my open letter to PALM

[robbyy]

Dear Palm,

I have been a loyal supporter of your company for many many years. I bought a Palm Pro back in the day and have followed with models ranging through the TX with at least 5 stops in between.

I believe I have been lucky in a number of respects, several of the aforementioned devices still work. Some have been lost, stolen, or just sort of died a week or 2 out of warranty. But that being said, where is my new fricking PDA? I have waited patiently for you to wow me. I used your crappy TX models with their random lock ups and eventual death spirals. I used 2 of them in fact, because they were the best you had at the time. Now it is payback time, and I want a PDA.

I don’t want a smart phone. I have a smart phone, it is called a blackberry and I hate it, but if you guys can’t get your act together and work on a server solution that works with Exchange and possesses some degree of encryption, I guess the IT wonks at my office will continue to shun your products and order us Blackberry “waffle phones”, just like most fortune 500 companies.

So where is my PDA? I was patient. I was good. I defended your company at every turn with hope in my heart that you would do the right thing and create my perfect PDA (sort of like a TX that worked and didn’t cost more than a netbook). But you bailed on me and the rest of your supporters, and for that you suck.

You guys have forced me to take drastic steps and replace my trusty sidekick of 10 years with a iPod touch. You see the touch is not a great PDA. In fact it is a crappy PDA, but compared to your offerings of late (nothing) it is a better alternative. Granted I can’t synchronize with multiple PCs and I have to invoke the blessings of a dark elder god to get my txt formatted e-books on it, but at least I can BUY ONE! I will really miss not having access to the thousands of PALM apps I have collected over the years, but I guess your new smart phone users won’t be able to use them either!

I hope you have fun getting your teeth kicked in by the big boys and their smart phones. You better not come crying back to me when you lose your entire core of developers and users because you have screwed us over one time too many. I think I speak for all of us when I say we are gone daddy gone, and after I figure out why none of the fricking apps I want in the apple store are free I’ll drop you a post card.

Disgruntled in Memphis

[Greek]

As much as I liked PDAs, I finally knew that a smartphone is MUCH better. I had to trade off screen size when using the 650 and now the Centro. But I am happy.

I would suggest you to move on, the BIG market does not want PDAs. Get over it. Or spend a lot of $ and buy an industrial WinMo handheld. Or get to like the iPod Touch which I think is great.

I like the Centro, I like PalmOS, but it is outdated. Apple and RIM taught us that.

IMHO, the best you'll get is the Pre, but of course, you have to get to FORGET legacy apps or wait for a third party developer to make a emulator. Even if it's great I won't use it. Why? Because apps will look ugly and tough to use with the tiny buttons and line scroll bars.

Time is over for PDAs and we, people at forums (geeks) are just too little. Palm is a company, they need to make money, not to loose it just to satisfy a bunch of nostalgic guys.

Apple sells more iPhones than iPod Touch, HP does not sell iPaqs, all other PDA makers, stopped. The Bberry Bold is more successful than the Storm (which is also a phone). I think Palm learned from that and they made the best of both hits with the Pre. Take it or leave it. ;)

[LiteBuLB]

PDA is dead, as much as i would like to see it live. Sony back out, and Palm has been without a successor since TX. Even Treos ran on Windows. So much hype about Cobalt OS. Bleh.

[ftwitty]

I'm sure your frustrations are shared by many, including me to a certain extent. The sad reality is that Palm really doesn't care about the few, they care about the big money they make on phones. It became pretty clear that they had given-up on PDAs when they failed to update the Tx Os when it needed fixxing.

The introduction of the Treo Pro, for me, solved a problem and I was finally able to carry my PDA with me all the time along with my cell phone because of an improved form factor.

In closing, I'd advise that you shed the hostility, as it will only harm you. Palm just doesn't care and won't either.

[Greek]

Where I live, trains lost lots of money. So they shut them down. I liked trains, but I need to move, so I take the bus.

Evolution, progress, change. That's life.

In your area/work, do you like to loose money? Why do you expect others to do so? Guys, Palm is a company, NOT a charity institution!!! :)

Regards,

[Another Michael]

Where I live, trains lost lots of money. So they shut them down. I liked trains, but I need to move, so I take the bus.

Evolution, progress, change. That's life.

In your area/work, do you like to loose money? Why do you expect others to do so? Guys, Palm is a company, NOT a charity institution!!! :)

Regards,

I really don't think that Palm have ever lose money from their pda line.

If you sell pda's you could make profit but with smartphones you can make more.

Some love their pda's. Other think only in dollars.

[juggernaut#2]

Evolution, progress, change. That's life.
change =/= progress

I don´t think anybody thinks of palm as a charity institution, but it may be doubted that the decision they made really accounts for progress, even in terms of money. money does not always account for the best change, maybe it accounts for the best-change-avail-for-the-money.

and as far as I know the whole world´s taypayer now accounts for some american short-term money decisions :)

[alex_lorenzo]

I don't like smartphones. I like a 4" screen pda AND a light factor phone.

A large screen increases the usability of the device exponentially. How could you check a spreadsheet in the tiny screen of a Treo phone? Why do you think iPhone and iTouch are thriving? Their LARGE screen makes them great for watching movies, reading documents (or e-mails), etc.

robbyy might as well be happy with Palm's new Pre (screen size over 3"). But still, I won't buy one. I don't want to have my phone lurching behind my PDA, so I have to interrupt what I'm doing to answer calls.

Stopping their PDA line was a bad a movent as having smartphones was a good one. They could have kept both lines, even with windows-based PDAs as well! Just one new model every year and a half... they would be more prepared now in terms of OS and their base of customers would be intact. I think there is market for both types of devices. I've been using my PDA for a long time now, and changed my phone three times, everytime a smaller one.

80% of the people just need a simple phone. E-mail centric people have BlackBerrys. They all would buy a great PDA (I'm thinking of Tungsten T3). And they'll buy whatever new contraption the companies care to adversise.

[scottl]

I'm looking VERY much forward to the Pre and hope to have one soon, but a though struck me the other day regarding the lack of POS app compatibility...

Buy that Pre, but then... start carrying a TX (again) with it! I don't really like the thought of that much, but it could work. I have a few and could replace the digitizer, hard reset, and install only the couple apps I holding me back from getting a Pre - until an emulation layer comes along for it. I really only need the data that's trapped on a POS device during work hours and would carry only the Pre on my time. A clean TX without all the crazy frankentgarnet patches, hacks, other hede apps, etc would be a much more stable and zippy TX than I was used to.

I would only have (at first) WarpSpeed, NoteStudio, ThoughtManager, IDGuard, and ProfileMD on it. I bet running that at 416MHz or higher would be a nice little tool! Hmm...

OK, go ahead, let me have it for stepping backward.
http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/smiley-scared008.gif (http://www.freesmileys.org)

[astonred]

i've just bought a clie sj22 to replace my TX, i too was hoping for a new PDA, oh well...

[SonyStyle]

i miss my clies but i have moved onto notebooks. my current vaio TZ has been with me for 1.5 years.

one of the reasons i like pdas because i usually carry a high end nokia 8000 series phone with me.

i am plannig to get the new sony p serires which seems very interesting.

palm just wasnt innovative or creative after sony left the pda market. they will soon continue to cripple, i just dont really like their treo type smartphones

[Mark29]

Hate to say it, but I have to agree that the traditional PDA is no more. The market has moved on to smartphones, and to a lesser extent netbooks. HP still makes a WinMobile PDA, though I'll be surprised if it lasts much longer. There simply aren't enough users buying traditional PDAs to support a market.

Mark

[rlauzon]

Yet a market still exists for a PDA (because some of us are asking for it).

But I do agree that a PDA-only device is no longer cost effective for a company to make. What companies like Palm need to do is make a device that can be used as a PDA - without having to rent it from a cell phone company for an exorbitant amount per month.

Take for example, the Google phone. It's been proven that it works fine as a standalone device - without data or voice service - using just the local WiFi connection. Good luck buying one without service, though. Even if you were to get one without service, the device has been sabotaged to prevent you from activating the device unless you have data service through a cell phone provider.

This is not good for the consumer. (IHMO: any device that has customer lock-in is admitting that it is inferior and a poor value.)

Palm, let us buy a Pre. Let us decide how we want to use the device. Let us decide if we want to get voice service. Let us decide if we want cellular data service. Let us decide if we only want access via WiFi.

Unfortunately, I believe that Palm has to kowtow to the cell phone companies to get the Pre into the stores.

I really hope that's not the case. I really hope that I can buy a Pre without service and use it only as a PDA - if I so choose.

I hope, but doubt that will be the case.

[BalBurgh]

Is the iPod Touch an iPod with some extras or an iPhone minus the phone? Hint: It's the latter. Oh yeah, and it's significantly cheaper, too.

As much as an iPod Touch is trading more on being an iPod-plus rather than an iPhone-minus there's no reason Palm can't go that route with the Pre or any follow-on. Additionally, they can completely change the form factor of a device that doesn't have to be a phone whose slide-open action reforms it into a face-following bend. Shoot, they could do away with a slideout keypad altogether (I never use the one on my NX after at one time thinking it was a must-have--now I just use the stylus on the on-screen keyboard).

[rlauzon]

Is the iPod Touch an iPod with some extras or an iPhone minus the phone?

Apple products are grossly overpriced and proprietary - making them a poor value.

[Mark29]

Apple products are grossly overpriced and proprietary - making them a poor value.

For the iPod Touch, I agree it's overpriced for what it is but not for all Apple products. iPods are competitively priced to other brands with similar features. That, and they're extremely simple and easy to operate. Several years ago I purchased a Dell mp3 player. Big mistake, as it wasn't long after that Dell stopped selling & supporting them. Accessories were not easy to find.

The Dell used 'PlaysForSure' technology, which doesn't seem to be used much now. The software didn't work at all on a Vista system, nor could I find anything that would really work well with the player. The iPod and software just work, and accessories are available everywhere.

Mark

[rlauzon]

For the iPod Touch, I agree it's overpriced for what it is but not for all Apple products. iPods are competitively priced to other brands with similar features.

I've already run the numbers. Without exception, I can get devices that do the same thing as iPods for significantly less. And the competing devices are open, as opposed to Apple's closed, systems.

The iPod and software just work, and accessories are available everywhere.

Archos', for example, just work as well. Without requiring special software or (for the most part) special accessories. And my Archos' cost far less than iPods.

[Mark29]

I've already run the numbers. Without exception, I can get devices that do the same thing as iPods for significantly less. And the competing devices are open, as opposed to Apple's closed, systems.


Archos', for example, just work as well. Without requiring special software or (for the most part) special accessories. And my Archos' cost far less than iPods.

The iPod works with mp3 - not what I would call a closed system. The software was a free d/l, and it works flawlessly. Still, if I want to purchase an mp3 from Amazon.com I have that choice as well - I'm not stuck with iTunes.

I looked at a lot of mp3 players before getting the iPod - one important factor for me was availability of accessories. The only other unit that came close was the Zune, which was priced similarly to the iPod. For reasons that are important to me, I went with the iPod and I've been very happy with it. Let's just say we agree to disagree :)

Mark

[rlauzon]

The iPod works with mp3 - not what I would call a closed system.

But in order to load those mp3s to your iPod, you must use a closed, proprietary piece of software that only works on closed, proprietary operating systems.

Almost all add-ons for your iPod will only work with your iPod (and may not work with future iPods).

The iPod is a closed, proprietary system that tries its best to lock the customer in.

IHMO, any system that includes customer lock-in is admitting that it is inferior and a poor value.

The software was a free d/l, and it works flawlessly.

My devices require no software at all. They simply show up as hard drives. I just drag/drop the MP3s onto the devices and they just work. It doesn't get easier than that.

[Mark29]

But in order to load those mp3s to your iPod, you must use a closed, proprietary piece of software that only works on closed, proprietary operating systems.

Almost all add-ons for your iPod will only work with your iPod (and may not work with future iPods).

The iPod is a closed, proprietary system that tries its best to lock the customer in.

IHMO, any system that includes customer lock-in is admitting that it is inferior and a poor value.



My devices require no software at all. They simply show up as hard drives. I just drag/drop the MP3s onto the devices and they just work. It doesn't get easier than that.

First, stop trying to convince me not to like the iPod - I already stated I disagree with you. You won't change my mind.

Second, the iPod does accept mp3 files regardless of the source. The software is free, it's a no brainer to download it from the 'net, and it's fantastically easy to use. When I purchase an mp3 from Amazon, the song is automatically d/l and shows up in iTunes - no interaction from me is necessary. I don't really care whether the OS on the device is closed or not - it works, and that's all that matters to me. If the OS matters to you, that's fine.

Third, I don't want an mp3 player that shows up as simply a hard drive. I can manage playlists very easily with iTunes - maybe you don't use playlists, but I manage several for different purposes. Also, I like the automatic syncing through iTunes. I can't do that if it shows up as an external drive.

Just let it go. I'm happy for you that you like your mp3 player. You need to accept that others are happy with iPods, or Zunes, or whatever.

[BalBurgh]

Apple products are grossly overpriced and proprietary - making them a poor value.
Thus missing the point of my post entirely...