Palm cannot help itself anymore, says former fan

Colin Dunstan · 11-10-2005, 09:41 AM

In an article called How Palm Inc's CEO shot himself in the foot Fernando Cassia expresses his great dismay at how in recent days, Palm's chief Ed Colligan has managed to frustrate and alienate most of the company's loyal followers. I could wax poetic here about whether he is right or wrong, but I will not waste my breath nor your time. Only the future number of sold Treos will tell us if Colligan was right by embracing the "dark side", urm... I mean Windows Mobile.

rmeister0 · 11-10-2005, 11:50 AM

It's fashionable to beat up on Microsoft, but I love his description of "Microsoft-loving" press in the same month we get John Dvorak accusing the press of having a pro-Apple bias. Just goes to show it is all a matter of where you're sitting.

The real drive to produce a Windows Mobile device is clearly to be able to run custom applications developed within corporate environments - most of which are very Windows-centric. Heck, anyone running Visual Studio .NET has the tools to make applications for these devices. Palm has not kept up in this regard.

I am amazed he thinks the price-points of their products are alienating their customer base. If anything, buggy code has alienated their base, but not so horribly that they're leaving in droves (at least if message boards are any indication).

maceyr · 11-10-2005, 12:41 PM

The problem with the whole Palm is dead situation has a lot to do with the media. And let's face it. They're in the business to make headlines. That's what sells papers, news, advertising, etc. What better to sell this than to come up with the Palm is dead story? Gartner didn't make things better with their selective statistics on the PDA and smartphone and giving consumers the impression that Palms are losing market share. And of course, everybody else in media jumped onto the bandwagon since this is BIG news. Unfortunately, the sheep mentality has a tendency to make everyone think that they have to jump ship now that the Palm is dead and go the MS route. It's a combination of mishaps, flops, lack of marketing that was attributable to the previous execs of PalmOne who did nothing but spin off Palmsource and watch everything flop.

Ed is trying hard to keep Palm from dying a premature death, in his own way. Although I don't agree with the WinMobile Treo idea since it totally clashes with the whole zen of the Palm philosophy, I think he's trying to hold off MS from killing Palm just like what we've seen with many competitors to MS: Real, Netscape, etc. By "collaborating" with MS on the WinMobile Treo, I think Ed is trying to buy some time for Palm so that he can get the Linux OS or find other ways to still beat MS in this game.

It may seem like a defeat to most people, but I trust that Ed has something up his sleeve. I may end up eating my words, but I think that we will look back on this sometime in the future and praise Ed for his "insight" and clever maneuvering to hold off the dogs.

And I agree that the media was so horrible to embrace the whole iPod video (whoopee doo) news on the day that Palm came out with their TX and Z22. I hope that Ed and co will learn from their mistake and not disclose that much info on new releases only to be at last minute, trumped by a rival. It's all about marketing. If Palm wants to survive, they'd better come up with better marketing campaigns. As we've seen with the iPod, it's all about the marketing and image. (For God's sake, it's just an mp3 player with hard drive?!!!)

But what do I know? Just a biased loyal Palm Addict.

Dick Tracy · 11-10-2005, 03:43 PM

I don't get it. This journalist writes a screed about FUD and dishes out more of it.

Laurens · 11-10-2005, 04:09 PM

Bob Russell · 11-10-2005, 04:28 PM

Heh!... I never noticed it before, but the crying man looks like he ate a dogbone!

surur · 11-10-2005, 07:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by maceyr

Gartner didn't make things better with their selective statistics on the PDA and smartphone and giving consumers the impression that Palms are losing market share.

But Palm is losing market share, and has been since 2000. Even ignoring Gartner numbers, Canalys numbers clearly illustrate this. They have gone from 80+% to less than 35% (vs WM, ignoring the even bigger threat of rim and Symbian). This includes PDA's and Treo's.

Surur

drc54 · 11-10-2005, 11:15 PM

I agree with the sentinment. It's just news people trying to sell news. It is a business strategy that Palm has undertaken. We call that coopetition. But it's a strategy that can result in crash and burn. So, if the CEO is an execellent pilot, he knows when to make that sharp banking curve while still in mid-air. Too soon you'll miss the landing spot and run out fuel. Too late, it's hard surface in micro seconds.

Seen many of these in the past. Some success. Some swallowed. Some, a fiery ball of fire and puff, never heard again (any one remember Wang Lab?). As they say, it's a dog eat dog world in business.

11-10-2005, 09:41 AM	#1
Colin Dunstan Is papyrophobic! Posts: 1,926 Karma: 1009999 Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: USA Device: Dell Axim	Palm cannot help itself anymore, says former fan In an article called How Palm Inc's CEO shot himself in the foot Fernando Cassia expresses his great dismay at how in recent days, Palm's chief Ed Colligan has managed to frustrate and alienate most of the company's loyal followers. I could wax poetic here about whether he is right or wrong, but I will not waste my breath nor your time. Only the future number of sold Treos will tell us if Colligan was right by embracing the "dark side", urm... I mean Windows Mobile.

11-10-2005, 12:41 PM	#3
maceyr Palm Discoverer Posts: 37 Karma: 2139 Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Canada Device: Treo 650 & Zire 71	The problem with the whole Palm is dead situation has a lot to do with the media. And let's face it. They're in the business to make headlines. That's what sells papers, news, advertising, etc. What better to sell this than to come up with the Palm is dead story? Gartner didn't make things better with their selective statistics on the PDA and smartphone and giving consumers the impression that Palms are losing market share. And of course, everybody else in media jumped onto the bandwagon since this is BIG news. Unfortunately, the sheep mentality has a tendency to make everyone think that they have to jump ship now that the Palm is dead and go the MS route. It's a combination of mishaps, flops, lack of marketing that was attributable to the previous execs of PalmOne who did nothing but spin off Palmsource and watch everything flop. Ed is trying hard to keep Palm from dying a premature death, in his own way. Although I don't agree with the WinMobile Treo idea since it totally clashes with the whole zen of the Palm philosophy, I think he's trying to hold off MS from killing Palm just like what we've seen with many competitors to MS: Real, Netscape, etc. By "collaborating" with MS on the WinMobile Treo, I think Ed is trying to buy some time for Palm so that he can get the Linux OS or find other ways to still beat MS in this game. It may seem like a defeat to most people, but I trust that Ed has something up his sleeve. I may end up eating my words, but I think that we will look back on this sometime in the future and praise Ed for his "insight" and clever maneuvering to hold off the dogs. And I agree that the media was so horrible to embrace the whole iPod video (whoopee doo) news on the day that Palm came out with their TX and Z22. I hope that Ed and co will learn from their mistake and not disclose that much info on new releases only to be at last minute, trumped by a rival. It's all about marketing. If Palm wants to survive, they'd better come up with better marketing campaigns. As we've seen with the iPod, it's all about the marketing and image. (For God's sake, it's just an mp3 player with hard drive?!!!) But what do I know? Just a biased loyal Palm Addict. Last edited by maceyr; 11-10-2005 at 12:46 PM.

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11-10-2005, 11:50 AM	#2
rmeister0 Addict Posts: 270 Karma: 298 Join Date: Mar 2005	It's fashionable to beat up on Microsoft, but I love his description of "Microsoft-loving" press in the same month we get John Dvorak accusing the press of having a pro-Apple bias. Just goes to show it is all a matter of where you're sitting. The real drive to produce a Windows Mobile device is clearly to be able to run custom applications developed within corporate environments - most of which are very Windows-centric. Heck, anyone running Visual Studio .NET has the tools to make applications for these devices. Palm has not kept up in this regard. I am amazed he thinks the price-points of their products are alienating their customer base. If anything, buggy code has alienated their base, but not so horribly that they're leaving in droves (at least if message boards are any indication).

11-10-2005, 03:43 PM	#4
Dick Tracy Detective Posts: 109 Karma: 4455 Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: California Device: Palm TX	I don't get it. This journalist writes a screed about FUD and dishes out more of it.

11-10-2005, 04:09 PM	#5
Laurens Jah Blessed Posts: 1,295 Karma: 1373 Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: The Netherlands Device: iPod Touch

11-10-2005, 04:28 PM	#6
Bob Russell Recovering Gadget Addict Posts: 5,381 Karma: 676161 Join Date: May 2004 Location: Pittsburgh, PA Device: iPad	Heh!... I never noticed it before, but the crying man looks like he ate a dogbone!

11-10-2005, 11:15 PM	#8
drc54 Enthusiast Posts: 41 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Singapore Device: Palm m515, now TX	I agree with the sentinment. It's just news people trying to sell news. It is a business strategy that Palm has undertaken. We call that coopetition. But it's a strategy that can result in crash and burn. So, if the CEO is an execellent pilot, he knows when to make that sharp banking curve while still in mid-air. Too soon you'll miss the landing spot and run out fuel. Too late, it's hard surface in micro seconds. Seen many of these in the past. Some success. Some swallowed. Some, a fiery ball of fire and puff, never heard again (any one remember Wang Lab?). As they say, it's a dog eat dog world in business.

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