I completely agree with article. The open letter last year hit the nail right on the head. This article echoes the exact way I feel on the subject.

It’s pretty obvious that Palm has missed the boat and will cease to exist, or become irrelevant, at some point not very far in the future.

I’ve been a Palm user since 1997. The Palm Vx was the perfect PDA. Then I got a Treo 180, followed by the Treo 600. I now own a Treo 680.

In my opinion, the devices I owned were the only ones that represented a real quantum leap for Palm/Handspring. Devices like the 650, 700p, etc were just a rehash of the same theme.

Had Palm just given me a Palm OS with WiFi, a better browser and bug fixes, I would be with them forever and completely happy. I suspect many others would as well. A thinner device, and we would have the smartphone to rule them all.

It shouldn’t be that hard.

Best regards.

–fnds

Oops. Too many Hawkins to keep straight.

Name screw ups aside, I stand by the content of my post.

Thanks for the correction, Scoopster.

I love Palm, but I would never upgrade my current Treo 650 until the battery dies. There are very little progress in Palm OS that could inspire the users/devs since OS5 release, which was … (how many years ago?)

There is so far, no unicode, no TrueFont, and even RTL support is from the 3rd party! Forget the hardware acceleration for 3D rendering or video playback. The Palm OS looks really like a ad-hoc project. It takes forever to release the vaporeware, Palm OS 6, and imho, there is very little room for Palm to resolve this mistake right now.

Nate — You’ve mixed up your Hawkins!

Trip Hawkins founded Electronic Arts, 3DO and Digital Chocolate.

Jeff Hawkins (along with Donna Dubinsky and Ed Colligan) founded the original Palm Computing Inc (i.e. pre US Robotics’ acquisition of Palm). then later the 3 of them founded Handspring. After Palm Inc acquired Handspring, Jeff Hawkins went “back” to Palm for a while.

More details on Wikipedia. I just wanted to clear up what was probably a very honest mistake (and easy to make, given both Hawkins’ fame in the Valley).

The Treo Pro looks decent (maybe because HTC helped to design it and not entirely a Palm product), though I’m very disappointed with the cheap Centro keyboard. The problem with Palm is that it is releasing something other manufacturers have been doing for a long time already. There’s no wow factor or features that would drive potential users to buy the Treo Pro (where’s the line up for Treo Pro?). It’s a JASP (just another smart phone).

Enterprise space is BB territory. The issue for WinMo makers is that there is no exclusivity – you are competing with all the other WinMo competitors out there as well.

I have a Centro and I love it. I wouldn’t trade it straight up for an iPhone, it has a real keyboard. Palm still makes products that are simple to use and they work. That should be enough, you don’t always have to be inventing the next wheel.

@Patrick

You’re right, Handspring was founded by Trip Hawkins who also founded Palm.

Trip left for a reason, though. Palm was becoming a beast. The innovation died. Handspring created devices that Palm was incapable of creating.

I’ve been reading the death knell of Palm, not occasionally, but quite steadily since Handspring appeared. James used to not even cover Palm here.

This might be the end, I don’t know.

I’ve been reading about how awful Palm OS (that got spun off and reabsorbed) when it integrated with Office software better than Windows CE (or whatever it was or is called) and performed with half as many clicks, and had more options.

David may be right or maybe they snatched his body and replaced him with a pod person. I don’t know what he’s talking about with “Enterprise” (the Star Ship?).

I don’t believe I have “brand loyalty.” I was ready to jump ship, in fact eager to a number of times. I’m constantly sizing up the next purchase even when I don’t have the money or need. I’m ready to jump now, and when I look, Palm is still very much in the running.

Also, be careful what you call a toy. I notice kids sitting playing with some devices that leave smart phones and PDAs and UMPCs and MIDs in the dust, and look like they were built by NASA. Those kids look at our devices and snicker.

All the people who have been predicting the End of Palm for eight or nine years will come out and remind us of their predictions.

I also do not like the Centro probably because they cut a lot of corners to make it “work”. I disliked not easily being able to open up the battery door/cover, the microSD card slot door/cover, the cheap QWERTY keys and slippery casing. The only thing I liked about the Centro was that it has the voice command program, which was the main spotlight for me.

As for Palm, I only wished that the Palm Pro had the 800w keyboard instead of the cheap Centro keyboard. That, I thought was the dumbest thing they’ve done to wreck it. They totally made it cheap by using that keyboard.

I agree that it seems like Palm can’t do much to stay afloat and had it not for the strong fanbase, they would have died a long time ago. Who would have thought that WM would be their saving grace? I do, however try to remain optimistic. They are finally listening and making changes to their products in hopes of retaining whatever customers they have left who have not jumped ship to iPhone, BB, and others.

2009 will be an interesting year and whether Nova becomes reality will likely be the last straw.

I just don’t think that they will make it to market with a new OS. If that were the case where has it been hiding for all these years they have been talking “A new OS is coming”? I don’t care if it’s Consumer or both. I personally think that Palm got tight with MS because they know the OS won’t make it out.

I don’t care who made the Pro, it looks like a Centro. That was and still is my reaction to the device. Take a Centro and a Pro put them side by side, get someone who doesn’t know a thing about them and ask are these the same phones. I bet the answer would be YES.

Sorry if I ruffled feathers. I have 5 PDAs myself, 2 Blackberries and 650 students that I support and see the whole run of devices. I’ve read the articles, listened to the rumors, worked on the devices, watched what the companies have done and took it all sorted through it all and to me all signs point to the death of the Palm OS.

James I agree with you the Centro does look like a toy and it feels like 1 too. A co-worker has one and well yeah……toy

Just how I see it.

It’s important to realize that all opinions stated here are just that- opinions. There are no right nor wrong opinions, they are the POVs of those who speak them. My opinion is as stated in the article, Palm is showing nothing to me to change that. I’m sure they have all sorts of plans for the future but that doesn’t change my opinion, which has been formed by their actions for years.

Vandy point taken but let me ask you this.

If Palm comes out with their new OS (Which they will) where do you think it will compete?

CONSUMER

Palm has clearly stated all enterprise devices coming from Palm will be Windows Mobile case closed.

That being said Microsoft owns the keys to Exchange Active Sync and has a very strong bond with Palm. Look at the poor implementation of MSASYNC on the iPhone.. It is missing 60% of the full flavored client that Windows Mobile offers. We forget that Palm has been a leader in the enterprise market for a while EVEN with the PALM OS! Believe that or not. Either way I have no doubt the Palm Treo Pro is just the first of many designs we will see from them

(btw… HTC made the design of the Pro…)

I agree Palm is done! They are even having problems creating new designs. Palm Pro looks l=too much like the Centro. The Palm OS is long gone!! IF Palm ever releases a new OS that is a real upgrade to the current OS I might wet myself! How many years now have they talked NEW OS and it NEVER surfaces?!?! DONE DONE DONE. Foleo was junk. I loved Palm. I have had several but when WinMO became more stable, it just sold me. I am now a RIM user. I have 2 Blackberries and can’t see not carrying them EVERYWHERE I go.

David, dedication can only get you so far. IF a dedicated staff can’t get something to market it’s worthless. 2-3 years is too late. If they are going to make it they need to move or just sit down and die. They should focus on new, innovative devices and work on making that their focus. Give up the OS!

Dave, one more question, are you convinced with Palm’s explanation on why there was no US carrier attached to the Treo Pro? Or will there be any onboard? Compared with RIM, almost all of their devices (so far) have US carriers on board.

Jay I understand what you are saying as Centro probably is a lot of that number but the Treo 700,750 have been very successful in the enterprise market.. According to Gartner

artner said as of the first quarter, Palm still lagged behind the competition with just 2.9 percent of global smart phone market share. Palm follows No. 1 Nokia, which holds 45.2 percent of the market; BlackBerry-maker RIM, which placed second with 13.4 percent; and Apple, which was vaulted to third place by the iPhone, giving it 5.3 percent market share. But with all device makers creating new phones and jockeying for position, this quarter’s numbers are sure to shake the industry.

So if you look at that the only player in the enterprise is RIM.. So for Windows Mobile Palm is very important.

Dave, out of the 13.4%, how many are those are windows mobile devices and how many are centro devices? As far as I know, the increase of their market share was because of the $99 centro. We still don’t know if the 800w or Treo Pro would help them increase market share in the future.