Palm Sends Out Beta Test Invites for New Device

So, where exactly are they planning on innovating?

Fuschia!

> ...So, where exactly are they planning on innovating?

Fuschia!

Naah.... it is Sprint, so banana yellow

Palm Founder Sells 20,000 Shares
Tuesday 04/22/2008 9:53 PM ET - Investrend

April 23, 2008 (FinancialWire) Palm (NASDAQ: PALM) (Current Market Cap: US$642.15 Mil.) founder Jeffrey Hawkins sold 20,000 shares of the company's common stock under a prearranged trading plan, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

In a Form 4 filed with the SEC, Hawkins reported that he sold the shares Monday for $5.61 apiece. The sale was conducted under a prearranged 10b5-1 trading plan, which allows a company insider to set up a program in advance for such transactions and proceed with them even if he or she comes into possession of material non-public information.

Tech Center Labs

Both, however, have significant percentages of their personal wealth tied up in PALM stock; stock of a company that is now out of their control.

As such, it makes TOTAL sense to THIS observer that both would be selling out - that is, "redistributing" their wealth - to protect themselves.

Both started up sales plans that theoretically take the "Insiderness" out of the sales - the sales happen automatically like clockwork no matter what is going on behind the scenes at PALM, for better or worse.

Around the time of the initial negotiations for the sale of PALM - a sale that was SUPPOSED to be total, BTW - Dubinsky STOPPED her planned sales. After all was said and done w.r.t. The Transaction (only a partial sale since no one wanted to buy PALM completely) Ms. Dubinsky did NOT start her planned sales up again. I personally think that's a very VERY interesting little factoid that has essentially gone undiscussed. IMHO, it easily could be a sign that PALM continues to try to sell itself (or merge with another company - same thing) since I can see no reason for her to be sufficiently optimistic about PALM to not want to continue to redistribute her (considerable) wealth.

But, anyway, these planned sales are not some sort of sinister sign, IMHO, but simply money management that makes total sense.

The old "eggs all in one basket" resolution...

Diversity is the name of the game for generic investments to minimize risk, especially as one gets older.

Gary

Tech Center Labs

Both Hawkins and Dubinsky for pennies at most - maybe even ZERO cost now due to The Transaction.

Thus for them the saying would be "Buy low, sell high or try to sell higher at greater risk"...

P.S. I've long suspected that the major Palm OS/mobile sites were in Palm's pocket-particularly TC & BH. With PIC & 1src, of course, being the "rogue" site that always tell it like it is. I came under tremendous flak years ago at those sites for posting certain theories at Brighthand (Palm was trying to artifically snuff the life out of the PDA market, Palm was intentionally disbling Bluetooth DUN connectivity on CDMA handsets on the LifeDrive & TX in order to sell more Treos and/or stay in good graces with the domestic CDMA carriers etc). At worst, they're in Palm's pocket. At worst, many Palm apologists frequent those sites. For further proof, look at Palm's mobile portal page in Blazer. They STILL don't link to PIC (just TC). And the official Palm Blog just posted about sites with good tips targeted at new Centro users on how to get the most out of their devices. PIC is NEVER referenced in official posts like those, despite, I'll wager, much of the PIC readership being seriously loyal (albeit frustrated) long-term users of the OS.

P.P.S. Remember, for a customer, Palm would rather have a teen who is a recent dumbphone covert who is initially pleased (ignorance is bliss!) having mobile e-mail/web access on their Centro.

A "new sale" like the above is always preferable to Palm over having to address serious concerns from decade-long users of the OS who are legitimately concerned abotu the future of the platform and clamoring for improved device specs, reliability, and performance.

Pilot 1000->Pilot 5000->PalmPilot Pro->IIIe->Vx->m505->T|T->T|T2->T|C->T|T3->T|T5->TX->Verizon Treo 700P->Verizon Treo 755p

Pilot 1000->Pilot 5000->PalmPilot Pro->IIIe->Vx->m505->T|T->T|T2->T|C->T|T3->T|T5->TX->Verizon Treo 700P->Verizon Treo 755p

If the device in question IS the "800w" then it will be some time before that device gets shipped, much longer than current rumors (rumors about the shipping of a rumored device! Yay!).

That is, unless they've repurposed the Foleo to also use a cell network (a la Amazon Kindle). It could (theoretically) be a Foleo-sized device that functions as a PDA/cell phone.

Since they require a bluetooth headset, it's most likely a phone, but not a phone that's close to completion. If it was the 800w, for instance, wouldn't they have the bluetooth worked out by now?

:-)

http://tinyurl.com/39h3eg

You guys aren't serious about Foleo II, are you? That idea is thankfully dead, never to return.

Not necessarily. When they killed the Foleo, they specifically said they were going back to the drawing board with it:

Jeff Hawkins and I still believe that the market category defined by Foleo has enormous potential. When we do Foleo II it will be based on our new platform, and we think it will deliver on the promise of this new category. We're not going to speculate now on timing for a next Foleo, we just know we need to get our core platform and smartphones done first.

Press Release:

http://blog.palm.com/palm/2007/09/a-message-to-pa.html

There is a market for cheap Linux subnotebooks, but this wasn't what the Foleo was. The Foleo was an external keyboard and screen for a Treo - without the Treo it couldn't even check email. It couldn't play music or video. Palm would need to upgrade the Foleo to full PC specs (ie. completely replace it's windowing system and applications, give it a faster processor) just for the chance to compete with the ASUS and all the other new clones. Palm doesn't have the resources to do all this work.

The only way for Palm to make any money off the Foleo idea would be:

Palm writes some sync software for the EEEpc etc. and tries to get ASUS to bundle it, or sell it as an upgrade for the Treo/Centro.

Sell the Foleo hardware design to another company and collect a few pennies per unit sold.

Neither seems likely.

HP has just come out with one....

If only they'd get the hint already and push back into the PDA market. I daresay the market is only really dying because nobody is really developing for it anymore (and so the customers stop buying). If they released an innovative device, people would jump at it (assuming it were reasonably priced). Forget the foleo, go with something that makes sense. (Of course, the new thing is obviously not a PDA... how unfortunate)

I think it's more complicated than just that no one is updating PDA designs anymore. After all, there is Nokia out there with the N810.

http://nokia.us/A4626059

Since it's got Linux on it, it wouldn't be too hard to create a kick-*ss PDA from it.

But as you said, "reasonably priced" is the key, and that seems to be the problem. Smartphones have gotten to the point where a lot of people seem to think that the extras you get from a PDA (chiefly, the large screen) aren't worth it anymore. That's not to say that no one wants a large-screen PDA, but not enough people do to make it worth it. (If Apple marketed the iPod Touch as a competitor to Palm PDA's or as the successor to the Newton, how successful do you think they'd be?)

The Foleo's chief problem was too little bang for the buck. A large screen and keyboard for a smartphone isn't a bad idea, but charging $500 for it certainly was. And not including an e-mail client that could use wifi was unforgivable. It's not like they couldn't have included Evolution on the Foleo. $500 for what they delivered was far too much.

Too many of the functions in the defeault Xandros Linux + custom Asus UI package require online connectivity. No Bluetooth is a deal-breaker for me. It'd be nice to have a dial-up modem, stronger battery life, & TV-out onboard for users in the boonies and/or users in developing markets. And XP still cannot be displayed on the 8.9" LCD without having to scroll around-the screen size/resolution was the main reason I took XP off of my 4G EEE and went back to Linux. I'll PROBABLY keep my 4G EEE, especially after I've upgraded the RAM, added another SDHC card and bought an external optical drive for it, but the hidden "gotcha" costs in there simply make any version of the EEE an unreasonable prospect for anything other than very light web browsing, e-mail, and basically being a novelty.

Some of the competitors look nice, especially the little HP (but I'm always wary of buying ANYTHING from HP/Compaq-the kings of bloatware) since you can configure it with a 7200rpm HD but that Via C7 CPU is an unfortunate the weak spot on it. And I'd worry about post-sale support (firmware, drivers etc) from any of these manufacturers for any of these devices.

It's hard to beat the ultimate functionality offered by a quality dumbphone and a "real" full-size Wintel notebook. I'm actually surprised that manufacturers are jumping on these razor-thin margin, cut-down $300-$600 machines instead of trying to get higher-margin "real" notebooks with optical drives down to <$1000 pricepoints.

Personally, I'm waiting for fullsize notebooks like the droolworthy dual-core 11.1" Asus U2 or S6 or the Asus F9/U6 12.1" (all with integrated DVD burners) to drop down to reasonable levels (<$900) so that these EEE-style machines will HAVE to reside at the bottom tier of the market price-wise.

Pilot 1000->Pilot 5000->PalmPilot Pro->IIIe->Vx->m505->T|T->T|T2->T|C->T|T3->T|T5->TX->Verizon Treo 700P->Verizon Treo 755p

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/04/22/ft_palm_foleo_first_eee/

What does Palm know about making a sub-notebook? I think the EEE and Mac Book Air have shown that the form factor works, but I don't think it would work for Palm to become a laptop maker. I still think they're going to position any new Foleo as primarily a smartphone adjunct, that can hold its own for Web browsing and e-mail when the need arises.

Palm's a marketing company now, as they have essentially been since they released the T3 in 2003. The Fooleo was simply answering a question that precious few people were (and still are) asking. Nobody wants a 10" screen and a near-fullsizse keyboard on a "companion" device that is utterly lacking in built-in functionality. Yet there are tons of people who have clamoring for an iPhone-sized screen on their Palm smartphone and (optionally) a decent slide-out keyboard ala Nokia N810/SE Xperia X1 on their *PRIMARY* device. THAT is what Palm cannot seem to comprehend!

Pilot 1000->Pilot 5000->PalmPilot Pro->IIIe->Vx->m505->T|T->T|T2->T|C->T|T3->T|T5->TX->Verizon Treo 700P->Verizon Treo 755p

Leaving aside the simplicity, ease of use, "thousands of apps" and the strong PIM functions of the Palm OS...

"Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?" :)

Seriously, the things you list there are Palm's strengths, and they're nothing to sneeze at. The reasons the PDAs work at all is because of all those things. It's also the thing that's good about the Centro. To be honest, a BlackJack II is no more expensive than a Centro, if you get it from AT&T on a new contract. And a lot of the specs of the BlackJack II are better. But the Palm OS is a strong selling point, for the reasons you state above (particularly, as you say, on the upgrade path).

The last time Palm actually innovated on hardware was probably way back in the original Palm Pilot days, when they got the hardware and Graffiti right (after the failure of the Newton). Since then, the game seems to be taking the innovations of others (e.g., wifi, cameras, video) and integrating them in such a way that they don't break the KISS philosophy or cause problems with battery life or cost (which, by all indications, seem to be the two top priorities of hardware development there at Palm).

I don't think you'll see a TX/cell combo from Palm until they figure out a way to do it that gives them decent battery life and an acceptable price point.

In terms of design, I really see them going more towards a Nokia n810 design philosophy, rather than an iPhone philosophy. From what I've read, the iPhone doesn't make a particularly good phone, and it's not looking very extensible, at this point, software-wise.

I'd take out a second mortgage if necessary if Palm was to produce a "true" Vc.

-
PalmPilot Pro (1997) -> III (1998) -> Vx (1999) -> m500 (2001) -> m515 (2002) -> Tx (2007)

True, the m500/505 in particular were riddled with issues (SUDS, USA vs. Hungary units etc) and the devices should've been more innovative on the hardware front...but they still managed to combine good battery life with an external expansion slot and improved build quality (vs. the Palm V). Primarily, the m500 formfactor felt better in the hand than the sharper, more angular V did and had nicer hard buttons. The Palm V was the iconic Ideo product but the m500 was a near-perfect refinement of that design. If the T|T hadn't tempted me with its 320x320 resolution, 3.5mm headphone jack + mp3 capabilties, and improved d-pad, I'd probably have stuck with an m515 for quite a long time.

Palm showed a feeble nod to the V/m500 with the T|E-style FF but they really should have used the m500 as their de facto FF design from 2001 onward. Even today it's still a looker (powered off, of course!) and easily slips into a pants or shirt pocket.

Just imagine if Palm had sent the PDA out with a bang by fitting TX-level specs into a m500 formfactor circa 2005/2006! I too would dig deep to find the funds for that one!

Pilot 1000->Pilot 5000->PalmPilot Pro->IIIe->Vx->m505->T|T->T|T2->T|C->T|T3->T|T5->TX->Verizon Treo 700P->Verizon Treo 755p

Just imagine if Palm had sent the PDA out with a bang by fitting TX-level specs into a m500 formfactor circa 2005/2006! I too would dig deep to find the funds for that one!

I do agree that the m515 was a nice device. (I can't bring myself to say the same about the m505.) Maybe the form factor was new, but I don't think the underlying technologies were. Palm took technologies that already existed and put them in a reasonably-priced package with a good form factor.

That's where I think the problem comes in with the idea of a PDA with am m500 form factor and TX specs: I don't think Palm could do it and keep it reasonably priced - especially as far back as 2005/2006. I think such a device now would be DOA, unless it had cell capability, and that would put it up at boutique levels like the iPhone.

Palm isn't that kind of company. I could see Microsoft or Apple doing that, but not really Palm.

WTF? wasn't the m515 essentially just an m505 with some more RAM?

now that's f*****g innovation!!!

Palm 'innovative Wi-FI device' invite points to Foleo revamp?

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/04/22/ft_palm_foleo_first_eee/

What did they do, offer performance bonuses?

Frikkin Reg site won't connect. Tomorrow...

I was wondering this at the time: Did Celio get the Redfly to work with Palm's WinMob phones?!!?

Colligan is not below slapping a Palm logo on the Redfly.

And if he can price that baby at $250 ... it *could* fly.