In my last sentence I wasn't trying to make it seem like Palm is Dead...
Shoot- I'll say it. PALM IS DEAD!!
I don't care if HP has money and throws it at Rubenstein and says make an empire- they've SHOWN they have no clue what Palm needed to do.
Rubenstein did what Jobs did- why? Because Rubentstien worked at Apple. Make a phone for the masses and don't worry about anything else. Apple was able to do this because they didn't have the BAGGAGE of legacy users.
Palm- has had roughly the same software for 15+ years... they thought by creating a software w/ 3rd party help they could bring legacy along for the ride... but the software was buggy- and unbeknownst to the PRe userbase- would be completely kept separate from the PRE database files rendering the most useable of classic apps (like calendar/memo/task/contacts/dialer) useless on the pre. That tiny pre screen and capacitive vs. the original palm interface in "classic mode" using a 3rd party app was a match made in hell too.
Palms' wasted too much time to get their userbase back as well. We've moved on to other platforms- many to iphone, blackberry, and Android.
Palm should have released a business phone 1st that was revolutionary that would get their fractured userbase to upgrade. There is countless people running many devices from 600 series to 700 series to the 800 and centros. They never upgraded to another palm because the upgrades were too minor to justify the outrageous costs (back then $199 was a STEAL for a smartphone- many paid $299-$499 and that was WITH a contract!) Also, many couldn't get a full upgrade within even 2 years- and now carriers are a lot more lenient with that.
Had palm released PRE with full legacy support- with a great new desktop interface (buying iambic w/ Agendus would have been a great start- kind of like when Handspring brought on Datebook to replace the calendar) THEN rubenstein could have later released a more casual user phone that didn't need legacy support. By turning their back on their MILLIONS of splintered userbase among 5+ years' worth of different model treos they killed any chance of serious mainstream success pretty much on LAUNCH day of the PRE.
Many of us flocked to the PRe with hope the very active dev community would save us- but after months of denial, many began to realize- Palm turned their back and abandoned us creating a phone with a great UI with NO support for anything other than cloud computing aimed squarely at casuals with no previous ties to the Palm brand- the Sprint exclusivity and releasing with clearly too little RAM, and being the worst quality handset ever built killed the phone's chance of success.
Personally, I think Rubenstein should be FIRED on that basis alone- not having done any research that clearly would have resulted in just how large this potential userbase was they turned their backs on...but I digress.
Palm is dead- the Pre OS was slick and I can see it's application in another product benefiting someone- and having such similarities with iphone definitely helps the dev community- but their flawed execution really killed them as a smartphone maker.
Now who's to say they won't release a successful tablet ... sure- I could see that working- but I'll never expect them to attempt to make a run for the smartphone market again- they were late to the game with the PRE launch and with WinMo7, Android, iphone 4 even RIM still in the game with new changes- Palm would be throwing money away... and I think HP knows that. They see potential in what was created- and want to create some opportunities to leverage that outside the phone market - where the landscape is perhaps a bit more in their favor...PERHAPS.
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