palmOne Debuts New High End Accessory Line

Posted By: Ryan Tuesday, August 3, 2004 12:27:58 PM

palmOne today introduced palmOne persona, a line of high-quality, fashionable and unique accessories for palmOne handhelds and smartphones. The new line, which will include cases, high-end styli and other fashionable carryalls, is making its debut with high-quality leather cases designed by Vaja exclusively for palmOne.

The Persona line has a vast range of styles and colors to choose from, users of Treo 600, Tungsten C, Tungsten W and Zire 72 devices can design a stylish case that's a unique and personal expression.

Fusing form with functionality, Vaja cases from palmOne persona offer super-slim design in high-quality leather, stainless mesh speaker protector, and easy access for all keys and functions. Customers can even personalize their unique case with their name, which can be embossed on the back cover or on the inside lid.

"palmOne products have always been about personalization," said Jim Schwabe, general manager of palmOne accessories. "There's a distinct market for innovative, stylish, high-quality accessories. Most of our customers want their devices to reflect their personal tastes and style, and palmOne persona takes accessorizing to the premium level."

palmOne plans to work with other designers, such as Dooney & Bourke, to bring other premium accessories to palmOne customers.

palmOne persona accessories are available exclusively at the palmOne online store. Select styles of Vaja cases will be available at palmOne Retail Stores. palmOne plans to make palmOne persona cases available for additional palmOne device models, such as Tungsten E, Tungsten T3 and other Zire series handhelds, in the next six months.

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Interesting, unexpected move--but where are new handhelds!?

hkklife @ 8/3/2004 4:29:13 PM #
How...odd that the T|W is one of the devices listed there (likely because of its shared formfactor with the T|C) but the T|E & T3 are not. I wonder what this says about PalmOne's future plans for those two models & formfactors? Hmmm...

Otherwise, it's a pretty decent move. I am always one to applaud "custom" sized cases and whatnot. Anything's better than a thick, oversized, "designed 6 years ago for a Palm III" leather zip cases that have a lame patch of velcro on the inside.

Ideally, I'd like to see a return to the rail-style anchoring system employed by the V & m5xx & i705 series, especially now that the UC holes on the rear of the handhelds are going to be eliminated.

Another nifty idea would bea gel "wrap" (like the Moto 120-series phones from a few years back) for the Zires. At least it wouldn't peel like the Z72 and could be replaced as needed!

RE: Interesting, unexpected move--but where are new handheld
moofie @ 8/3/2004 6:21:31 PM #
The reason there's no case listed for th T3 is because Vaja's iVolution case series (which all the cases pictured are members of) is not available for the T3 because of the slider design.

Vaja makes great cases for the T3. See http://www1.vajacases.com/images/pda/palm/tungsten_t3/tungsten_t3.html for example.

RE: Interesting, unexpected move--but where are new handhelds!?
Ronin @ 8/3/2004 7:07:23 PM #

Vaja had (and may still have) an iVolution case for the T|T and T|T2. Thus I suspect that the fact that there is not one for the T|T3 has nothing to do with the slider design in and of itself.

In the Spirit of Umoja,
Ronin

RE: Interesting, unexpected move--but where are new handhelds!?
peitron @ 8/3/2004 7:09:08 PM #
Still, the slider doesn't explain why they haven't launched cases for the T|E. I guess they beleive that T|E users won't shell out the extra bucks (not as high-end as the others).

I do hope they launch new cases for the T|3, cause the normal PalmOne branded cases really suck.

_____________________________________________
IIIx > m130 > m515 > T|T > T|T3
"Why should I care about posterity? What's posterity ever done for me?" - Groucho Marx

RE: Interesting, unexpected move--but where are new handhelds!?
JonathanChoo @ 8/3/2004 11:36:18 PM #
It is nice that palmOne is stocking Vaja products. It gives this company more exposure to new palm users and atleast some choices. I do wish they try to convince some of the bigger names to come in. Mulberry used to manufacture iPAQ 3600 and m5xx cases. LV had cases for the V and m5xx as does Mont Blanc and Tumi.

Concerning the lack of i-volution for the T3, the T and T2 has a 'grabbing' slot on the sides (for use with their clip-on plastic face). The T3 does not. Well that is what I thought anyway.

Anyway I have an i-volution case for my T610 (and it fits on my T630). It was very expensive and easy to get dirty. Not really worth the price I paid.

--
PalmOne Tungsten T3/256Mb Panasonic SD; HP h4150/512Mb Sandisk Ultra-II, Sony Ericsson T630

RE: Interesting, unexpected move--but where are new handhelds!?
MikeInDM @ 8/6/2004 9:03:29 AM #
The best case for the T3 is the hard case from Proporta.

So?

tthiel @ 8/3/2004 5:16:17 PM #
Who cares? Where's the Tungsten 4??

RE: So?
Foo Fighter @ 8/3/2004 8:55:44 PM #
Patience grasshopper.

-------------------------------
Contributing Editor, http://digitalmediathoughts.com
Editor, http://Pocketfactory.com
RE: So?
cyberdude @ 8/4/2004 1:57:48 AM #
I agree tthiel. Besides, who the heck wants to pay $138.90 + tax + shipping for a Palm case?? Especially considering that now that these are finally out, new Palm devices should be out soon which oh by the way, are not likely to fit into your chic new case.

RE: So?
RhinoSteve @ 8/4/2004 1:49:01 PM #
>Besides, who the heck wants to pay $138.90 + tax +
>shipping for a Palm case??

People with money, lives and carriers that doesn't have them subsituting time on-line for a real social life. They are out there. Amazing how much this generation things being on line is reality.

RE: So?
Strider_mt2k @ 8/4/2004 3:51:25 PM #
This reminds me of the M100 series faceplates that were hyped for about 5 minutes, and promptly dissapeared due to Palm trying to distance itself from it's own horrible, horrible line of products.

The m100 series faceplates were also supposedly designed by some famous guy.



RE: So?
Altema @ 8/4/2004 4:42:40 PM #
"The m100 series faceplates were also supposedly designed by some famous guy."

It took someone famous to design those faceplates? Talk about an easy job!

RE: So?
Hal2000 @ 8/4/2004 8:35:08 PM #
Who is the famous guy?

Zodiac2/T616
1.128 gigs under the hood.
RE: So?
Strider_mt2k @ 8/5/2004 2:22:02 PM #
No one can find him!

-he staked his reputation on the faceplates!



please

jasondeno @ 8/4/2004 6:48:31 PM #
109 bucks for a lemon yellow leather case that clips on my belt? Please....

Clip anything on your belt and immediately be labeled geek. Clip on a lemon yellow case that I spent 100 bucks on and be labeled idiot.

Lame.

RE: please
danielpark @ 8/5/2004 12:34:47 PM #
I see a lot of people bashing Vaja cases for the high price. This a higher-end case, which is clearly not for everyone. It's hard to justify paying 1/3 to 1/2 of the cost of the unit itself just the damned case.

That said, we own a Vaja case because my wife wanted something "a little funky" and didn't like the look of any other cases I showed her. Now that I've played with hers, I'd never buy a case from anyone else. This thing is top freaking notch. The material and construction are both unsurpassed by any other Palm case I've ever seen, and I've seen many.

Also, I take issue with being labeled a geek just because I wear a belt clip. I wouldn't wear one on a date or anything, but for the daily work routine, it's incredibly practical. My Palm is always safe and immediately accessible right on my hip. If someone wants to label me a geek for that, it's their damn problem.

RE: please
JonathanChoo @ 8/6/2004 9:08:00 AM #
Same reason why people buy alloy Lian Li ATX case (people like me!) for their home built PC when they can get a steel one for 1/10th the price.

--
PalmOne Tungsten T3/256Mb Panasonic SD; HP h4150/512Mb Sandisk Ultra-II, Sony Ericsson T630

Why spend $100+ on a new case when you can...

ccastiglia @ 8/5/2004 4:30:30 PM #
... spend just $5.95 for a set of 24K Gold plated screws to replace the (probably already lost) screws from the sides of your Tungsten T, T2, or T3?

http://www.infosystemspro.com/pdaparts.htm


So where's the premium device?

eston @ 8/10/2004 2:26:31 PM #
Honestly, this whole move, including the 'persona' name, makes me think of Sony's most recent move with their QUALIA line (see http://www.sony.net/Redirect/g04_SM/SonyInfo/QUALIA/ ). Sony really doesn't plan to profit on the line; it's their bleeding-edge designer-tech stuff, such as a camera barely larger than a memory stick (Dynamism has it for a whopping $4780.00) and a pair of elite headphones for a sticker of $3199.00. Sure, it's way more costly than Palm's persona stuff, but I wonder if this is where they drew their influences from.

We're getting all this premium 'persona' stuff - leather cases from Vaja and soon Dooney and Bourke, Coach, etc (with Gucci, Prada, and Vuitton probably following - the last case Vuitton made for a handheld was for the Palm V series), all so you can just one up the guy next to you by paying a premium for something fairly exclusive. A waste of money? I'd say so. Vaja makes good cases (I want one for my iPod), but I'm not about to buy a lemon yellow belt clip case. I was pretty happy with the standard Palm Vx Leather Case back in the day, and now I've just been using my Tungsten T3's flip cover.

However, if Palm's idea for this line came from the QUALIA stuff, where's our premium device? This might allow us to get those feature-packed crazy handhelds that Sony made as their high-end CLIEs. A palmOne persona handheld with twice the processing power and a miniature hard drive a la iPod mini for $800? It might not be too far in the future.

..: eston
http://www.hyalineskies.com/

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