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Originally Posted by Laurens
The author has several good suggestions for PalmOne, two of which many here will agree with: 1) PalmOne should buy back PalmSource 2) PalmOne should bring back the business PDA.
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Buying back Palmsource would be a really bad decision on their part. The whole reason for the split, was to increase their market penetration in different areas (and Palmsource is committed to this, by diverging into Linux). Buying them back, or merging back together, would dramatically shorten the overall lifespan for both companies.
Also, they may now have contracts on either side with OEMs and partners, which may specifically prohibit using anything from the other company's IP or project/product portfolio.
palmOne makes hardware, period. It just happens to be that their reference platform ships with an OS made by Palmsource. But they might also enter into engagements with Microsoft, for example, to ship PocketPC-based devices, using this same hardware. That puts it directly in conflict with what PalmOS is doing on those devices. Merging back with Palmsource would limit (and probably render contractually impossible) what OS vendors they are allowed to collaborate with.
Palmsource on the other hand, provides software, period. Merging back means they can't provide software for Nokia-based devices for example, or kiosk systems based on the Linux kernel, running PalmOS on top. Or many other markets heretofor unexplored.
I do, however, agree with the second point. I loved my Palm Vx, and there haven't really been any good, rugged, capable, "business PDAs" in the Palm world in a long time.
I've personally owned about 20 different PalmOS models over the years, and the two I've loved the best so far, are my Vx and my Tungsten T2 (though that screaming high-pitch noise that is on all the time on the T2 when it is powered on, is teeth-grindingly-annoying!)
But then again, business-centric customers weren't really wasn't their market, until recently, when they decided to start attacking the Outlook integration head-on.
Having spoken to several Palmsource people high-up in the food chain personally on the phone in the last couple of weeks, I can say with confidence that there are some very interesting projects and goals defined for them for 2005 and beyond.
I'm not giving up the ship yet. More exciting times are ahead.