Lets start this article off with a true story that I didn’t share back when it happened because I deeply respect the Palm employees reading TamsPalm. However, I think that telling it is now in order – its the best way to start off this article:
A few years ago(the Palm Tungsten T3 was freshly released), I bumped into a man using a strange BlackBerry I had never seen before in a subway train. I went up to him and had a chat…he was a product line manager at XXXXXXXX(big Austrian carrier). I asked him why his carrier stopped carrying Palm after the Treo 270 – and his response was short and hard:
because the c*** s*******(sic) don’t stand behind their products. I don’t want to have my customers biting my carrier’s hide just because some jerk high at Palm’s decides that its time to move on to the next product and stop supporting. Yes, WinMob is a bit sucky – but the HTC guys at least have the balls to stand behind their stuff.
I didn’t dare top ask for his card after that – I mean, I told him that I run a Palm OS site, so go figure.
Anyways, the story above clearly shows that carriers understand and know that Palm has a tendency to chicken out on problems – and lawyers and customers proved this together. They did win the m1xx series law suit after all, didn’t they. And the Treo 600 does develop orange blotches, doesn’t it?
If Palm wants to keep the excellent reputation it once had for sturdy machines(necessary for any kind of selling-to-business), moves like the one they made on the Find vulnerability will not be helpful. Not at all.
If you have a security vulnerability(especially one thats easy to patch, no matter how petty it may be) – fix it. If a independent developer can fix it in no time, so should you. In fact, I would love to see how GSPDA or HTC would react if such a flaw popped up in one of their devices….
Once again, to all Palm employees reading TamsPalm – sorry for the harsh words. But TamsPalm is not a cuddly-wuddly blog for apologists – this is, last but not least, a brain dump. and these thoughts and stories are percolating my noggin at the moment.
It would be too cool to hear some opinions – click on the post tile to get a permalink that can conveniently be sent to your manager =).
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Palm is working on a patch. I guess it takes a while for them :-/
I would love to see a wifi update for the T|3. I can’t listen to internet radio for more than 10 minutes.(the PalmOne SDIO wifi card)
Palm is really slow at making patches, how many sd cards where ruined by a defective T3 ROM? how many users are suffering with a beta like handheld as T5? what about the lifedrive? why we need Dmitrygr apps?
About individual support I’m somewhat pleased, when I had problems with my T3 they just exchanged it. It was fast and easy
, the people at palm know well their products and were able to solve my problems 
, I guess that this depends on where are you calling from and where your call is being answered…
Here seamed that my call was beeing answered in Argentina, that wasnt a problem since Im in LA anyway.
hey! I forgot when palm released a palm os update cd!!!! that were good times!!! many handhelds could be updated to palm os 4!!!! my III and Vx…oh… good times…
That surelly was a good move, not only gave legacy devices a new life, but it also showed how palm take care of their costumers, even if they where palm III users. and having a good experience with a company is the key to have loyal costumers.
Hi,
for me, customer care never really worked. Yes, they did exchange…but it didnt help me one bit. So go figure =).
Best regards
Tam Hanna