Quickies: Business 2.0, WSJ, SlickDeals, Sales Figures

Posted By: Ed Saturday, March 31, 2001 9:01:08 AM

Business 2.0 has devoted much of its current issue to Palm and its rivals. They have articles on The Palm Phenom, in which Palm's CEO admits he never liked the VII series. There is also an interview with Jeff Hawkins in which he says, "it's almost certain that we [Handspring] will have products that won't run Palm OS".

In case you haven't seen it yet, the Wall Street Journal has a review of the m500 and m505, which is generally favorable, though it describes the screen on the m505 as "dim, dark and dull".

SlickDeals.net lists the codes for coupons from Staples for amounts like $30 off any purchase over $150. Staples lists the Palm IIIxe for $149.99 so add some paperclips (16 cents) and the Palm IIIxe costs $120.15. Staples caries a complete line of Palm OS devices and these coupons can be used on any of them. -Jeff

PC Data, the company that lists the frequently controversial monthly retail sales figures for the different handheld manufactures, will do so no more. It will close all its operations as of April 13. Their point-of-sale tracking division was sold to NPD Intellect.

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still don't get it

GregGaub @ 3/31/2001 1:31:47 PM #
"Why: Built-in RAM is much more than the Palm's standard 8MB. Uses Microsoft Windows for Pocket PC, considered a more vibrant and diverse operating system."

I can't hold back. It just really ticks me off that they keep making this comparison, completely ignorant of the fact that comparable apps on both platforms vary widely in size. PPC devices NEED more RAM to store all their bloated code (I'm not talking about content like text files and such, but actual applications). Assuming you can even find enough applications that you LIKE for the PPC to fill up the available RAM, it's unlikely that you'll have nearly as many separate applications as a Palm device. Then there's the fact that the PPC needs FREE RAM just to run programs, because (afaik) all of them load from RAM into RAM just to run. In other words, your 32 megs of RAM on a PPC is effectively limited to about 28 or less, because you need a bunch of free RAM just to run the programs. The less free RAM you have, the less programs you can run "simultaneously."

With Palm's OS4 and SD expansion, that comparison is even more moot.

-Greg
(ok all you "why do you Palm guys always bash PPC?" people, go for it! :P )

RE: still don't get it
I.M. Anonymous @ 3/31/2001 3:00:04 PM #
I'm not gonna start flaming Palms, I'd just like you to consider what you write before you post it.
You mentioned that PocketPC apps are large because of bloated code, well I can't disagree with that, it's true, on average they are about 3 times larger than a Palm equivalent. It was the comment about finding enough PocketPC programs to fill the memory that you need to consider, as does every other person that thinks there is not much software for them. On last count, PalmGear has about 7500 downloads available, ok so it seems a lot. But, a huge chunk of these are over 18 months old and have been superseded by something much better, there are a lot of PDA toolbox apps that no one actually uses for long and there are a load of ebooks, handbase and thinkdb databases with are not technically an app. So forget about all those. Also forget about any doc readers, doc editors, email programs, web browsers, image viewers, spreadsheet apps, apps that break the 4k memo pad barrier and accounting apps, because all these come built in to the PPC OS. What you are left with is a figure that's not as big as you originally thought.
Well that's it, I've gotta go and watch the full length Dungeons & Dragons film on my PPC ;-)

gr-sls

RE: still don't get it
GregGaub @ 3/31/2001 5:14:36 PM #
ah, then do the same for the PPC software. Last time I looked, the total was still under 600 titles, many of which were duplicate types of applications, just like Palm apps. I keep hearing your argument when I rag on low numbers of apps for PPC/WinCE, but the same things apply to those archives. As such, since both collections have multiple apps that perform the same purpose (or are just content, and not applications, etc.) the overwhelmingly higher number of Palm apps almost guarantees that you can find one that does what you want, how you want it, and doesn't cost as much as a desktop PC app.
So there. :P
-Greg

RE: still don't get it
I.M. Anonymous @ 3/31/2001 6:40:00 PM #
you should also point out that the larger, bloated wince code is also why ppcs need 150+mhz processors, whereas palms make do with 16-33mhz (albeit CISC) cpus.

of course if palm moves to high clock rate arm processors and more memory next year, then it'll be interesting to see what kind of palm apps emerge.



RE: still don't get it
I.M. Anonymous @ 3/31/2001 10:30:53 PM #
OK, here goes, "why do you Palm guys always bash PPC?"
Ahh, I feel so much better now. :)

RE: still don't get it
lookiwon @ 11/1/2003 2:52:04 AM #
http://www.crazycooldealz.com continues to do the same thing.

http://www.crazycooldealz.com continues to do the same thing.
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