Apple to buy Palm?
PCWorld are suggesting Apple might buy Palm.
linky
If true, we might see the return of our beloved Newton in smartphone form.
I'd love this to be true...
linky
If true, we might see the return of our beloved Newton in smartphone form.
I'd love this to be true...
Comments
"Apple's Ipod boom can hardly be sustained unless it can head off competition from PDAs and smartphones that can pack music players along with a host a other functions."
and
"Also, for all their vaunted style, the latest Apple notebooks look like antiques beside the latest pen-driven Tablet PCs."
Bizarre article.
Originally posted by tchwojko
Huh?
"Apple's Ipod boom can hardly be sustained unless it can head off competition from PDAs and smartphones that can pack music players along with a host a other functions."
and
"Also, for all their vaunted style, the latest Apple notebooks look like antiques beside the latest pen-driven Tablet PCs."
Bizarre article.
Well yes, but if Apple did buy Palm, we could get some very interesting hardware. PalmOS is now based on Linux, which is not huge step from Darwin.
Having just bought a Windows Mobile 2005 phone, I would really love a MacOS X Mobile device instead.
Originally posted by Xool
Apple wouldn't touch Palm with a 100 foot pole.
Steve has tried to buy them before...
Originally posted by Blackcat
Steve has tried to buy them before...
Wasn't that when Palm knew what it was doing?
Originally posted by tchwojko
Wasn't that when Palm knew what it was doing?
Treo is very popular, and the rest are nicer than PocketPCs. Imagine them done right by Apple.
Originally posted by Blackcat
Treo is very popular, and the rest are nicer than PocketPCs. Imagine them done right by Apple.
But Palm's latest Treo is Windows Mobile...?
What does Palm have that Apple would want?
Originally posted by tchwojko
But Palm's latest Treo is Windows Mobile...?
What does Palm have that Apple would want?
BeOS technology, IP, a handheld OS, who knows?
Treos are popular among professionals but I don't really see them capturing the mass market the way the iPod has.
Can anyone be sure that an Apple-Palm device wouldn't be hobbled by the phone carriers like the ROKR?
Apple isn't going to buy Palm for Treos unless Apple can control the whole ecosystem with a ESPN, Virgin style MVNO... even then a buyout is still a long shot, IMO.
Originally posted by tchwojko
Huh?
"Also, for all their vaunted style, the latest Apple notebooks look like antiques beside the latest pen-driven Tablet PCs."
Bizarre article.
Yeah, I don't know ANYONE who is happy that they bought a Tablet PC, or uses the tablet-PC function. It's a sillly combination of technology.
Originally posted by Blackcat
BeOS technology, IP, a handheld OS, who knows?
Apple want BeOS? I thought Steve himself just beat Be Inc. up a few years ago.
Originally posted by mechengit
Apple want BeOS? I thought Steve himself just beat Be. up a few years ago.
It had a very nice file-system...
Originally posted by pdubyu
Handhelds have been in decline for a few years now. . .
Email push is the application that made PDA's useful. It's doing just fine, and would be even better if it had handwriting recognition instead of having to use that stupid micro qwerty thing, or at least any alternative to the tiny keyboard. If there were a Email capable PDA/smartphone that also had all the features of an iPod Nano, you can bet that it would be enough to snuff out a lot of the competition.
Consider also that scores of people clamored to buy the Treo 610 while it was still around, because the 650 (the windows one) is a step back.
Anyway, I am not in the PDA/smartphone market, but a lot of people are. Currently it's pretty much split up between Blackberries and Treos. The Treos are much nicer, if you ask me.
Originally posted by Blackcat
It had a very nice file-system...
Reiser is very nice too, and free.
Mobile phone hardware makers are mostly at the mercy of the carriers (Verizon, Cingular, etc) who have been retarding phone innovation for years. Really doubt Apple, Steve Jobs, would be willing to work with them on a piece of Apple hardware.
BeOS IP belongs to mobile web browser maker, ACCESS, a Chinese company now, not Palm. They acquired PalmSource, who bought Be, last year. Palm, aka PalmOne, licenses what is essentially a 5 year old PalmOS for their hardware.
The BeOS filesystem is nice. Apple really doesn't need to buy BeFS since they currently employ the developer of BeFS. If they wanted to, they could recreate BeFS fairly easily.
SGI has great visulization, san, cluster techology and more important, they have really good engineers that apple could use.
http://slashdot.org/articles/06/02/09/2311219.shtml
Originally posted by THT
Apple has no reason to buy Palm. No reason at all.
Mobile phone hardware makers are mostly at the mercy of the carriers (Verizon, Cingular, etc) who have been retarding phone innovation for years. Really doubt Apple, Steve Jobs, would be willing to work with them on a piece of Apple hardware.
I hear this a lot, and apart from the fact it ignores The World != America, it makes no logical sense to me.
Mobile carriers need customers, preferably longtime ones, the service itself isn't enough to create loyalty so they need to entice people with gadgets.
Phone makers don't make devices at the whim of carriers. Sure they will include features carriers want, but the RAZR certainly isn't born out of demands from Verizon etc.
Now look at the popularity of the iPod, it has put Apple in the top 5 brands. What carrier *doesn't* want that pulling power?
This is off-topic but I wanted to say it
Originally posted by Blackcat
I hear this a lot, and apart from the fact it ignores The World != America, it makes no logical sense to me.
Differences between USA carriers and others in the world are likely the reason it makes no logical sense to you.
They are the primary reason why 802.11b features in a lot of phones are turned off or eliminated. Bluetooth dialup networking is always an on-and-off issue.
Mobile carriers need customers, preferably longtime ones, the service itself isn't enough to create loyalty so they need to entice people with gadgets.
The market in the USA isn't exactly like that way. The carriers here maximize the amount of dollars per customer, and brand loyalty is something they barely try to do.
All phones offered by a carrier are locked to that particular carrier. It can't be used on another network. If an unlocked phone is used, odds are pretty good that certain features of the service will be lost. Customers only get good deals on phones if they sign 1-year or 2-year service contracts with the carrier.
Now look at the popularity of the iPod, it has put Apple in the top 5 brands. What carrier *doesn't* want that pulling power?
All of them in the USA apparently. They would rather have their customers buying $2 ringtones and music from them, then give their customers the ability to transfer them from their computers.
Originally posted by THT
Differences between USA carriers and others in the world are likely the reason it makes no logical sense to you. . . The market in the USA isn't exactly like that way. The carriers here maximize the amount of dollars per customer, and brand loyalty is something they barely try to do. . . All phones offered by a carrier are locked to that particular carrier. It can't be used on another network. If an unlocked phone is used, odds are pretty good that certain features of the service will be lost. Customers only get good deals on phones if they sign 1-year or 2-year service contracts with the carrier. . . All of them in the USA apparently. They would rather have their customers buying $2 ringtones and music from them, then give their customers the ability to transfer them from their computers.
What makes you the authority here? Some of what you say can come from market observation over the past two years or so, and that's enough to form a pretty decent theory on the current and future motives of the industry. But it's still only a theory, and industry insiders obviously have a better idea. Do I think Apple will get into the mobile phone market? Probably not just yet. But I can guarantee that Steve & Co have a good idea about the real nature of the phone industry's future plans, and future plans often change and evolve from past plans.
As for brand loyalty, it may not be an objective of the players in the industry, but it exists. It seems like everyone gets Verizon for one two year plan, then gets pissed off at them, and vows never to get Verizon again. So in an inverse manner, brand loyalty does exist.
As for taking a phone from one network to another, it can be done between Cingular and T-Mobile, and also from Europe to either of these networks.
Originally posted by Splinemodel
What makes you the authority here?
Hehe. Are you serious? No one has "technical" authority here. We discuss made up rumors and wishful thinking here all the time absent any authority.
Some of what you say can come from market observation over the past two years or so, and that's enough to form a pretty decent theory on the current and future motives of the industry. But it's still only a theory, and industry insiders obviously have a better idea.
The vast majority of information from industry insiders is misinformation or merely "interesting thoughts." Don't sell yourself short because they aren't any smarter or have better information than you.
The Palm-Apple thing is really an "interesting thought". One throw-away sentence in an article about Palm and why they need someone to buy them out. I don't know about the 2 shareholders and the author of the article, but Palm picked up the clue a long time ago and produced a smartphone, the Treo. They further hedged their bets by going with Microsoft Windows Mobile since push email is coming to Exchange Server and Windows Mobile.
The line in the article was "Apple's Ipod boom can hardly be sustained unless it can head off competition from PDAs and smartphones that can pack music players along with a host a other functions."
Classic analyst thinking. This is not a statement of fact. It's speculation dressed up as an affirmative statement to make an article nice and tidy.
Do I think Apple will get into the mobile phone market? Probably not just yet. But I can guarantee that Steve & Co have a good idea about the real nature of the phone industry's future plans, and future plans often change and evolve from past plans.
Yes. Of course.
As for brand loyalty, it may not be an objective of the players in the industry, but it exists. It seems like everyone gets Verizon for one two year plan, then gets pissed off at them, and vows never to get Verizon again. So in an inverse manner, brand loyalty does exist.
So, you are saying that people vow never to get Verizon again, but will get them again anyways? If it is the other way, that people don't get Verizon again, that ain't brand loyalty.
As for taking a phone from one network to another, it can be done between Cingular and T-Mobile, and also from Europe to either of these networks.
Yes of course. Do you happen to know what the unlock codes for the phones are? Don't you think that information is kind of hard to get?