Palm CEO Nixes Foleo ... For Now. - Page 2

Steven Lyle Jordan · 09-04-2007, 10:28 PM

So close to release, all the money spent... and they just abandon it? I can't believe it. Send it back to the showers... decide it's not ready for prime time... rework the dumb thing! How can they not try to salvage something out of that time and effort?

I realize Palm wants to appear smart enough to quit when they're ahead... but after all the effort and money spent on production, right up to imminent release, the move doesn't seem particularly smart to me. Maybe if it'd been done months ago, but not at this point.

BettyE · 09-04-2007, 10:51 PM

I think they did the right thing. I never "got" the Foleo and I usually like to buy new gadgets. Even on this web site, there are a lot of early adopters, but many of them indicated they did not see the need for the product. If the early adopters won't buy it, who will?

Betty

NatCh · 09-04-2007, 11:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

Send it back to the showers... decide it's not ready for prime time... rework the dumb thing! How can they not try to salvage something out of that time and effort?

I think that's exactly what they're doing, Steve. Take another look at the third paragraph in the passage I quoted:

Quote:

Jeff Hawkins and I still believe that the market category defined by Foleo has enormous potential. When we do Foleo II it will be based on our new platform, and we think it will deliver on the promise of this new category. We're not going to speculate now on timing for a next Foleo, we just know we need to get our core platform and smartphones done first.

Make you feel any better?

Alexander Turcic · 09-05-2007, 03:27 AM

Mixed reaction here as well. On the one hand there is this German saying, better an ending with a shock than a shock without an ending. I bet all my Star Wars figures that the Foleo would have been a commercial failure. So from that point it's good that Colligan decided to pull its plug. On the other hand, it makes me wonder about the future prospects of this company. Wasn't the Foleo their baby? The "secret product" they kept talking about to make shareholders and fans happy? How could it have happened that they were wrong in misjudging the market all these months and years of development? Personally I am very disappointed with the company, and I am glad that others (Apple, Google) are jumping in to get innovation train moving.

TadW · 09-05-2007, 04:46 AM

Foleo, we hardly knew ye. But we knew enough to know that almost no one was going to buy ye.

Alexander Turcic · 09-05-2007, 04:54 AM

There is also some shuffling in Palm's board of directory today, it appears:

Quote:

Palm said in a regulatory filing Tuesday afternoon that Bruce Dunlevie is resigning from the company's board of directors. The company said Dunlevie, a venture capitalist with Benchmark Capital, informed the company of his move in an Aug. 28 letter. The company also said that Scott Mercer has decided to remain on the board. Mercer and director Eric Benhamou had planned to resign from the board to make room for Fred Anderson and Roger McNamee of Elevation Partners, an investment firm that took a stake in Palm earlier this year. The company said the departures of Dunlevie and Benhamou will enable the addition of the Elevation members when the deal closes.

So you think Elevation aka Bono will do their job better?

Steven Lyle Jordan · 09-05-2007, 07:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NatCh

I think that's exactly what they're doing, Steve. Take another look at the third paragraph in the passage I quoted:

Make you feel any better?

Considering how late in the game it was that they apparently came to that decision... I'm not sure. Besides, "We're not going to speculate now on timing for a next Foleo, we just know we need to get our core platform and smartphones done first." means he didn't commit to really even doing the Foleo II.

This is like buying a new star player, playing him up in the news for months, and the day of his first game, sending him to the minors one minute before he's supposed to walk onto the field. Then you tell the public "We don't know when he's going to play." Talk about mixed messages.

Leaping Gnome · 09-05-2007, 11:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NatCh

So you don't think anyone would have bought it, then, LG?

Solution looking for a problem. A pretty expensive solution at that. I think it would have died a fast quiet death. Most people looked at it and said "ok, why bother?".

Quote:

Originally Posted by mogui

Wow! I think it was wise of them to heed the rumblings of their public. Who buys the stuff?

I assume he was being sarcastic mogui, otherwise

RWood · 09-05-2007, 11:40 AM

I think the problem was either the new software or the manufacturing.

In reverse order. We can easily grant that Palm can design great hardware. What happens is that not all great designs work when converted to mass production. Perhaps there was a problem in the early samples that they could not overcome or the manufactuing process was going to cost more than the market could afford.

The new software platform is a more likely reason for the product killing. Perhaps it was too slow (and a faster CPU would make the unit too hot.) Most likely it was a dead end system that could not integrate to their main line platform. Palm is too small of a company to support two core systems that divergent.

I think that they will take the lessons learned and fold these back into their main line products.

At least the killer product didn't kill Palm. (Yet.)

petermillard · 09-05-2007, 01:34 PM

Neither fish nor fowl.

Must admit, I thought it was a bizarre thing to produce in this century; it reminded me of an uneasy combination of an old Psion MC (for 'Mobile Computer' - had one in the 80s) and Apple's Newton-derived eMate of a similar era. The MC made a bit of sense back then, because it was a cheaper alternative to the not-very-good laptops available at the time, but I never figured out the eMate's appeal and nor did anyone else if the sales were anything to go by; ditto the Foleo - though I guess now we'll never know for sure...

Makes you wonder how a company can get a product so close to production before pulling it?

Pete

UncleDuke · 09-05-2007, 01:48 PM

palm is dead. bury the corpse.

NatCh · 09-05-2007, 01:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by UncleDuke

palm is dead. bury the corpse.

Funny, I keep hearing that, ever since the iPaq came out.

JAcheson · 09-07-2007, 09:02 AM

At the very least, they needed to make the thing powerful enough to run the basic web apps, especially YouTube.

I suspect they'll wait and see how Asus does with their ultra-cheap laptop. If there is a market there, they can come in later with an upgraded Foleo and try and beat them on features. If Asus flops, the Foleo II will probably never see the light of day.

Bob Russell · 09-07-2007, 10:55 AM

I think that Foleo or something like Foleo is destined to appear and become popular. The question is how to do it and how soon it can be done.

If it's not very soon, then I'm pretty sure that MS will create a platform that runs on Vista (or successor) and becomes an instant-on terminal for Win Mobile smartphones.

But I think Palm will get the Foleo II working.. at least if we assume first that they can create some really popular smart phones on the new Linux platform. That's the biggest question in my mind. Hope they do.

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09-04-2007, 10:28 PM	#16
Steven Lyle Jordan Grand Sorcerer Posts: 8,478 Karma: 5171130 Join Date: Jan 2006 Device: none	So close to release, all the money spent... and they just abandon it? I can't believe it. Send it back to the showers... decide it's not ready for prime time... rework the dumb thing! How can they not try to salvage something out of that time and effort? I realize Palm wants to appear smart enough to quit when they're ahead... but after all the effort and money spent on production, right up to imminent release, the move doesn't seem particularly smart to me. Maybe if it'd been done months ago, but not at this point.

09-04-2007, 10:51 PM	#17
BettyE Connoisseur Posts: 64 Karma: 130 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: NJ Device: Rocket eBook / Sony PRS-500 / Kindle	I think they did the right thing. I never "got" the Foleo and I usually like to buy new gadgets. Even on this web site, there are a lot of early adopters, but many of them indicated they did not see the need for the product. If the early adopters won't buy it, who will? Betty

09-05-2007, 03:27 AM	#19
Alexander Turcic Fully Converged Posts: 18,175 Karma: 14021202 Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Switzerland Device: Too many to count here.	Mixed reaction here as well. On the one hand there is this German saying, better an ending with a shock than a shock without an ending. I bet all my Star Wars figures that the Foleo would have been a commercial failure. So from that point it's good that Colligan decided to pull its plug. On the other hand, it makes me wonder about the future prospects of this company. Wasn't the Foleo their baby? The "secret product" they kept talking about to make shareholders and fans happy? How could it have happened that they were wrong in misjudging the market all these months and years of development? Personally I am very disappointed with the company, and I am glad that others (Apple, Google) are jumping in to get innovation train moving.

09-05-2007, 04:46 AM	#20
TadW Uebermensch Posts: 2,583 Karma: 1094606 Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Italy Device: Kindle	Foleo, we hardly knew ye. But we knew enough to know that almost no one was going to buy ye.

09-05-2007, 11:40 AM	#24
RWood Technogeezer Posts: 7,233 Karma: 1601464 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Virginia, USA Device: Sony PRS-500	I think the problem was either the new software or the manufacturing. In reverse order. We can easily grant that Palm can design great hardware. What happens is that not all great designs work when converted to mass production. Perhaps there was a problem in the early samples that they could not overcome or the manufactuing process was going to cost more than the market could afford. The new software platform is a more likely reason for the product killing. Perhaps it was too slow (and a faster CPU would make the unit too hot.) Most likely it was a dead end system that could not integrate to their main line platform. Palm is too small of a company to support two core systems that divergent. I think that they will take the lessons learned and fold these back into their main line products. At least the killer product didn't kill Palm. (Yet.)

09-05-2007, 01:34 PM	#25
petermillard Evangelist Posts: 496 Karma: 2384998 Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: London, UK Device: iPad, iPhone, K3 & Amazon - between them they cover my needs.	Neither fish nor fowl. Must admit, I thought it was a bizarre thing to produce in this century; it reminded me of an uneasy combination of an old Psion MC (for 'Mobile Computer' - had one in the 80s) and Apple's Newton-derived eMate of a similar era. The MC made a bit of sense back then, because it was a cheaper alternative to the not-very-good laptops available at the time, but I never figured out the eMate's appeal and nor did anyone else if the sales were anything to go by; ditto the Foleo - though I guess now we'll never know for sure... Makes you wonder how a company can get a product so close to production before pulling it? Pete

09-05-2007, 01:48 PM	#26
UncleDuke books & doughnuts Posts: 882 Karma: 37857 Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: usa Device: sony reader, kindle2	palm is dead. bury the corpse.

09-07-2007, 09:02 AM	#28
JAcheson Tech Writer Posts: 211 Karma: 1745785 Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Philadelphia, PA Device: Palm TX, Nook Color, Nook Simple Touch, Vizio Tablet, Nexus 10	At the very least, they needed to make the thing powerful enough to run the basic web apps, especially YouTube. I suspect they'll wait and see how Asus does with their ultra-cheap laptop. If there is a market there, they can come in later with an upgraded Foleo and try and beat them on features. If Asus flops, the Foleo II will probably never see the light of day.

09-07-2007, 10:55 AM	#29
Bob Russell Recovering Gadget Addict Posts: 5,381 Karma: 676161 Join Date: May 2004 Location: Pittsburgh, PA Device: iPad	I think that Foleo or something like Foleo is destined to appear and become popular. The question is how to do it and how soon it can be done. If it's not very soon, then I'm pretty sure that MS will create a platform that runs on Vista (or successor) and becomes an instant-on terminal for Win Mobile smartphones. But I think Palm will get the Foleo II working.. at least if we assume first that they can create some really popular smart phones on the new Linux platform. That's the biggest question in my mind. Hope they do.