Palm Talks Product Leaks

http://www.palminfocenter.com/news/5684/rumor-tungsten-t3-with-320x480-screen/

Maybe that level of interest in "leaks" seemed excessive to Palm - but probably not for those customers who actually expected that they'd be able to use a bluetooth headset as Palm claimed. Since Palm seemed to be completely ignoring or dismissing their only customers of their only major product for such a ridiculously long period - that dearth of communication was offloaded to speculation in the forums. People will talk about such major investments - and if you ignore your customers to such a degree then they'll likely turn "negative" in response. Announcing the ill-timed Fooleo in the midst of this mess didn't cheer up 700p owners in the least - it's like a guy who owes you money showing off his new fancy watch, rubbing it in your face how important your relationship is to him.

As for leaking leaking of "new" devices, I'd be extremely surprised if many of these rumors and "spy" photos aren't mostly planted by Palm. Just as users were choosing whether they'd be carrying pitchforks or flaming torches over to Palm Headquarters because of their failure to address the 700p issues for nearly a *year*-- THAT'S when the "rumors" of the 755 started coming out all over the web. It seemed to serve Palm quite nicely to redirect the anger about selling the defective 700p and not fixing it over to "hope" that the Treo 755 would have reduced lag, stay connected with BT headsets, and other features a responsible manufacturer would take responsibility for in the present model rather than require a re-purchase of essentially the same device (and in some ways inferior).

And as for those with endless hope that Palm will continue developing PDAs - you can't blame them for "leaking" their Photoshop wet dreams every once in a while. Palm's the only producer of PalmOS PDAs now, and I see those "leaks" as attempts to let Palm know that people are still interested in them as a viable supplier of handheld devices. For those who liked having a camera in their PDA, Palm sez "tough luck."

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Mr. Colligan should probably worry more about when the "leaks" come out and nobody cares or talks about Palm anymore. The fact people are *still* very interested in Palm products after years of Palm neglecting their customers and market so badly speaks volumes to the intrinsic value of that company. How many other companies would pay-and-pay astroturf marketers to have people so interested and hopeful to see their next product(s)? Apple had zombie enthusiasts like us for years, it kept them going through all their mistakes and they seem to be doing quite well today. Mr. Colligan and crew might consider putting their energy into new innovation rather than trying to kill the messengers that keep their company afloat with such interest in their progress.

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**Another vote for a >100MB RAM Treo**

Huh? Refuses?

>>>Handheld device maker Palm (Nasdaq: PALM) Latest News about Palm saw its stock take a hit after reporting a fiscal loss for its first quarter and issuing a weaker-than-expected forecast that suggests it is struggling to regain ground lost to rivals such as Research In Motion (Nasdaq: RIMM) Latest News about Research In Motion and Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) Latest News about Apple and as it shifts its focus to lower-cost devices.

>>>Palm reported a net loss of US$841,000, or a penny per share, compared with a net profit Over 800,000 High Quality Domains Available For Your Business. Click Here. of $16.5 million a year ago, with restructuring expenses and stock options helping to weigh on the bottom line.

http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/KG9K8BELM3V8UY/Weak-Forecast-Pummels-Palm-Shares.xhtml

>>>Of course, everything could change again in October. But right now, the only company with a prayer of succeeding in the small computer space is also the only company that hasn't even shown a prototype -- Apple.

Had history gone properly (damn The Master!), the company mentioned would have been Palm.

Palm (PALM) reported disappointing quarterly results on Monday, and it came as no surprise – the smartphone maker is getting squeezed every which way.

On the low end, smartphones from Samsung and Motorola (MOT) are nibbling away market share. On the high end, Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone has popular buzz and Research in Motion (RIMM) is winning over mobile workers. ABI Research says RIM captured 44 percent of the North American smartphone market this spring, up from 33 percent a year ago. The gains came at the expense of Palm, which slid from 33 percent to 24 percent.

So how can the company turn things around?

The main thing Palm needs to do is finish overhauling its phone software. Though Palm sells phones that run Microsoft’s (MSFT) Windows Mobile software, Palm’s future depends on its ability to ship a new operating system that can smoothly run several programs at once, including software for playing music and video. Executives have said they’re building an OS based on the open-source Linux kernel.

The trouble is, it’s taking an awfully long time. Palm announced a year ago that it would be rolling out a new operating system, and the company has yet to release even a test version to developers. In fact, the company last month canceled its ill-conceived Foleo laptop project to focus its efforts on phone software, a sign that Palm programmers still have plenty of heavy lifting to do.

Software is so important because it’s the main thing that differentiates one phone from another. RIM’s BlackBerry is known for its easy-to-use e-mail delivery software, and Apple’s iPhone is known for its touch-controlled version of Mac OS X. As other software companies make useful new programs that work on top of the basic BlackBerry and iPhone software, they enhance the value of the devices, and increase the chance that consumers and businesses will pay a premium for them.

Full article here -

http://bigtech.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2007/10/02/palms-rough-quarter-can-it-rally-against-the-iphone/#comments

I agree that most of the future of palm depends on developing an innovating OS. No arguee on that. But I ask all palm users: wouldn't you buy a treo with 128 or 256 MB of Memory, 32 MB or more of DBCache, 2 MP or 3 MP camera, Bluetooth 2.0, Wi Fi, 320x320 or 320x480 Screen, perhaps an internal drive or HD like the LD, and 8 GB or more SDHC support, nice case, but same Palm OS 5.4.9?? The answer: I'll do it. Some of these features cannot be delivered mostly because of OS limitations and that's exactly one of the reasons the OS needs improvements...

People expect their smartphones to be more than simple phones. People expect smartphones to have better cameras, better memory, better functions (OS can do this), wireless connectivity (both Bluetooth and Wi Fi), office companions, better everything than most of simple phones. People expect that the more money they're spending on such a device translates on more everything. Why should I be buying an smartphone that has a VGA camera, 64 MB memory, being bigger and not having wi fi (680?), if I can buy a 1.3 MB or 2 MP camera, radio, expansion card support, media suport, both video and audio (like sony ericsson phones do) as a phone and maybe half of the first one's price?. Or better, why not the iPhone that has wi fi and all this but the radio and expansion card support (though it is an iPod also and has 8 GB memory)?. The answer: I can have better specs on my phone with the same money ($399 for both 680 and the iPhone)... and notice that the iphone has bad things also (not being unlocked and not accepting apps to be legally installed).

So.... yes, Palm needs to develop the best OS. But the final objective of this is their devices to have the specs people these days ask for they to have(if not ahead).

PD
And as a recall, "PDA market is not going down, the thing is, people don't change their PDA because fresh new devices don't offer big and improved changes". Why should I be changing my tx for a 680 if I get an awful VGA camera and wouldn't have wi fi anymore?

Palm T2--LifeDrive--TX

*VGA* resolution ... for $399.

Dig that.

http://www.engadget.com/2007/10/06/hps-ipaq-110-and-210-pdas-get-shipment-date-prices/

If WinMob wasn't such utter shit, I'd run to it.