In the last few days, a few developers shared their opinions on Palm’s “secret business” aka Foleo. Now that the first round of interviews is done, I think that its time for a “conclusion” and a list of opinions.
First of all, here is a table with a few “characteristics” of each interview(descending order from positive to negative):
| Interview partner | Will provide services |
Expects successor |
vs iPhone | Overall |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andreas Voigt | if demand | yes | Foleo wasn’t hyped | Very positive |
| Donald Kirker | yes | yes | Foleo wasn’t hyped | cool |
| Iain Barclay | yes | hopes | neither deserves hype, rather iphone |
rather positive |
| Tunji Afonja | if adopted | maybe | iPhone | Neutral |
| Jan Slodicka | waiting | maybe, but unlikely | iphone | Rather negative |
| Radoslav Nowak | no | unlikely | no comment | Negative |
| Dmitry Grinberg | maybe, if below 200$ and Linux platform open |
Laptops | none | Extremely negative |
The interviewers had very diverging opinions, yet every one of them presented a coherent and “possible” scenario for the Foleo’s future. Here is each interview, along with a short summary(from positive to negative):
Andreas Voigt
Andreas Voigt(PDA repair house, Meazura king) is very positive about the Foleo. He thinks that the product can sell very well if marketed correctly - as smartphone addon to fulfill the infinite need for a bigger screen and keyboard…as well as the need for simple-to-use computers for the “masses”.
Donald Kirker
Donald Kirker(Universe3 developer) is pretty excited about the Foleo…although he thinks that its main use will not be email. His company plans on delivering applications for the machine, he expects it to sell decently well, but not blockbuster-style.
Iain Barclay
Iain Barclay(ElectricPocket) feels that the Foleo will be a “Web 2.0″ platform of some sort or the other. He thinks that it will make a “laptop lite” for people who don’t need the hassle of a full laptop(”I hope it is the perfect computer for my Mother and my kids!”), and plans to offer products for it.
Tunji Afonja
Tunji Afonja(GX5) thinks that Palm’s “gamble is very bold”. He thinks that the device has a good standing against UMPC’s(if only because of Vista’s various quirks); and could possibly sell well in the market for “simple” computers.
Jan Slodicka
Jan Slodicka(Resco) is rather negative about the Foleo. He expected a device that will at least somehow support the Treo market; which he feels that the Foleo does not. Jan cannot envision Treo users carrying an extra bag for the Foleo…
Radoslaw Nowak
Radoslaw Nowak’s position is short and simple: there isn’t enough space for the Palm Foleo between laptops and smartphones…
Dmitry Grinberg
Last but not least, Dmitry Grinberg goes into “full-scale” attack mode on Palm and delivers an amusing-but-accurate depiction of why the Foleo will fail and why it all doesn’t surprise him. His writing style alone makes this a must-read…
Overall, the Palm OS economy has spoken - and we aren’t wiser than we were before. We got very negative interviews, very positive ones and neutral ones, too. In the end, time will tell - what do you think?
