Palm takes on the BlackBerry (and the iPhone is in sight)
Palm has become a refugee camp of sorts for former Apple employees. You can't help but wonder if the Apple alumni who toil day and night trying to restore Palm to its PDA glory days don't have a few axes to grind and things to prove.
A quick glance at Palm's management team is a tour down Apple memory lane: Jon Rubinstein, Palm's executive chairman, was the head of Apple's iPod division; Mike Bell, Palm's senior vice president of product development, was an Apple vice president of CPU software in the Macintosh hardware division.
Fred Anderson, Apple's former chief financial officer, is a Palm board member. Brodie Keast, now Palm's senior vice president of marketing, was once Apple's vice president of worldwide product marketing (he made stops at TiVo and Seagate before heading to Palm).
And that's just the executive team.
So what are they cooking up? Something big, they hint, for the consumer on Palm's Centro platform, slated for early 2009. Think iPhone challenger.
But today, for the business consumer, Palm unveiled its BlackBerry competitor -- the Treo Pro, which is a smartphone powered by Microsoft's mobile platform. The suggested retail price is $549, and since Palm has carrier partners in Europe and Australia, carriers will probably subsidize the cost. Palm currently doesn't have a U.S. carrier for the Treo Pro, but it will go on sale in the fall at Palm's online store and some online and bricks-and-mortar retailers. It's a GSM tri-band world phone, so in the U.S. it will work with AT&T and, with some technical tweaking, T-Mobile.
The Treo Pro comes out as Research in Motion, the maker of BlackBerry, is coming out with its latest offering, the BlackBerry Bold. And Apple is pushing more into the workplace with its iPhone.
The Treo also reflects more concern over design -- it's thinner and features contoured edges -- than does the previous model, showing the influence of Rubinstein, according to the New York Times. A few other features that are notable -- a screen saver; shortcuts that make it easier for people to turn Wi-Fi on and off, switch off the ringer and surf the Web; and quick access to e-mail and calendar.
Americans are buying fewer phones, says Silicon Alley Insider, but the ones they are buying are more expensive and can do more.
With an eye to global business users, Palm is offering an unlocked version of the phone, meaning the phone can be had without signing a two-year agreement with a carrier. That allows the business traveler to pick up a carrier on the road and bypass the expensive roaming charges.
"People want a world phone," Keast said.
How many they want remains to be seen. But for today, the Palm team is celebrating. "This is a huge market that is growing explosively," Keast said. "We don't need to defeat Apple and RIM to have success at Palm."
-- Michelle Quinn
Photo: Treo Pro. Credit: Palm
Which Palm phone has...
Built-in wi-fi that runs faster than the iphone's?
Which phone opens Word, Excel and PDF file attachments?
Weigh less than 5 ounces?
Which of them are thinner than 0.5"?
Which can I install more than 1000 different apps into?
Which can I write my own code for?
Which phone has more than 16 BILLION bytes of ram?
Which have a better browser than Safari?
Which have 100 accessories that I can buy at stores all over the world?
Which phones cost less than $199?
Which have multi-touch screens bigger than 3.5"?
Which phone sells more than 1 million units... just in the 1st weekend?
Which phone has more than 3 GPS methods? (Cell, satellite, wi-fi.)
Which phone gives you UNLIMITED data for under $30/month?
Which phone has more than 25,000 developers writing apps for it?
Which phone can I buy in more than 62 countries?
I thought so.
Don't get me wrong... I would *LOVE* to see 10 different companies making
phones that have all those features. I'm just not seeing them over the past
1-2 years. Maybe they'll get on the ball in 2009 or 2010????
(Of course... they will STILL be trying to play catch-up to the Iphone v4.0 by then)
What are they waiting for???
There's a reason why we are seeing so many companies/phones that are desperately trying
to look like the iPhone: They are trying to *BE* the iPhone. (Or you can just, simply
buy the actual iPhone instead. Now. Today.)
Posted by: Carol | August 20, 2008 at 03:15 PM
Do you work for Apple...sheesh
Posted by: chris | August 20, 2008 at 03:40 PM
Blackberry Bold will kill iPhone.
Yea iPhones first sales were great but won't be sustained
The way apple have handeled Mobileme and have released a
Patch that solves nothing in regards to dropped calls proves
They aren't yet reliable for business users
Posted by: Andrew | August 20, 2008 at 05:44 PM
Can I print applications or E-mail content wirelesly through this phone or Iphone for that matter????.I have printer in my car and I have to have new documents printed all the time .
Posted by: Greg | August 20, 2008 at 05:51 PM
Only problem is you can't make a damn call with the iPhone. What a waste of good plastic....I purchased an iPhone in January and I cannot tell you how unbelievably dissapointed I am....All the toys and gee whiz features are fun but if you can't make and hold a call its meaningless.....iPhone is so NOT ready for the business user....What business user would tolerate 10 "Call Failed" messages in a row....or lousy reception..... or text messages that won't send....I mean come-on....I love the Mac but the iphone is not up to par..... and I for one really regret making the switch....I hope someone comes out with a decent competitior soon....
Posted by: Andrew | August 20, 2008 at 05:57 PM
In response to Carol above:
Which Palm phone has...
Q: Built-in wi-fi that runs faster than the iphone's?
A: Treo Pro should be the same or faster
Q: Which phone opens Word, Excel and PDF file attachments?
A: Treo Pro (as well as thousands of other smart phones)
Q: Weigh less than 5 ounces?
A: Treo Pro weighs less than the iPhone (many other phones do as well)
Q: Which of them are thinner than 0.5"?
A: The Treo Pro is very close to the iPhone's thickness (0.53')
Q: Which can I install more than 1000 different apps into?
A: Treo Pro has far more apps available to install. Any smart phone based on Windows Mobile has this same advantage.
Q: Which can I write my own code for?
A: Treo Pro
Q: Which phone has more than 16 BILLION bytes of ram?
A: Treo Pro has a microSD card slot which offers far more flexibility than the iPhone and supports up to 32 BILLION bytes of RAM.
Q: Which have a better browser than Safari?
A: Nokia phones have been using "Safari" even before the iPhone was out. The Treo Pro can run Skyfire which is supposed to be the best of the bunch at the moment.
Q: Which have 100 accessories that I can buy at stores all over the world?
A: The Treo Pro uses standard ports, etc., so there are far more accessories available at a lower cost compared to the iPhone.
Q: Which phones cost less than $199?
A: The iPhone certainly doesn't. The Treo Pro could depending on the carrier. Based on this article it seems the actual cost of the Treo Pro is lower than the iPhone.
Q: Which have multi-touch screens bigger than 3.5"?
A: The Treo Pro comes with a full keyboard which for many people is easier to use than a full touch screen.
Q: Which phone sells more than 1 million units... just in the 1st weekend?
A: We'll see.
Q: Which phone has more than 3 GPS methods? (Cell, satellite, wi-fi.)
A: The Treo Pro has all three
Q: Which phone gives you UNLIMITED data for under $30/month?
A: The Treo Pro is unlocked so you can choose which ever carrier has the best price without fear of lock in.
Q: Which phone has more than 25,000 developers writing apps for it?
A: The Treo Pro (and any other Windows Mobile phone)
Q: Which phone can I buy in more than 62 countries?
A: Probably the Treo Pro
Posted by: James | August 20, 2008 at 08:46 PM
BlackBerry Bold will be very tough competition. iPhone does have its issues but has been widely popular so far, even with a few "bugs". We'll see this fall how Palm does.
http://kreuzer33.wordpress.com/2008/08/21/palm-releases-its-treo-pro/
Posted by: John | August 20, 2008 at 09:22 PM
My Treo was a disaster. Palm is counter-intuitive. Endless crashes. A tech mess. Extremely happy with the iPhone 3G.
Posted by: Jack Henry | August 21, 2008 at 07:47 AM
The iPhone is a neat toy but it is useless as a business device. Good luck entering in data on the fly with that on screen keyboard.
Look, if you don't have an iPod, buy an iPhone but if you already have an iPod, you don't need an iPhone. It isn't a smartphone. Its a gimmick, a toy.
You can't swap batteries so after you're done de-juicing it listening to all those songs that you put on it, you're stuck plugged into the wall while it recharges.
Palm, HTC, and Blackberry are light years ahead of the iPhone. Maybe in a few years, iPhone will have a swappable battery and a hard keyboard and they will finally catch up.
Posted by: John | August 21, 2008 at 10:07 AM
Sheesh James...think you're a little biased???
Posted by: Jamie | September 08, 2008 at 10:05 PM