Palm's Ed Colligan: Foleo is the Wii of portable computing

We've seen Jeff Hawkins' -- the synaptic guns behind the Palm Pilot, Handspring, and Treo -- take on the ill-received Foleo. Now we've got the thoughts from his boss, Ed Colligan, CEO of Palm, Inc. As you'd expect, Ed toe the party line with the "mobile companion" spin. He even compares it to the PS3 vs. Wii battle, citing "technology overload" as the mysterious (and massively oversimplified) force that will drive people to Palm's new platform as it has the Wii. Ed also tells us that Palm will be providing the tools to developers after which he expects, "very quickly, there'll be thousands of applications" for the Linux-based Foleo. Hey Colligan man! We get it, but we still don't think it's a good idea. Though if only for nostalgia sake, we'd love to be wrong. See the video after the break.

[ywpark @ May 31st 2007 4:27AM]

I wonder what type of hardware it has underneath (ARM? x86? PPC?)

While I think the concept of a simplified business machine may find its niche, palm has to realize that there are devices called "Origami PCs" with full windows app support plus mobility factor (only a bit too pricy for now).

[Ihar `Philips` Filipau @ May 31st 2007 4:28AM]

This is just dumb.

People like Wii because it is simple and popular games are easily associated with real world games - learning curve on Wii is close to flat.

And now he is trying to draw a parallel with device which has all the disadvantages of modern portables - keyboard, stupid emulator of mouse and relatively high price.

To me Foleo - from POV of PS3 v. Wii - looks more like version of PS3 but with smaller screen and no blu-ray. IOW, Foleo is another reiteration of classical PC-based platform - with sticker "portable" glued at top.

As I have already commented before, kill keyboard and add touchscreen - the device then might be interesting. Otherwise, people already have bunch of similar (and very familiar) options to chose from - and thanks to ebay often cheaper than $500.

[Joe Henson @ May 31st 2007 4:38AM]

This reminds me of the Psion Series 7, that failed as (sadly) this will too.
It's all about Treos guys com on! Employ some young hot shots to come up with something truly cutting edge.
I don't know Apple are the only people who can make people say wow.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psion_7

[supermeerkat @ May 31st 2007 4:47AM]

You said "Wii". Huh huh huh!

[Robert Syme @ May 31st 2007 5:20AM]

Foleo might get some traction for students who (like me) are typing lecture notes on smartphones with bluetooth keyboards. This setup saves having to lug a laptop around campus, and keeps my notes available 24-7. I payed AU$200 for my keyboard, so to pay a little extra for a screen is not such a stretch. That said, it's not the biggest market in the world.
-r

[craig @ May 31st 2007 8:57AM]

How will a Foleo save you from having to "lug" a laptop around when it is one?

[Ruben @ May 31st 2007 5:28AM]

Guys...There is no camera and np skype client. That is the point off failure.

[Naranek @ May 31st 2007 5:31AM]

I think that a lot of the device's success depends on the underlying OS. If it is good to use and people start creating additional software, this might well take off. The regular palm PDAs aren't that special on their own, but you can do miracles with all the additional software. What I'd really want to see now are the full specs and some info on the platform itself.

Also - a similar device with flexible screen would be nice. Yeah, and a built in video projector ;)

[tekdroid @ May 31st 2007 5:42AM]

this device needs excitement and buzz if it is to take off.

I still don't know why I'd want this over a laptop costing a few cents more. Unless battery life is 3x that of a laptop and applications are really something unique, I doubt I'd want it.

[PK @ May 31st 2007 5:47AM]

It is so annoying that people are so negative and quick to laugh at this product when they don't even understand it!
No camera? Can't play video?
Anyone with half a brain would realise that this device isn't aimed at the portable multimedia junkies that want all power and all functionaly *and* portability *and* battery life on their product.
This product is aimed at business people, students, journalists/writers etc who don't generally need to play music or videos on their device but want something that is convenient, easy to type on, can easily sync with available wireless technologies (wifi and phone networks) and is portable. Without a hard disk, the Foleo gives instant on and long battery life - I know hundreds of people in my company that travel a lot between meetings during the day and would love a device like this that is truly a phone companion!

Now I'll admit it isn't the most exciting or attractive product out there, but there is definitely a market out there for this, so people stop laughing at it and making out that it will fail against PDAs or UMPCs or tablets and recognise the niche that this product is aimed at. The business world will be very interested in this product!!

PK

[Tom @ May 31st 2007 6:05AM]

This product will probably fail against PDAs and UMPCs.

[Pete @ May 31st 2007 6:08AM]

An instant-on device with good battery life and a smaller-than-a-laptop form factor could do well. Unfortunately, the battery life doesn't sound that good and it seems to require the connection to a smart phone?

As a stand-alone device I like the idea. As a 'companion' to another gadget, I hate it.

[spam_from_engadget @ May 31st 2007 6:31AM]

I just wanted to add some positive thoughts to the very negative feeling here about this product.

Yes, if you already have a "real" laptop, you probably don't want this thing. But a lot of people don't have "real" laptops, or they have crap ones: heavy, large, low battery life etc. I'm one of those people. For me, a product that (a) is small yet still has a real keyboard, (b) has a reasonably battery life, and above all (c) is cheap, has a real chance of success. I want to do email, edit documents, write code, surf the web - and not much else; and I do it sufficiently rarely that I can't justify spending a lot of money on it.

I think that the key consideration is whether the software environment is good enough. For me, if I can get a bash prompt and "apt-get", it is good enough. There may not be enough people like me for that to guarantee success in the market though.

I suspect that most Engadget readers have already got "addicted" to what a laptop with a fast processor offers (games, whizzy effects etc) and have got used to the cost. That's fine, but there are other groups of people.

The article compares it to the Wii. How about comparing it to the Mac Mini? I bet not many Engadget readers own one of them (too cheap & low performance), yet you appreciate that it suits some people, I hope.

[Jacob @ May 31st 2007 6:33AM]

Did anyone else notice the interviewer trying to suppress laughter at the end of the interview? This Flopeo is a travesty!

[strider_mt2k @ May 31st 2007 6:53AM]

Someone else said it alot better a long time ago:

It's better to burn out than it is to rust.

[Cleverboy @ May 31st 2007 7:12AM]

Points of failure:
+ Price
+ Purpose

As a companion to the cell phone it should not cost MORE than the cellphone. In the video, Colligan *pretends* the device costs $499. That's NOT the price. It's $599, with a $100 rebate. If he said how much it really cost, he would look even worst saying even, even adding the addendum, "And we have a $100 rebate, so its really $499." What IS that anyway?

Due to the SUPER high price, this directly effects perception. It's immediately competing with laptops and UMPCs. Once they're in the same arena, people don't feel too bad simply paying a little extra for a "real" machine... even used.

If this product came in at $199-$249... absolutely NO ONE would be balking, and everyone would be wondering if their phone was compatible. As it stands...? Not so much.

[Andy @ May 31st 2007 7:20AM]

The one question I would ask is "Would Apple have created this?". And then I fall about on the floor laughing.

A piece of boring, blinkered, technology requiring another piece of hardware - in this case a very particular phone (that most people will only have until the iPhone comes out) - to be of any use.

Sure some people my buy it, some people bought most of the flubs from the past, but set the world alight? Become a hot new revenue stream? Inspire designers and workers alike? I think not. There's just too many also-rans (and too inspirational products) out there to waste time and money on something so clearly last century.

Next!

[craig @ May 31st 2007 9:04AM]

There are a lot of things Apple wouldn't do that have been incredibly successful. This, however, will not be one of them. It isn't even new, clamshell PDAs have been done before and the reason for their rejection is that they don't run Windows apps.

[Steve @ May 31st 2007 7:26AM]

I don't get it. Why is Palm making a laptop from the 1980's?

[Eric Glassman @ May 31st 2007 7:34AM]

"Wii" would like to fail.

Actually, maybe this has a chance. Your broadband phone is always with you. When you go away for a week, you take this, cuz it's light and easy to lug around. This setup saves you a wireless modem/card in the laptop, which weighs about one billionth of an ounce.

So, I think it's alright for one week. And, horrible and worthless the other 51. Five Hundred dollars? Ya, it'll do just fine.

[Press er John @ May 31st 2007 7:38AM]

This is a device I could easily find a use for, although I have a perfectly good laptop and desktop -- and I don't own a smartphone (I don't use my current cell much, so I can't justify the expense).

I take notes extensively, in everything I do. This is a critter that can do that well, will still allow me to surf the net via wi-fi (built-in Opera, I think I've heard?) and write up basic documents, is instant-on, and is light and cheap. I've heard it has at least one SD slot to increase memory, and a decently large SD card is nothing to sneeze at.

Yeah, I can definitely use this machine. I'll be picking one up once they're out.

[David Balogh @ May 31st 2007 8:00AM]

And that's the point really. I'd love to know how many people really use their phones for documents. Email? ok. Browsing? kinda. But office? God shoot me in the face I ever work somewhere that I need to do my presentations and docs on a phone. And on that same vain, I have no use fo a phone companion. Ugly at that, and yes, so 1980s. WHen are these industrial designers gonna step up and create some interesting products? Did Apple (dare I say) steal the only good designers out there? Anyway, why would you talk about the world of computing and mention the Wii? This conversation shows how little focus Palm has, and how they can't compete with the iPhone, so a mini laptop may just do the trick. Oh, And the Palm CEO is a doof, he coulda played one of those fathers or stock brokers in an 80s classic movie.

[JinKazama @ May 31st 2007 7:55AM]

This product would fare far better if they licensed the tech to laptop makers to be incorporated into full featured laptops. The device by itself while very cool is really not practical.

If you have a PDA/phone and a laptop you can sync the two via cradle/usb that process is not enough of a hassle to justify another device to eliminate that process.

License the tech palm and you have something.

[Sandro @ May 31st 2007 8:15AM]

Two things can discriminate how useful this product will be:
- The battery lifetime (it has to be similar to a normal cellphone)
- The weight

[John @ May 31st 2007 8:22AM]

Wrong. Palm thinks I want/need 3 devices. I only want to carry one. I'll settle for 2, untill you can fold a 17" laptop into a cellphone.

[brad @ May 31st 2007 8:32AM]

i still fail to see what direct makret this is after..If my comapny is sending me out to do a project for them, they will provide me with a laptop...not some partially working $500 machine that requires my cellphone to acess the comapanys vpn

[RX @ May 31st 2007 8:49AM]

This is going to fail miserably, as a mobile worker, yes e-mail is the most important tool you need to do your work, but its not the only thing...besides a word processor you need:
-Spreadsheets
-Presentation/Powerpoint software
-Ability to view PDFS

and most importantly access to any applications or systems that your job/business requires...which are usually installed on your laptop

Not everything is web-based, there are still tonnes of applications that require some type of client running on your machine...

I can't see this flying at all...especially at that price point and spec sheet...its cheaper to deploy a full blown laptop and dual/boot REAL linux on it or just install linux outright!

[Robert @ May 31st 2007 8:57AM]

The question is, where do I keep my data? Google would say, on the net, you just need a browser to get to it. Palm is saying your most important data - addresses, appointments, email, and selected documents are on your phone. You take the phone everywhere and always have this data. The better use it, you want a bigger screen and a keyboard and the Folio is that. There is no syncing of the Folio, it uses the data on the phone.

Another analog is the iPod. You take it with you and experience your music. If you want an bigger music experience you dock it to some set of speakers. Palm is saying the same: The phone is like the iPod; the Folio is like a set of speakers.

It's a different way of looking at the world, it might not be what we are used to nor the way to world ends up going, but it's not dumb.

-RBuss.

[Karim @ May 31st 2007 9:37AM]

The Wii is exact WRONG analogy to make.

The Wii was CHEAP. (Compared to say, the PS3)

The Wii, because it was cheap, represented excellent price/perfomance.

The Wii, because of the Wiimote and the way you moved it, was also NOVEL. It did something NEW and DIFFERENT and FRESH.

The "Foleo" is so *NOT* the Wii.

They clearly wanted to build a Volkswagen -- a "people's computer" -- something reliable and cheap and basic for the masses -- and they clearly FAILED miserably.

Hopefully they can sell this thing for *the PRICE of a Wii* and still make money on it....

[kadajawi @ May 31st 2007 10:06AM]

Dear Palm. Reduce the price to around $100-150 and I might consider getting one of these. Oh, and make it thinner maybe? $500 is ridiculous. Yes, I can see a use for it and I'd use it, but a decent second hand notebook is just as expensive, and allows me to do almost the same things + a lot more.

[solar @ May 31st 2007 10:31AM]

It is fascinating. I dont think the device is limited to business people, but also students. I am a student and I desperately need a laptop that handles Word, Powerpoint, has a USB port (for my flash drive) and and can access the internet (I wish it had wifi, only because I do not have a smartphone nor do I need one, which kinda sux not to have wifi). Maybe wait for 2nd generation and they'll prolly integrate wifi to it.

If they had wifi, however, the smartphone would be of no use, and therefore, have an impact on Palm's smartphone market. This is almost like a smartlaptop, without the phone capability. But I guess, now that saves them from that impact having them bundled and who knows filling the gap between the smart-phone and smart-laptop concept? As others mentioned it could be an alternative plan to the iPhone. Everyone is striving for innovation lately.

When it gets wifi, it would be my fave.

[tartis99 @ May 31st 2007 11:08AM]

Just give me a new Linux based Treo please.

[nigel @ May 31st 2007 11:18AM]

seems like they'd have better luck just marketing this as a "portable laptop".

[mike @ May 31st 2007 11:53AM]

OMFG ITS PRESIDENT LOGAN!!!

[Pedro @ May 31st 2007 12:00PM]

nigel, I totally agree. I think they are making a major mistake calling this a smartphone "companion" rather than just a super efficient laptop with wifi that also has the ability to sync its data with the phone.
I also think that by far most people want a more capable treo, rather than a whole other device that makes up for the treo's shortcomings which palm, though inadvertently, is pretty much emphasizing. Most of us who have spent hundreds of dollars on treos are now being told by palm to get "more" out of computing that we need to spend hundreds more on a whole other device!

[joel diemer @ May 31st 2007 1:46PM]

Does anyone know if the screen on this is touch sensitive and wacom compatible? If they make a convertible version with this feature people who currently use CRM software will be falling all over themselves to buy them. Take a call, push the button, open up client file automatically, take notes, etc. hang up and file the paperwork online. No one is paying for your time when you are listening to music or watching videos. This can be a very good piece of work - with the right features for at least a few targeted audiences to start with. So far it is not clear that they have that in mind though.

[Otter @ May 31st 2007 2:01PM]

Why is there a rebate for a brand-new product anyway?

[Erik_the_Red @ May 31st 2007 3:11PM]

I have been waiting years -- literally YEARS -- for a Treo that did WiFI and had an updated PalmOS (not Windows). I'm not the only one; others have been screaming for such a Treo.

And Palm gives us the Foleo -- who the $%#$ does Palm's market research? Hate to say it (again), but Palm deserves to go belly-up. It just doesn't make any sense. The only possible reason for such lack of innovation and miopic leadership is that Palm must have some sort of kickback deal with the cell phone providers that has kept Palm from adding WiFi in order to force users to pay for expensive data plans. Sucks, but with the announcement of the Foleo, it looks like Palm won't be jerking around customers -- any customers -- for much longer.

[Matt O @ May 31st 2007 4:33PM]

I think everyone is being too negative, if you consider how much more versatile it can be than a notebook. You can buy a well equipped smartphone for 150 dollars and then when you need a bigger screen or such you just use this device. That comes out to about $650 and im sure the price will drop soon.

[ShadowVlican @ Jun 1st 2007 12:10AM]

this thing will fail _IF_ UMPCs stay out of its price range

[D @ Jun 1st 2007 11:30AM]

He's trying to sell this too hard. I'm predicting this will go the way of the Audrey.