1SRC Podcast 149

[Alan G]

This week we have two unsupervised Palm geeks as PDALive.com's Justin Nolan joins me to cover the week's news: More on the Centro; Palm's earnings results; the 1SRC Editorial and more! [details (http://www.1src.com/?m=show&id=2004)]

[martinbblank]

There is a lot of Palm hating going on out there and while I have a lot of problems with Palm's coasting on their OS and not keeping their eye on the ball while Apple systemically body slammed them with the eye on the ball. All that said, I think the centro is o.k. design, and more importantly a fantastic price point. I hope they sell a ton and it keeps them afloat until they launch another revolutionary product. It better be revolutionary too.

[Dick Tracy]

Thanks Alan and Justin for a lengthy podcast. I'm afraid you've been talking to Jimmie too much lately as it sounds like there is a Y in Treo. Tree-oh, not tray-oh OK ;)

[holvoetn]

Quite lengthy it was, just finished listening.
BTW something is wrong with your timers. You were at 50 minutes when you said it was 57 :D

Also learned today about the PalmOS GSM version of Treo500 (or whatever it will be called). It makes sense on one hand, but I wonder why they make once again different platforms ?
Easy to tell afterwards, but it would have been easier to have a common platform with touchscreen and 320x320 (WM6 supports that now).
Unless Vodafone explicitly 'ordered' a non-touchscreen device ?

[intellidryad]

Here's another Dr. Pepper guy :D

Maybe we could consider the Centro as a "price drop" of the Treo 755p, in a smaller case. In that case, the 755p should be discontinued soon.

Regarding PalmOS II, I hope we won't see yet another "18 month delay notice" by 2009. I am starting to think they should just take the TX and Centro, modify them and load ALP. Just as Sony did with the NR70 -> NX70v OS upgrade.

[danielmaradona]

Alan another great show. It is nice to hear your conversation with Justin Nolan of pdalive.com.

It was rumored that Palm will going to unveil a GSM version of the Centro, and it will be introduced by AT&T after the expiration of the exclusive rights of sprint for the CDMA version of the Centro.

Palm is prioritizing in changing the design of the Treo, and hopefully they can finally make a great product when the Palm OS II finally arrives.

It is also fantastic if Palm will going to lunch a highend windows Mobile treo before the end of this year. A device that will going to have a built-in wifi and 320x320 screen resolution, matching the current one used in Palm OS.

[Alan G]

Thanks Alan and Justin for a lengthy podcast. I'm afraid you've been talking to Jimmie too much lately as it sounds like there is a Y in Treo. Tree-oh, not tray-oh OK

It has been a long time since Jimmie was on the show. Maybe I was subconsciously thinking that I need to get him back on the show. But we all know the correct pronunciation is "Tree-oh"

Alan G

[Alan G]

Quite lengthy it was, just finished listening.
BTW something is wrong with your timers. You were at 50 minutes when you said it was 57

I started the Skype session a few minutes before recording. I was guessing at where we where. I guess I was about 7 minutes off.

It makes sense on one hand, but I wonder why they make once again different platforms ?
Easy to tell afterwards, but it would have been easier to have a common platform with touchscreen and 320x320 (WM6 supports that now).
Unless Vodafone explicitly 'ordered' a non-touchscreen device ?

Those are good questions. I'm not sure what Palm is doing. Hopefully it will all make sense when all of these Treo 500/500v/Centro devices are shipping.

Alan G

[Alan G]

Maybe we could consider the Centro as a "price drop" of the Treo 755p, in a smaller case. In that case, the 755p should be discontinued soon.

I don't think so. Palm has been talking about multiple price points and device features as part of their plans for a long time. The Centro is the low cost Treo. The 755p is the high-end Treo offering a larger battery, screen, and keyboard.

Alan G

[Alan G]

It is also fantastic if Palm will going to lunch a highend windows Mobile treo before the end of this year. A device that will going to have a built-in wifi and 320x320 screen resolution, matching the current one used in Palm OS.

Let's not get too far ahead of ourselves. At this point the Treo 800w is a rumor.

Alan G

[danielmaradona]

Yes Alan it is still a rumor. One thing about the rumors which concerns Palm and its products. It is always accurate. I remember way back last April and May when the rumor for the centro has started, the form factor and the operating system is very accurate based on the prediction of expert analyst. During that time most of the focus of Palm community is centered around the Foleo as Palm's 3rd business solution.

I remember that most of the expert has been misled that Jeff Hawkins is developing a powerhouse UMPC device that runs on Palm OS Linux. Everything has changed now for Palm and its focus has also changed. The company itself is determined to impose its strength on the Smartphone business rather than going full blast in developing fringe devices like the "Foleo" which will only appeal to small segment of the mobile market industry.

[danielmaradona]

I don't think so. Palm has been talking about multiple price points and device features as part of their plans for a long time. The Centro is the low cost Treo. The 755p is the high-end Treo offering a larger battery, screen, and keyboard.

Alan G
I agree on you on certain point regarding the advantage of the Treo 755P over the Centro. However, in terms of the specs sheet as released by Palm there is not more a difference in terms of what it can do. I think it the Centro is a better device than the 680 which I'm currently using right now. It has a 1.3 mega pixel camera and a built-in voice command. You can also add those feature to the 680 and 650 through 3rd party solutions, but I liked to see a device which can do it "out of the box."

THe 755P is still the king of the hill in terms of Palm's marketing for high-end Palm OS device. It is also good to note that Palm is doing their best to cater the larger audience by planning to introduce a GSM version of the Centro later this year or early the next calendar, when the exclusive deal with Sprint has expired.

Another thing about the Centro, it is an indication that Palm is not yet abandoning the development of Garnet, still the OS has some mileage before it will be put to a halt.

Palms decision to put the centro (palm os) on the US market is still a great indication that Palm OS still a very popular platform in the US.

[I love my mom]

Another great podcast, Alan. I always like it when you have someone else to converse with on the show :)

I'm with Jimmy inasmuch that I'm sick of people asking me if my TX is an iPhone :rolleyes:

[Alan G]

Palms decision to put the centro (palm os) on the US market is still a great indication that Palm OS still a very popular platform in the US.

Yes, despite it's age, the Palm OS is still very popular here. That isn't the case in the UK.

Alan G

[Alan G]

Another great podcast, Alan. I always like it when you have someone else to converse with on the show

Glad that you liked the show ILMM. Justin is a pretty cool guy to talk with.

Alan G