Palm Ranks Last in Cellphone Satisfaction

Well, I don't know what "most" Palm customers want but I can tell you that *this* customer went from a Zire to a Treo precisely because he does not want to carry both a PDA and a cell phone. If Palm does not produce a next generation replacement for the Treo they will definitely lose me as a customer.

The problem with Palm is not that it started producing smartphones rather than only PDAs but that it pissed away its lead in a drunken waltz that went "lets split our company, lets merge, lets change names, lets use this OS platform, no this one, no that other one..." Instead on focusing on R&D, Palm was redecorating the house.

There was nothing "me too" about Palm's original smartphones. In fact, Palm was at the forefront of the market in many ways with the Treo 600 and 650. Now, you can criticize Palm for not keeping up with the times as its OS has aged while other companies have moved ahead. But if it hadn't been for the Treo, Palm would not have survived as an independent company. The results from this survey are directly tied to the fact that Palm hasn't updated its devices enough in recent years.

Having said all that, the truth is that I never really bought into the convergence fad. Looking back at my usage patterns over the years, I went from carrying a Visor Platinum with several Springboard modules, including a VisorPhone, to carrying a Treo 270 and a Palm Tungsten E, to carrying a Treo 600 and a LifeDrive, to carrying a Treo 680, a Palm TX, and an iPod.

I don't know how you can say "most Palm customers don't want a converged device". I doubt you have any evidence to back that statement up.

Personally, I switched to a Treo last year from a Lifedrive (and before that a T3,T2,T1, Visor Deluxe, Pilot 5000) and I'm very happy. Frankly, I'm sorry I waited so long.

Why Palm has such poor user satisfaction, I don't know and it's worrisome (complexity, maybe?). But let's stick to the facts, and not make statements that I don't believe can be substantiated.

The iPhone, despite not having a lot of (or any?) third-party software...

Ahem... jailbreak apps and impending SDK aside, I have found many great *FREE* webapps for the iPhone that are equal to or better than the equivalent Palm apps I used to use.

http://www.apple.com/webapps/

I've also found that a large number of my Palm apps were "hacks" to add missing functionality that the iPhone already has.

I agree. The implication is that a company that has satisfied customers must be brainwashing them, when really all they're doing is not pissing them off.

It wasnt an oversight, it was just bitterness. How could you continue to feel such loyalty to Palm when almost all of the majority of the articles on PIC are about how crap Palm is?

Even the recent highlight article about how smartphones increased in share conveniently forgot to mention that Apple was the reason behind that increase in share!

I'm not saying iPhone is the best .. I'm just saying be honest with yourself (yourselves) before you throw another few hundred dollars at a company who could give a sh*t about you and your needs.

I think the term Very Satisfied is the key here. I've would imagine that the iPhone is much less complex in regards to syncing data and such. With Palm Desktop in the mess that it has been the last few years (Vista/Mac compatibility), no doubt this has made users less satisfied. I read on Palm's Blog a 755p user who was unsatisfied because in order to install the Rom update he couldn't use his Mac but instead had to go out and purchase a SD card or clear out his present SD card. So there is a better chance of someone saying they are Very Satisfied when their sync application works well then when they either can't sync or have problems doing so.

PDA's Past and Present:
Palm TX (Number 2)
Palm - IIIxe, Vx, M500, M505, Tungsten T, TX
Handspring - Edge, Platinum, Deluxe
Sony - SJ22
Casio-EM500
Apple - MP110, MP2000, MP2100

> ...The Centro is v. popular...

There is very little real data (lie ... none) to back up that statement in any concrete manner.

We have anecdotal "I talked to a store salesperson and he said..." and we have consistently-VERY-vague statements out of PALM at various earnings/conference calls saying the equivalent of "The Centro is selling well" with no numbers - EVER - to back it up.

SV:
There is very little real data (lie ... none) to back up that statement in any concrete manner.

True, but I'd bet on the side of it being popular, rather than not, if this was any indication:

http://tinyurl.com/2pek2s

Coster says Centro sales may be exceeding expectations, “as the most popular device offered by the 16 Sprint (S) stores we surveyed across the nation.”

Not much to go on, but still something. The introduction of an additional SKU (the Pink one) would seem to bear that out.

Poopie:
I call BS. Take *any* smartphone user with a voice and data plan and look at how much they spend for their device(s) and monthly service bills over two years, and I bet the difference between "budget" smartphones and "luxury" smartphones is hard to see -- if it exists at all.

Yep. But most don't require you to stump up $399 at the outset. I know that'd be a hefty chunk out of my pay cheque.

^^ $399 for a phone, with contract? Luxury item.

The Lifedrive, TX and other older Palms would be relevant to the discussion if they were included in this survey. They weren't. What's your point?

$400 on an iPhone. $400 for my unlocked 680

Key word unlocked.

> ...we have consistently-VERY-vague statements out of PALM at various
> earnings/conference calls saying the equivalent of "The Centro is
> selling well" with no numbers - EVER - to back it up..."

Today CBSMarketwatch published another new-content-free article quoting Colligan saying:

== "Centro is selling better than we expected"

with nothing more solid than just that. No numbers, no Heads Up about cannabalization, nothing.

Whatta game!

You are using statistics improperly (didn't I just cite "How to Lie with Statistics": somewhere around here! Giggle...).

In any case, unless one knows how many of those Centro buyers would have bought Treos of some sort if the Centro weren't available one doesn't know cannibalization impact or not.

Unless, of course, one gets realtime numbers from Sprint and sees the day-to-day effect of Centro on those Treo sales.

[awhile back PALM management did admit the Centro was cannibalizing Treo sales more than expected but, of course, didn't say how much more:

-- http://tinyurl.com/235pk4
]

^^ Mike, 400 bucks for a phone is not chump change. As you just noted, the iPhone has a fairly long spec sheet, 90% of which the average phone buyer simply does not need and never will. If you're buying an iPhone, it's 'cause you've decided to spend more to get more. It's a luxury item.

(BTW, you want *real* "luxury" pricing? Go look at that WinMob from Sony, the Xperia!)

Ya, i know... it's still inspiring some serious lust though. I prefer exposed keyboards but that thing is oozing style. Except for the part where it runs WinMob, but hey, Sony did wonders with Palm OS from what I hear. Maybe they can do the same for WinMob.

The 700p was a disaster in every way. Probably the biggest black eye Palm has ever endured, even worse than the T3 SD card toasting episode, the Treo 650's NVFS launch bugs or the T5's terrible performance.

Well, the LifeDrive disaster IMO was worse than the 700p but it was a different kind of device, received much less attention for its problems by the press, did not carry a 2yr contract + monthly service charges, and didn't perform mission-critcial voice/phone functionality.

In addition to the above mishaps, Palm has released several overpriced, under-spec'd devices (Treo 700w/wx, 750, 755p) that failed to generate much excitement. I'd say the TX, 680 and the Centro are really the only critical and commercial successes Palm has had in the past 2-3 years (though the 750 has sort of settled into a comfortable groove as a business-centric handset).

Personally, I'm DELIGHTED to see this report and hope to see additional ones like it. Why? Despite my longstanding, unwavering preference for Palm OS devices as the premiere PIM/organizational devices on the market, I find Palm's phones utter rubbish. They are usually afflicted with any one of a number of issues, ranging from pitiful Bluetooth performance, poor reception, mediocre sound quality, underperformning speakerphones, no native voice dialing, awkward dialing screens etc etc. Simply put, Handspring's old telephony functionality shoehorned into Garnet is not the sort of thing that inspires confidence for anyone who absolutely requires reliable voice capabilties throughout the workday.

I have long carried two devices (PDA + small flip dumbphone) and still carry a small Motorola flip in addition to my rotten 700p. If Palm released a TX with an integrated EVDO radio and a high capacity battery tomorrow I would buy it immediately, no matter the price.

I recently had the occasion to purchase and use a throwaway Motorola pre-paid phone ($30 + airtime) when my regular phone died while traveling. I was astonished to find this bargain basement little prepaid job ran circles around my 700p in every aspect related to placing and receiving voice calls.

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

Yes, something stinks about this so called survey. AT&T are the lowest rated carrier, but the iPhone is only available on AT&T and has the highest rating.

I wonder if their investment business has introduced a bias here? They do not look like an independent survey company, and their carefully spun conclusions and lack of detail seems aimed at driving Palm stock down, and not surprising they offer a variety of appropriate investment service including shorts and options.

Sprint, not AT&T, is consistently the lowest rated carrier.