's quirks. But so does WinMo and SymbianOS.

[mas90guru @ Nov 21st 2006 5:51AM]

What happens if Apple does produce a phone. And lets say the phone lets you somehow use your existing iPod music. Maybe the phone has enough memory to be an iPod replacement for many people.

I think this would give it serious entry to the mobile phone market. There are enough people looking to reduce the number of devices they carry that a smartly designed iPhone would be a great competitor.

[- @ Nov 21st 2006 6:08AM]

"So it's the difficult to remember model numbers thats bothering you huh? And your solution to this is to buy some brand with models easy to memorise?"

I'm taking it from a marketing standpoint, if there were to be an "iPhone," the branding potential is already much greater and already separates itself from the pack of codified names. It's such a simple naming convention that I can mention "iPhone" to most anyone up-to-date on current events and they will be able to guess who the manufacturer is--that itself is valuable and is a point earned against a competitor with a cryptic name.

[GJP303 @ Nov 21st 2006 6:03PM]

i find model numbers just as easy to remember as other models w/ easy to remember names like the Chocolate or iPod.

[Ignacio @ Nov 21st 2006 8:49AM]

"So basically, if this is all true, iPhone is like an iPod slash cellphone right? Apples iPod low battery life has been an issue, now imagine that with a cellphone capability."

Picture an iPod nano slash cellphone. The iPod nano has 24 hours of *continuous playback*, and the iPhone is likely to have flash memory as well, so I don't think battery life would be a problem.

Personally, I only have charge my nano twice a month...

[LittleJoe @ Nov 21st 2006 6:43AM]

So you cant be credible and opinionated at the same time?

If you want political correctness and those unrealistic hopes of "unbiased news" you are obviously looking in the wrong place and Id dare you to find something that actually meets your expectations.

I guess some people just need others to make their lives PC, unbiased and easy to chew.

[Ryan Block @ Nov 21st 2006 11:40AM]

How about we: 1) report the news, 2) give our opinions on it? Because that's what we've been doing since day one, and that's what I did today. I don't think the iPhone would/will be so great, I just think Colligan has his own things to worry about before he makes comments about the handset industry's greatest-fear of any single new competitor.

[DRCross @ Nov 21st 2006 6:59AM]

Hah, what a stupid and smug bastard. Does he not realise Apple were unknown in the music player industry until making the Ipod, now they have sold in excess of 40 million and changed the industry forever.

[Aaron @ Nov 21st 2006 7:23AM]

Has anyone from Apple actually said that they were going to make a phone?

[Richard Dy @ Nov 21st 2006 8:26AM]

Apple Signed A Letter I Guess? to make 12 millions iPhone from also the producer of iPod FoxConn? I Dunno? Go to www.appleinsider.com I'm just trying to stay innocent hahaha.. But I Know It's Confirmed and is on the making process already by next year it's out

[jonas @ Nov 21st 2006 7:27AM]

"...you still haven't managed to slim it like a Q..."

being slim is nice, but if it does not have the usability factor like a treo v. Q...blackjack is another story. ; )

[Seamus D Dog @ Nov 21st 2006 7:28AM]

Wow, you posters are the saddest bunch of folks I've seen in a long time. You fail to understand that both Ryan and Peter are hardly Apple whores - they trash the iPod at every opportunity, write and complain about Apple product problems (or do you folks even read the site or listen to the podcast. Even in the above post, Ryan states that the iPhone will come with its own set of problems. So either you're really just rabid Anti-Apple idiots - pot meet kettle - or Palm fanboys. Seeing as there can't possibly be any of the latter, you must all fall into the idiot category.

I can almost see you all reading Engadget by the hour and getting all upset at what poor journalists Ryan, Peter and company are. Too bad they have the successful popular site, read by hundreds of thousands, and you're still posting little comments. Keep it real, Ryan: I happen to like hearing your opinions.

[Veritas II @ Nov 21st 2006 7:44AM]

Yeah, like when they told everyone to go buy a Red Nano. That's really trashin' 'em.

Liar.

[Jonathan Allen @ Nov 21st 2006 7:31AM]

Back up to 2004 when Steve Jobs announced the move to Intel. In that keynote, he mentioned that thier entire product line was about 5 years out. If that is consistent, then the iPhone (assuming it ever hits shelves) would have been in the planning and designing stages for 4-5 years. That isn't a rush-to-market attempt at a phone.

[saboola @ Nov 21st 2006 7:43AM]

Is this the same asshat that stuck 32 megs of RAM in my Treo 700w? Yeah, everyone should listen to you guys....

[Surur @ Nov 21st 2006 8:01AM]

Ah, a clash of Apple and Palm fanbois. I love the smell of NaPalm in the morning...

[inteller @ Nov 21st 2006 5:34PM]

I love the smell of NoPalm in the morning.

Palm is done for. After seeing the Samsung Blackjack, the Treo 700w, 750, or whatever they want to call it is DOA.

[Z @ Nov 21st 2006 8:12AM]

That's one of the best posts I've read of yours, Ryan. Gave me a good laugh.

Very true, cutting, and to the point. Palm has always seemed to be more than a little dense about a lot of things.

[jack @ Nov 21st 2006 8:14AM]

And the cry babies come out. This post wasnt as pro apple as it was anti-palm's remark. Get it straight. If you cannot stand to hear a single negative remark about your palm then go read the palm newsletter. I have the treo 700wx and love it. I have had a treo since 600 so I am sorta of a loyal user. However, if you dismiss a competitor as strong as Apple (and microsoft, yep, he did mention windows too, not just apple)you show a glaring sign of shortsightedness, and that is unacceptable.

[Richard Dy @ Nov 21st 2006 8:14AM]

hmmm... It's I Think is a blog and well, it's the internet... and why should someone say something to apple like that.. surely Ed should also get some a** kicking...Remember iPhone is not out yet so neither of anyone has any idea of what will happen... saying that it's too early for apple and who knows? maybe you'll hold one in a near future...

[Josh @ Nov 21st 2006 8:33AM]

Of course Palm is trying to throw water on Apple's entry in their territory. They have reason to be scared and don't think for a second this laughter is anything but fear. Also slamming Ryan as a fanboy is missing the point and letting Palm off the hook. Read between the lines and you can see a disgruntled Treo owner baited into a reply (harsh? maybe, but true) by Colligan's ridiculous comments. I've been suffering with my Treo 650 (unlocked gsm) since I picked it up. (poor rf, ridiculous bugs, im and vm lags, etc.) and I've done due diligence updating firmware, trying to take advantage of Palm's expansive software lineup, etc. but nothing can change the fact that they are way behind the bleeding edge with these offerings. Asthetic shortcomings aside, the Treo lineup in not evolving fast enough. Period.

[onebluehaze @ Nov 21st 2006 8:40AM]

You dont have to be an Apple Fanboy to see that Palms heads a bit bigger than it should be... The treo was great, 3 years ago. I sold my treo 650 for a moto razr v3i, it has 10x the data connectivity features, better reception, and style.

Palm phones suck really, and they used to be a sub PC guy before they went into phones with those PDA's, so maybe they just need smarter people over there at Palm is all. :P

Give me computer data connectivity, bluetooth, wifi, a qwerty keyboard and something that does not reboot during a call every other day, add in some itunes and a decent megapixal camera, and you can call it whatever you want... iphone, uphone, I would buy it. Loard knows palm cant pull off 1/3 of the above. Heck, they cant even stick with a logo or name for very long. Palm -> PalmOne -> Palm -> ?

[M Toons @ Nov 21st 2006 1:56PM]

iPhone, uPhone, WiiPhone. :-)

[nicholas @ Nov 21st 2006 8:52AM]

Yes, opinionated. Not about Apple however, but about Palm... When I look at phones (the available ones, not the p990a or n95), I seem to be considering RIMs. These used to be the most conservative of all, but now they pretty handily beat just about anything Palm creates.

The iPhone will just walk in, because there isn't a mobile out there that's got it down. Just walk into a Verizon store and weep. It'll likely be too simplified for my tastes, but it will work and work well.

[dcpmark @ Nov 21st 2006 9:09AM]

I'm both a Palm and an Apple fanboy, but I'm also a fan of good reception and coverage. Unless Apple does Verizon, I'll never buy an iPhone. Guess that makes me a Verizon fanboy as well......

[Ryan @ Nov 21st 2006 9:16AM]

You people just dont get what apple does. Apple is one of the most innovative companies to come around in a long time. Apple takes an existing product and designs easy to use FUNCTIONAL...i cant say FUNCTIONAL enough times.....they design easy to use functional software to simplify the process of using such device in a way that opens up it up to users who would never use it. What i mean by open up is this...MP3 players...wow they have been out for a long time now...yes they have..but what apple did is simple..it didnt make a better mp3 player...it made the same old mp3 player with software so good that everyone even your grandmother can figure out how to use it. Software so innovative that now everyone is syncing up their mp3 players with their macs...and dare i say syncing up with their pcs to load up their music and now pictures and movies. Its like what Tivo did for TV. Took TV and made it interactive in a way that changed the way we watched television. I garuntee apple will do the same thing with cell phones..The cell phone market is even more screwed up then the pc market was. NOTHING WORKS IN THE CELL PHONE MARKET...do you hear me NOTHING!!!! Let me explain. You cant easily sync your phone with your computer..(i dont wanna hear about you people who bought cables from ebay to sync your palms or any other phones that you have) verizon, cingular or any other carrier doesnt want you to sync...end of story...you cant get your pictures that you take with YOUR PHONE.....YOUR PHONE YOU ALREADY PAYED FOR!!!! off of your phone and onto your computer. THEY WANT YOU TO PAY FOR THAT!!!!...phones are mp3 players now?!?! wow must be free?!? nope pay for that too. pay for wallpapers...ringtones...movies clips...news clips....or any other garbage you want on your device that is completely locked from using any of its features...Apple will come in and make a normal phone that has a camera like every other phone and completely unlock it. NO FEES...syncing made seemless and easy...plays music from itunes that you can use for ringtones..no more paying for shit to get it on your phone...your own backgrounds...your own movies....your own everything...Like i said before they will take an existing product design an easy to use functional software package to go along with it and bam....INSTANT HIT...why because now everyone and their mother will be syncing cell phones and uploading their pics to myspace or whatever other thing they wanna use them for. Apple is innovative.

[Alan Strangis @ Nov 21st 2006 9:29AM]

I think Ryan's probably off base on this one. I don't see Apple making a spontaneous jump into the 'smartphone' space so much as the 'feature phone' one.

I doubt Palm is going to be a target of Apple's nascent iPhone division for some time to come, as any such product will be aiming for the hipsters who rock out with ther RAZR and iPod, not the guy furiously tapping away at the spreadsheet his WinMo/Palm device.

Rest easy Palm, it's not Apple that's gonna kill you, just the march of time (from a former Palm loyalist who's sad to see them slipping further behind every year).

[Ryan Block @ Nov 21st 2006 11:50AM]

It doesn't have to be a smartphone to kill Palm's market share though!

[loosely_coupled @ Jun 12th 2009 4:59PM]

This is funny reading for June 2009..

[Darien @ Jun 13th 2009 12:12AM]

This is funny reading in June 2009.
Boy was he wrong!

[jeffinToronto @ Nov 21st 2006 9:52AM]

Nobody seems to realize that this is corporate speak. Ed could be shaking in his boots that another player is coming to market. Wheter it is a "smart" phone or not, another entrant is another entrant. He has shareholders and analysts that listen to every word coming out of his mouth. He CAN'T say that Palm or anyone else will be hurt by Apple if it enters the market whether he believes it or not because the market will repond negatively. He has to put on a brave face and claim Palm will prevail. Ever hear companies talk about a potential lawsuit? They will "always prevail" even though half lose.

[ERIC @ Nov 21st 2006 10:28AM]

Palm hasn't done anything radical or different since the 90's....If the iphone has a leather strap, it would still blow away any current palm device..

[Alan Strangis @ Nov 21st 2006 10:28AM]

jeffinToronto: (shout out to a fellow t.dot rez!)

True to a certain extent, but the cellphone market has some pretty distinct segments. There's the 'computer in my pocket' types, the 'I just need the basics' people, the 'crackberry' crowd, 'media junkies' etc.

I'd bet ya, dollars to donuts, that the iPhone (at least for the first couple of iterations) is going to aim squarely at the media junkie crowd. Sure, Apple COULD be working on a full-fledged smartphone, but I suspect that even with Cupertino's famed secrecy, that there'd be some pretty significant leaks prior to the release of a mobile OSX type device.

Though I think Palm has it's head in the sand sometimes (that's why I switched to WM5 and don't regret it), they'll likely be pretty safe from an iPhone release, because of the market segmentation.

[len @ Nov 21st 2006 10:38AM]

Such naivete. Have you forgotten ROKR already? Why do you think Jobs' magic pixie dust will make it different?

And what good is an expensive phone that can't run third party software? Most new phones already play music.

And if it does succeed, do you honestly think Nokia couldn't come out with three variations in six months that duplicate the functionality?

Oh, that's right. iTunes. Congratulations on your captive market. Milk it for all that it's worth.

[nikster @ Nov 21st 2006 8:19PM]

One fact to keep in mind, which has me convinced that the Apple iPhone will kick some major ass: Apple did NOT make the iPhone for a long time because, as Jobs himself admitted, the market was "too competitive". Meaning, Apple couldn't see a way to improve over already-excellent Nokias etc.

But now things are different. The iPhone will come and blow all other phones out of the water. Not features-wise, but ease-of-use-wise. Why? Because smart phones with camera, organizer, mp3 player etc are a whole different ballpark to plain old phones, and the cell phone makers are truly struggling to make them easy to use.

I have a brand new Nokia N73 which can do everything, and which I tested beforehand - it was the best to use of all the phones I tried. Beat Samsung easily. But its still awkward. I would never use it to listen to music - too many roadblocks in the way, the Nokia sync software is completely broken, on-board storage space laughable. I could think of about a hundred needed improvements starting with a hardware key lock button.
And that's just me. Apple can probably think of more, and come up with better solutions, so the time is ripe for them to enter the market. The N73 will go up on ebay as soon as that happens - it's a decent phone, but seriously, I excpect the iPhone to be way better. I expect it to be iPod-good ;)

[Darien @ Jun 13th 2009 12:13AM]

This is funny reading in June 2009, boy were you wrong!

[len @ Jun 13th 2009 2:53AM]

Wrong? That the iPhone would be a toy without third party software? That iTunes would be the center of it all?

The iPhone payed for my house. How did you capitalize on your zealotry, fanboy?