Palm needs to offer a device more comparable with the iPhone and Android handsets with a full touch screen and software keyboard. They could do a slide keyboard like the Droid but only offering the Pixi and Pre is a big mistake. Lots of people don't want a physical keyboard these days now that multi-touch software keyboards with good auto-correction are just as good or better for lots of people.
That's exactly what have been holding me from buying any of their handsets.
Correct. That's what we have in the PC market and that's exactly why Microsoft win this battle. The traditional phone manufacturers don't want to end up like Dell, surviving on razor thin margins. They'll do anything to avoid that situation.
Business and corporate customers make up a surprisingly small segment of the global market. The iPhone and Symbian have both succeeded without dominance of the business market.
And let's not forget that both Symbian and Android are open source. Even if Nokia and Google respectively decide to stop development, there's always the possibility that someone else will step in. There's no way that Microsoft will be on the only reasonable option.
I guess an issue here might be how one defines the market. I'm thinking of a true mobile platform with widespread third party application support. I don't think that manufacturer-specific operating systems (other than RIM and iPhone) are going to succeed in that market. But if you're talking about a broader market that includes cheaper devices that don't have or require third party application support, then I guess I agree with you.
The one wild card here that perhaps I've been ignoring is China. I could imagine somebody other than Apple, MS, or RIM doing well in the Chinese market, but I bet that somebody will be Chinese and will have very limited success outside of the Chinese market (since it's a huge market, they really don't need to).
Regarding business/corporate users -- I know they're a smaller percentage, but that's where MS has its comparative advantage, so I think that's the market where they will have the most success. I think Apple will dominate the consumer market.
The article states that Palm announced that they'd announce $300-400M instead of $1.6B. That sounds like a huge shortfall... except that the $1.6B number was for the year and the $300M was for the quarter. In other words, the two numbers aren't comparable and they didn't revise one to the other.
Excellent catch. Thanks. Gosh, AI, as many of us repeatedly request, could you please be a bit more careful in the general way in which you report financial news?
Apple is a tough competitor to take on, I mean Microsoft being as big as it is stumbles against the comeback kid in Cupertino. Blackberry is smart, they're choosing to go all out on their business solution instead of directly competing. The question is, who is next? I'm not convinced Android will ever take the crown. Apple will release some seriously aggressive updates to its platform that will be difficult to keep matching...
Apple is a tough competitor to take on, I mean Microsoft being as big as it is stumbles against the comeback kid in Cupertino. Blackberry is smart, they're choosing to go all out on their business solution instead of directly competing. The question is, who is next? I'm not convinced Android will ever take the crown. Apple will release some seriously aggressive updates to its platform that will be difficult to keep matching...
I think Android-based phones will beat out iPhone OS-based phones in per unit comparisons. There are just too many vendors using Android and planning to use Android. Despite it's problems, lack of consistency, and general user friendliness and UX issues it's not a bad OS for what it's doing. As even the cheap phones get more powerful we'll likely see an older version of Android running on them. We've even seen the 4 month old(?) Droid drop to $49 on Version and the Eris drop to FREE, both with contracts, just like we see with other cheap phones.
I think RiM is well managed and they've now tried to hit the consumer market with 2 devices. Both have been failures out of the gate. The resistance touchscreen needs to be dropped and without a good WebKit-based browser they are starting well behind iPhone OS, Android, and WebOS. I've read that the touchscreen tech will change with the 3rd iteration and they have a WebKit-based browser coming from a company they bought out last year.
Despite that, I think RiM has a growing revenue issue ahead of them. The thing that made them great last decade won't be a requirement this decade. I foresee a lot of companies finding BES/BIS and the yearly per unit usage fee to be a a costly expense with little reward. I expect they will drop their prices considerably to compensate, but as I stated they are well managed so I would never count RiM out of the game regardless of what happens in the next few years. So far, they've been increasing their profits and appear to be maintaining their corporate base.
At some point Apple will need to expand past AT&T, but the US network does offer some logistical issues that the other vendors don't have to deal with. Plus, it's just not very Apple-like to get crazy with multiple versions of the same product. They still like to pretend they are a boutique shop. For my stock's sake I hope they make a CDMA version, but I think that adding the radio for 1700MHz band for T-Mobile is likely the best we can expect. The results of AT&T network in the last few months are not the same as last summer, even prior to the iPhone launch. They may have finally gotten ahead of the congestion issues. If so, by how much and is it enough to deal with the imminent rush of new customers this Summer is another issue altogether.
I do like what MS is doing. They are finally following Apple's plan by focusing on core features and starting from the ground up. I think there some user experience issues with the Windows Phone 7 Series mockups we've seen but it's much better than anything else they've done so I'm impressed with it. Regardless of the version of IE they are using I do expect the HTML5 video element to be included in the browser. Taking all bets...
I think Android-based phones will beat out iPhone OS-based phones in per unit comparisons. There are just too many vendors using Android and planning to use Android. Despite it's problems, lack of consistency, and general user friendliness and UX issues it's not a bad OS for what it's doing. As even the cheap phones get more powerful we'll likely see an older version of Android running on them. We've even seen the 4 month old(?) Droid drop to $49 on Version and the Eris drop to FREE, both with contracts, just like we see with other cheap phones.
I think RiM is well managed and they've now tried to hit the consumer market with 2 devices. Both have been failures out of the gate. The resistance touchscreen needs to be dropped and without a good WebKit-based browser they are starting well behind iPhone OS, Android, and WebOS. I've read that the touchscreen tech will change with the 3rd iteration and they have a WebKit-based browser coming from a company they bought out last year.
Despite that, I think RiM has a growing revenue issue ahead of them. The thing that made them great last decade won't be a requirement this decade. I foresee a lot of companies finding BES/BIS and the yearly per unit usage fee to be a a costly expense with little reward. I expect they will drop their prices considerably to compensate, but as I stated they are well managed so I would never count RiM out of the game regardless of what happens in the next few years. So far, they've been increasing their profits and appear to be maintaining their corporate base.
At some point Apple will need to expand past AT&T, but the US network does offer some logistical issues that the other vendors don't have to deal with. Plus, it's just not very Apple-like to get crazy with multiple versions of the same product. They still like to pretend they are a boutique shop. For my stock's sake I hope they make a CDMA version, but I think that adding the radio for 1700MHz band for T-Mobile is likely the best we can expect. The results of AT&T network in the last few months are not the same as last summer, even prior to the iPhone launch. They may have finally gotten ahead of the congestion issues. If so, by how much and is it enough to deal with the imminent rush of new customers this Summer is another issue altogether.
I do like what MS is doing. They are finally following Apple's plan by focusing on core features and starting from the ground up. I think there some user experience issues with the Windows Phone 7 Series mockups we've seen but it's much better than anything else they've done so I'm impressed with it. Regardless of the version of IE they are using I do expect the HTML5 video element to be included in the browser. Taking all bets...
You're especially right about MS, they didn't create the game, and they're slowing down trying to convince everyone that they did, and they realize they have to play in other people's home field too.
And where's the international release to other countries?
Previously, we had shipments of every Palm device onto our shores (South East Asia) & I'm located specifically in the Philippines.
We have a local Palm website here.. but sadly, no release date & no pricing whatsoever, it's mostly informational only. There's lots of 'rabid' Palm users here also, they're Mac users as well (that would buy the iPhone & the Pre just the same), so I'm just wondering myself why it hasn't reached our shores yet?!
Meanwhile, we have a thriving local Apple website that's fully working since last year.. and if you compare if with what Palm is offering, I/we'd like to buy the Palm Pre &/or Pixie but how are we going to buy 'em here & when, that's the question ever since it was released last year. \
Comments
Palm needs to offer a device more comparable with the iPhone and Android handsets with a full touch screen and software keyboard. They could do a slide keyboard like the Droid but only offering the Pixi and Pre is a big mistake. Lots of people don't want a physical keyboard these days now that multi-touch software keyboards with good auto-correction are just as good or better for lots of people.
That's exactly what have been holding me from buying any of their handsets.
Correct. That's what we have in the PC market and that's exactly why Microsoft win this battle. The traditional phone manufacturers don't want to end up like Dell, surviving on razor thin margins. They'll do anything to avoid that situation.
Business and corporate customers make up a surprisingly small segment of the global market. The iPhone and Symbian have both succeeded without dominance of the business market.
If Android or Symbian can't provide an alternative to Microsoft then someone else will step in. We've already got a situation where manufacturers are inventing their own new smartphone platforms despite the wealth of alternatives available today.
And let's not forget that both Symbian and Android are open source. Even if Nokia and Google respectively decide to stop development, there's always the possibility that someone else will step in. There's no way that Microsoft will be on the only reasonable option.
I guess an issue here might be how one defines the market. I'm thinking of a true mobile platform with widespread third party application support. I don't think that manufacturer-specific operating systems (other than RIM and iPhone) are going to succeed in that market. But if you're talking about a broader market that includes cheaper devices that don't have or require third party application support, then I guess I agree with you.
The one wild card here that perhaps I've been ignoring is China. I could imagine somebody other than Apple, MS, or RIM doing well in the Chinese market, but I bet that somebody will be Chinese and will have very limited success outside of the Chinese market (since it's a huge market, they really don't need to).
Regarding business/corporate users -- I know they're a smaller percentage, but that's where MS has its comparative advantage, so I think that's the market where they will have the most success. I think Apple will dominate the consumer market.
The article states that Palm announced that they'd announce $300-400M instead of $1.6B. That sounds like a huge shortfall... except that the $1.6B number was for the year and the $300M was for the quarter. In other words, the two numbers aren't comparable and they didn't revise one to the other.
Excellent catch. Thanks. Gosh, AI, as many of us repeatedly request, could you please be a bit more careful in the general way in which you report financial news?
someone should ask this guy about the killer phone:
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscente...ne_killer.html
For those too lazy to hit the link: Ross Catanzariti, Good Gear Guide
Everyone wants Apple to be the only company around? What sense does that make?
i wish i could get excited about Apple the way you guys do.
Everyone wants Apple to be the only company around? What sense does that make?
No, but it would be nice for the competition to actually be competitive.
Apple is a tough competitor to take on, I mean Microsoft being as big as it is stumbles against the comeback kid in Cupertino. Blackberry is smart, they're choosing to go all out on their business solution instead of directly competing. The question is, who is next? I'm not convinced Android will ever take the crown. Apple will release some seriously aggressive updates to its platform that will be difficult to keep matching...
I think Android-based phones will beat out iPhone OS-based phones in per unit comparisons. There are just too many vendors using Android and planning to use Android. Despite it's problems, lack of consistency, and general user friendliness and UX issues it's not a bad OS for what it's doing. As even the cheap phones get more powerful we'll likely see an older version of Android running on them. We've even seen the 4 month old(?) Droid drop to $49 on Version and the Eris drop to FREE, both with contracts, just like we see with other cheap phones.
I think RiM is well managed and they've now tried to hit the consumer market with 2 devices. Both have been failures out of the gate. The resistance touchscreen needs to be dropped and without a good WebKit-based browser they are starting well behind iPhone OS, Android, and WebOS. I've read that the touchscreen tech will change with the 3rd iteration and they have a WebKit-based browser coming from a company they bought out last year.
Despite that, I think RiM has a growing revenue issue ahead of them. The thing that made them great last decade won't be a requirement this decade. I foresee a lot of companies finding BES/BIS and the yearly per unit usage fee to be a a costly expense with little reward. I expect they will drop their prices considerably to compensate, but as I stated they are well managed so I would never count RiM out of the game regardless of what happens in the next few years. So far, they've been increasing their profits and appear to be maintaining their corporate base.
At some point Apple will need to expand past AT&T, but the US network does offer some logistical issues that the other vendors don't have to deal with. Plus, it's just not very Apple-like to get crazy with multiple versions of the same product. They still like to pretend they are a boutique shop. For my stock's sake I hope they make a CDMA version, but I think that adding the radio for 1700MHz band for T-Mobile is likely the best we can expect. The results of AT&T network in the last few months are not the same as last summer, even prior to the iPhone launch. They may have finally gotten ahead of the congestion issues. If so, by how much and is it enough to deal with the imminent rush of new customers this Summer is another issue altogether.
I do like what MS is doing. They are finally following Apple's plan by focusing on core features and starting from the ground up. I think there some user experience issues with the Windows Phone 7 Series mockups we've seen but it's much better than anything else they've done so I'm impressed with it. Regardless of the version of IE they are using I do expect the HTML5 video element to be included in the browser. Taking all bets...
Now they are just a cautionary tale.
This is classic.
I think Android-based phones will beat out iPhone OS-based phones in per unit comparisons. There are just too many vendors using Android and planning to use Android. Despite it's problems, lack of consistency, and general user friendliness and UX issues it's not a bad OS for what it's doing. As even the cheap phones get more powerful we'll likely see an older version of Android running on them. We've even seen the 4 month old(?) Droid drop to $49 on Version and the Eris drop to FREE, both with contracts, just like we see with other cheap phones.
I think RiM is well managed and they've now tried to hit the consumer market with 2 devices. Both have been failures out of the gate. The resistance touchscreen needs to be dropped and without a good WebKit-based browser they are starting well behind iPhone OS, Android, and WebOS. I've read that the touchscreen tech will change with the 3rd iteration and they have a WebKit-based browser coming from a company they bought out last year.
Despite that, I think RiM has a growing revenue issue ahead of them. The thing that made them great last decade won't be a requirement this decade. I foresee a lot of companies finding BES/BIS and the yearly per unit usage fee to be a a costly expense with little reward. I expect they will drop their prices considerably to compensate, but as I stated they are well managed so I would never count RiM out of the game regardless of what happens in the next few years. So far, they've been increasing their profits and appear to be maintaining their corporate base.
At some point Apple will need to expand past AT&T, but the US network does offer some logistical issues that the other vendors don't have to deal with. Plus, it's just not very Apple-like to get crazy with multiple versions of the same product. They still like to pretend they are a boutique shop. For my stock's sake I hope they make a CDMA version, but I think that adding the radio for 1700MHz band for T-Mobile is likely the best we can expect. The results of AT&T network in the last few months are not the same as last summer, even prior to the iPhone launch. They may have finally gotten ahead of the congestion issues. If so, by how much and is it enough to deal with the imminent rush of new customers this Summer is another issue altogether.
I do like what MS is doing. They are finally following Apple's plan by focusing on core features and starting from the ground up. I think there some user experience issues with the Windows Phone 7 Series mockups we've seen but it's much better than anything else they've done so I'm impressed with it. Regardless of the version of IE they are using I do expect the HTML5 video element to be included in the browser. Taking all bets...
You're especially right about MS, they didn't create the game, and they're slowing down trying to convince everyone that they did, and they realize they have to play in other people's home field too.
And where's the international release to other countries?
Previously, we had shipments of every Palm device onto our shores (South East Asia) & I'm located specifically in the Philippines.
We have a local Palm website here.. but sadly, no release date & no pricing whatsoever, it's mostly informational only. There's lots of 'rabid' Palm users here also, they're Mac users as well (that would buy the iPhone & the Pre just the same), so I'm just wondering myself why it hasn't reached our shores yet?!
Meanwhile, we have a thriving local Apple website that's fully working since last year.. and if you compare if with what Palm is offering, I/we'd like to buy the Palm Pre &/or Pixie but how are we going to buy 'em here & when, that's the question ever since it was released last year.
Oh well.