The Register recently posted an editorial on why Palm is moving away from Windows Mobile. While the Register is right about the direction of Palm(IMHO), I think that the reasons given for the move are wrong.
IMHO, Palm’s move to Windows Mobile was more-less a trial shot “into the dark” – as TamsPalm already stated years ago(anyone still remembers Tam the sucker?). Getting a Windows Mobile operating system running is easy nowadays – platform builder, ARM box and off we go. So, Palm’s Windows Mobile launch didn’t cost them much R&D money…and was the right thing to do back then, as the future of the Palm OS was unsafe and risky.
When looking back at the history of Palm, the company essentially lived off its great UI and the installed user base. A person who owns hundreds of dollars in software will not change OS unless he absolutely must do so…and slightly weaker hardware is not a reason for most. Basically, Palm had a “Freijagdschein” to deliver sub-par hardware; their software saved their hide.
Thus, Palm never really embraced the idea of sharing their OS with anyone else – having licensees like Sony and Handera force Palm to invest money into hardware development instead of allowing them to tug along at their own pace probably wasn’t very comfortable for Palm. If seen under this light, Access is Palm’s worst horror – while good ol’PalmSource wasn’t very active pursuing licensees; Access always made clear that they want ALP to be everywhere and with everybody…thus contradicting Palm’s innerest survival method and business plan. The breakup had to happen…
Now, Palm has the opportunity to go back to their “roots” that kept them alive for years – so why not go back? Companies like HP put pressure on the Windows Mobile market with machines like the (IMHO) excellent HP rx4240…and Palm could run off into its own “world” once again with their Linux Palm OS platform… .
IMHO; the decision about Palm’s future lays in the hands of developers and users. If they adopt Palm’s Linux like they adopted Garnet, Palm will continue to be Palm for the next few years. If developers don’t lock their apps to Palm’s Linux platform(I wont); users will be able to “defect” to ALP if the devices are good enough and available in numbers. If this happens, funny times are ahead for Palm…funny times including bankruptcy or a sellout!
What do you think?
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I agree. Palm was never really a motor of innovation-except for the palm pilot- and having Sony in the boat for a while must have been a horror for palm while it was great for the users and the OS itself. Access´ ambitions are just as bad for palm. For me as a user access sounds like the better deal as it will hopefully result in a nice spectrum of hardware. Palm just keeps riding its treo-wave and lives in its own small happy garnet world. On the other hand, if they are the only ones that make pure PDAs I´ll be stuck with them:-)
I look forward to the developments in the coming year!!!
hmmm ??
Wuold you please explain “Freijagdschein” ??
I know “FreiFAHRTSchein” (Ticket for a free ride) or “JAGDschein” (somebody goes nuts “he has a jagdschein”).
Oh yes i forgot the “Freibieranforderungsschein”
( http://www.compuseum.de/pub/bilder/pum2007/images/fullsize/P1020264.JPG ) but this you don’t ment, or did you?
babelfish: Free hunting license.
I stay tuned. I have made no pre-ideas (:-) slow day) and will decide the future when it is the present (if that makes sense. Again: slow day)
That logic is rather flawed. If palm does not license out its new OS, it runs the risk of falling into obscurity for a number of reasons: 1) Palm alone supporting the OS is not enough to encourage a strong developer base (evident as the PalmOS developer base has been dwindling in the past couple years — and there are still a couple other licensees out there) 2) Users would be, lets call it, less than thrilled with what would certainly be a very limited choice of devices 3) Palm would most likely not push development of new devices particularly much. When Palm had competition (from licensees) it was forced to innovate at least a little (which it gradually did, just very slowly). Without such competition, Palm would do what they’ve been doing with the recent treos… VERY slow, slight upgrades — but nothing interesting.
So I personally hope palm tries to license out its new system after all, and perhaps wrest back some marketshare from WinMob and Symbian.
Hi,
with Freijagdschein, I meant the permit for the insane critter =) – thank you Gojira for pointing this out.
As for innovation, IMHO, Palm is not very interested in doing hardware innovation work. What they want to do is do small evolutionary upgrades…and for them, licencees IMHO are a nightmare…
Best regards
Tam Hanna
I have a question fopr anyone who can help. I am very interested in that window os for the treo. I have a treo 755 and I want to upgrade to the windows os platform. Does anyone know if this is even possible, or do I have to wait. Their is a UK addition that I found for the treo 750 but I dont want to mess my phone up.
Also if I do try the UK ver. for my treo 755 and it doesn’t work is their a way to revert back to the previous os. Thanks in advance
Hi,
sorry, but this (IMHO) won’t work. The 750 is completely different from the 755 from a hardware point of view – the one has a GSM radio, the other a CDMA…
Better not try it – your box will most likely be toast…
Good luck
Tam Hanna
Ok Thanks for the heads up. Looks like I’ll have to wait.
Hi,
sorry to break it for you. However, you could always get a Treo 700wx or a 750…
Best regards
Tam Hanna