Palm Q3 FY08 Conference Call Highlights

I would not be STUNNED to see a T-Mobile Centro, if for no other reason than it's popular, it's cheap, it's GSM and it would diversify their lineup. I think that the comments about adding new carriers is probably for more global carriers for the GSM Centro, though we canot rule out Telus in Canada, Lusacell in Mexico, or maybe someone smaller like Alltel in the US for the CDMA version as well.

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

The only (minor) complaint I have about the Centro is that answering a call hasn't been as intuitive as I'd like. There have been times I was using the PDA function of the phone, it rings, and I've tried to use the touchscreen to answer the call, but I had to use the center button instead. Like I said, it's a minor complaint, but I'd hope they would put out a fix for it to let you use either one.

I think the Centro could still end up bolstering Palm's bottom line, too. If the Centro is adopted by enough carriers, it could make up for its lower cost. (How many people do you think buy feature phones as opposed to smartphones?) And of course, if they accessorize the hell out of it, they could start to reap the benefits of that, too.

As far as I can tell, they only benefit by putting the Palm OS in more people's hands. The more people using the Palm OS, the better your chances of getting customers for higher-end models later. (It's a lot easier to convince someone to get a Treo for several hundred dollars after they've had a good experience with a Centro but are ready to step up.)

PDA's Past and Present:
Palm TX (Number 2)
Palm - IIIxe, Vx, M500, M505, Tungsten T, TX
Handspring - Edge, Platinum, Deluxe
Sony - SJ22, UX50
Casio-EM500
Apple - MP110, MP2000, MP2100

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

Steve Dowling from Apple called back. "We are working to replenish iPhone supplies as quickly as we can," he said to me reading the same statement he offered to others. "Our stores continue to receive shipments almost every day."

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/04/02/the-iphone-shortage/?em&ex=1207281600&en=1a9d03e0d3257394&ei=5087%0A

true. see my lou gerstner quotes on commoditization/services.

did palm have a chance with services but blew it? remember their focus on web clipping way back in the days of the palm vii? could they have focused on a push email package instead and been a viable competitor to RIM today had they recognized its importance? perhaps they could have bought GOOD-LINK cheap way back then with their inflated 2000 stock price and improved/integrated it into their offering?

easy for me to say - hindsight is 20/20.

About 6-12 months ago, someone here (SeldomVisitor, I believe) chimed in with me in thinking that Palm was going to start heavily pushing "services" of all sorts.
I believe Andy Brown might have even hinted at that at some point last year (Palm's Analyst Day, perhaps?). Has anything been said/printed/speculated/hinted at from Palm in that regard in the last few months?

Yup, RIM's growing presence in the consumer world should really make Palm scared. Apple & the iPhone are more of a separate "prosumer + hipster" entity than RIM's handsets so I figure they're immune to the BB phenomena. But Palm's products, with their increasingly diminuitive keyboards & screens and ho-hum feature set, are really going to feel the heat from both current & upcoming BB releases.

P.S. Anyone know off-hand if RIM has yet released a single BB model with all of the "must have" features: 3G data, 3.5mm stereo headphone jack, wi-fi, & GPS?
I know T-Mobile's Curve has trades wi-fi for GPS & is limited to EDGE while the EVDO Sprint & Verizon 8830's don't have wi-fi.

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

I think, quite honestly, that Palm WAS still bumping along withing shouting distance of success circa 2002/2003. They just got cheap/arrogant/distracted by the Palm/Palmsource split and determined it would be easier to hide behind marketing smoke'n mirrors than it would be to keep innovating.

The Tungsten W was a pretty decent offering (for the time). It was just crippled by its OS & CPU. But Palm was on the right track....a great screen (for the time) QWERTY data-centric device.

Palm should've focused on two types of wireless devices post-Handspring acquisition: modestly spec'd small smartphones (Treo 600/Centro style) AND larger, data-centric PDA replacements that placed telephone functions secondary (if they even had them at all). Think the Tungsten C but offered in both wi-fi and cellular versions (look at what Handspring was doing with the Treo 180 and the 90, for example). That would have nicely set the stage for a circa 2005/2006 Treo TX-type device w/ a large screen that would have nicely kept the iPhone at arm's length, at least for a while.

It's not Palm dumping the PDA line that irks me so much as it is the utter lack of variety, innovation, and choices in the Centro/Treo lineup. Palm's essentially been regurgitating the same damn thing in different colors and at different pricepoints ever since Handspring's original Treo 600. Heck, the Treo line had more formfactor choices under Handspring than it has had in 5 years with Palm!

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