The market certainly didn't expect Palm to turn it around. The short percentage is almost 75%.
The board of directors should remove the entire Palm senior management team, starting with CEO Jon Rubinstein. Palm stupidly got involved in a cat-and-mouse game concerning media syncing with Apple's iTunes. Palm got slapped by the USB folks when it turned out that they were faking Apple's unique vendor ID (against USB standards). Above all, this cat-and-mouse game showed a complete disregard for their customer's user experience. They should have worked on their own native media syncing tool instead of lying about how the device presented itself to computers.
That episode showed a basic and systemic lack of honesty and respect. The Palm senior managers are charlatans and hubris-laden bumblers.
At this point, Palm's greatest challenge is to retain top-quality engineers. That's particularly difficult because the best and brightest of a company are usually the first to leave (they're smarter and have more opportunities elsewhere). The people stuck pulling the galley oars are the ones who didn't have the foresight to bail.
Without top-quality engineers, Palm will find it difficult to release new products in a timely matter in what is now a very competitive marketplace. And no, you can't stick a bunch of snot-nosed 22-year-old EE/CS grads to replace those valuable engineers.
My biggest regret is that I didn't put my money where my mouth was and short these nitwits. Rubinstein has no right to be the chief executive of a technology company and I should have known that he would fail spectacularly.
The text isn't exactly "missing". WP7S is based off of a hub ribbon that's many screens wider than...well, your screen. What that cut-off text is actually saying is that there's more information to the left or right if you scroll that direction. It kind of works on the "curiosity factor" we have. You kind of instinctively want to scroll over just to see if there is anything there.
The whole concept, to me at least, is a fairly interesting and new approach to displaying the massive amounts of information we have access to on our phones.
I will admit it is interesting, perhaps even novel. But, as an interface, the novelty will wear off in about a week. After that, it will just be an annoyance that I would have to keep swiping over just to read what is on screen. A similar effect, I guess, to narrowing a browser window to half the width of the content on a web page. Perhaps it would be different and if done well, even engaging for a brief time. Then I would get annoyed and want to maximize the window.
But I do have a question: Who do you think will buy Palm, if anyone, and for what use?
This is the only question that I see is worth talking about, as far as Palm is concerned.
Here's the cold hard fact for Palm Inc.
FAILURE IN THE CELLULAR ARENA WAS SIMPLY NOT AN OPTION!
That was the bottom line for Palm... they milked their devoted but dwindling user base for as long as they could... but they never saw the dire need to move from being a 'really cool PDA maker from the 90s' to a 'smartphone cellular star' of the 21st century... Not until it was far too late.
And just like the really well respected wagon wheel makers of the 19th century who didn't see the need to quickly adapt come the 20th century... Palm will grow less and less relevant with each passing year. The only thing that might save them is their collection of patents - provided they still have value with todays technology.
The one thing they CAN'T do is to simply go back to doing what they once did... Nobody wants a PDA in this decade... and come the next decade the kids won't even know what the letters PDA stood for...
But, like many others are saying, they just do not know how to sell. The biggest features that interest me in the WebOS platform, they never even talk about! The beautifully user-friendly integration of all a user's existing email/im/contacts/calendar accounts, integrated context-sensitive task/todo list accessible when a person is called or calls, and able to be used as a wifi hotspot.
It's a shame though the hotspot feature is currently exclusive to Verizon at an extra $40/month
Not sure if this has been mentioned but the key reason why the Pre failed is because Palm launched a phone that only works in the US and maybe 1 or 2 other countries. Even though this is now being addressed, it is too late because they already missed the window.
The DROID was released just like you said and it enjoyed 1 million+ sales so far. I think it all boiled down to bad marketing (that woman was kind of creepy) and those tiny raindrop buttons.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tulkas
I will admit it is interesting, perhaps even novel. But, as an interface, the novelty will wear off in about a week. After that, it will just be an annoyance that I would have to keep swiping over just to read what is on screen. A similar effect, I guess, to narrowing a browser window to half the width of the content on a web page. Perhaps it would be different and if done well, even engaging for a brief time. Then I would get annoyed and want to maximize the window.
From all the videos I've seen, to go from one side of the ribbon to the other takes about 4 swipes or so. Can 4 swipes really be that annoying?
The way I see it, the iPhone gives you 7 "screens" to place all your icons on. You can place all your most used apps on the first screen, but eventually you run out of space and have to move to the next screen (and so forth and so forth). Kind of the same layout for Metro. So far, I've heard/read no complaints about needing to swipe through 6 screens to get to the app you want on the iPhone...
It's positively grotesque. It is the worst "new" user interface in a long, long time.
Yea... I'm with you guys...
I'm certainly NOT a UI design genius... However I can sure tell you when something just doesn't look/feel right.
It's like someone designed a spreadsheet with 98 columns (I've actually seen them) and has 400 rows of data... You are unfortunate enough to open it up and you're smack dab in the middle of the sheet... somewhere around column BH and row 237... You instantly say to yourself... This is NOT the right way to present this data.
Exactly. It "encourages" the user to swipe to the next part of the interface. I thought that by now everyone knew this?
You would have thought, but AI seem to have reported everything about the Windows Phone except it's actual launch. Probably because its quite good.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tulkas
I will admit it is interesting, perhaps even novel. But, as an interface, the novelty will wear off in about a week. After that, it will just be an annoyance that I would have to keep swiping over just to read what is on screen. A similar effect, I guess, to narrowing a browser window to half the width of the content on a web page. Perhaps it would be different and if done well, even engaging for a brief time. Then I would get annoyed and want to maximize the window.
Your not swiping to read a sentence though, your swiping to go to a different piece of info. E.g. In the iPhone App Store App in the featured section you have tabs for New, What;s Hot and Genius. This is just like having them all on screen but next to each other. The swiping is generally replacing a button push somewhere making it easier to navigate backwards and forwards.
The other difference is some of the areas can be added to, like if you install the Netfilx app then it appears in the Zune app and you can access its content there. Unlike on the iPhone where you have lots of separate apps.
Bit of a jump I think to say that because Palm haven't succeeded MS will fail. MS have come out with something completely different that will ship on multiple types of phone. In a world where people get board of their phones unless Apple can do something to makre the iPhone new again its looking like an excellent alternative. Plus with all the Apps being Silverlight based, for the developer community there's huge advantages over the iPhone. Write you app once, then deply to phone, web and desktop all with a theme change.
With the current market cap of Palm, Apple should buy them out, just to get the patent portfolio. Palm has several patents that would be a help in defending Apples position.
The Windows fanboys are shooting their wads over Windows Phone 7 Series, but from what I've seen, it's nothing special. I used Palm devices for many years, but they ran that train off the track several years ago.
From all the videos I've seen, to go from one side of the ribbon to the other takes about 4 swipes or so. Can 4 swipes really be that annoying? The way I see it, the iPhone gives you 7 "screens" to place all your icons on. You can place all your most used apps on the first screen, but eventually you run out of space and have to move to the next screen (and so forth and so forth). Kind of the same layout for Metro. So far, I've heard/read no complaints about needing to swipe through 6 screens to get to the app you want on the iPhone...
From the screenshot above its NOT simply 4 swipes from left to right... It looks closer to the information is put on a three-foot square piece of poster paper and you're forced to view it in 3x5 index card sized chunks... Up down left right.. diagonal perhaps too?
Thinking about it ... It seem JUST like GOOGLE MAP navigation... which... for MAP DATA is a really good idea/design - perhaps for complex blueprints too... but do you really want to view written text and graphics in that way when so many other types of presentation are available?
From the screenshot above its NOT simply 4 swipes from left to right... It looks closer to a three-foot square piece of poster paper and you view in 3x5 index card sized chunks... Up down left right.. diagonal perhaps too? Seem JUST like GOOGLE MAP navigation... which... for MAP DATA is a good idea... but do you really want to view written text in that way?
Again, please see the many videos out there. It is clearly a straight left-to-right swipe to get from one screen to the next. No up/down/diagnol panning.
Well, I just bought (Monday) a new Palm Pre for work. It was the only major brand smartphone that I didn't have in inventory, and I wanted to try it out. I currently support several models of BB, Android, iPhone, and WinMo 6.5. Yay for diversity.
My current personal favorite is still the iPhone. I think the interface is the most polished and intuitive. My iPhone users have the least amount of questions/problems. Do I miss multi-tasking a little bit when I move to the iPhone from something else? A little bit, but only a little and it's made up for by other things.
That said, after only a few days with the Palm, I really do enjoy it's interface. Simple and intuitive, good looking, functional. I don't love the keyboard (but I dislike most physical keyboards), and I wish the screen were a little bigger.
It's a shame that they couldn't get more people excited about it. Before they go out of business, I'm definitely moving some of my Blackberry users over to the Pre.
I have access to any phone that runs on any U.S. network (an advantage of being the person who chooses equipment and plans) and the only two current smartphones I really enjoy using are the iPhone, and the Palm. I sure hope someone steps in to fill the spot that Palm is getting ready to vacate. I like to have choices.
I would not be surprised to see ATT or Verizon buy out Palm.
They could make the Pre and Pixie a carrier branded phone, give it away or sell it very cheaply, and then load it up with crap ware and ass rape users at the app store.
I'm not saying it would be good for users but it would give them some control that they have been rapidly loosing since the iPhone came out.
Again, please see the many videos out there. It is clearly a straight left-to-right swipe to get from one screen to the next. No up/down/diagnol panning.
I just watched the video and yes scrolling was left to right and then swiping up (on screen keyboard)... etc... perhaps you didn't watch it close enough.
If you still can't see it... its about 45 seconds INTO the video... the person pans right and right and then back left a little and then down (up swipe) and then jumps to an onscreen keyboard...
The most random UI navigation I've ever seen -- given the content that was being shown.
Yea had it been a GEOGRAPHIC MAP or BUILDING BLUEPRINT sure... but that just looked like you could randomly swipe all over the place and still be shown something... Very odd.
I will admit it is interesting, perhaps even novel. But, as an interface, the novelty will wear off in about a week. After that, it will just be an annoyance that I would have to keep swiping over just to read what is on screen. A similar effect, I guess, to narrowing a browser window to half the width of the content on a web page. Perhaps it would be different and if done well, even engaging for a brief time. Then I would get annoyed and want to maximize the window.
I agree. A better strategy would be to offer it as a UI option rather than as a 'take it or leave it.'
I would not be surprised to see ATT or Verizon buy out Palm.
They could make the Pre and Pixie a carrier branded phone, give it away or sell it very cheaply, and then load it up with crap ware and ass rape users at the app store.
I'm not saying it would be good for users but it would give them some control that they have been rapidly loosing since the iPhone came out.
AT&T or Verizon buy palm and continue to build cell phones with it? Cell phones that didn't sell well to being with?!?! Oh and lets leave OUT the fact that Verizon and AT&T can barely run their respective cellular carrier businesses, and had it not been for their boatloads of cash and assets from a former government established phone monopoly (aka MaBell) they'd be all but a memory in communications history and the cell industry would have entirely different companies running the show. Okay perhaps I'm being too cruel but not by much. They are both in business despite themselves and if someone with vision decided to step up to the plate and started buying up the US frequencies (back in the day) they'd both be hurting.... It's easy to keep limping along when you own the frequencies and have an equally unspectacular competitor.
It's not unlike what Major League Baseball would be like if it only consisted of TWO teams...
The Mets & The Cubs
Sure.. they would each 'split the market' but that isn't really saying all that much now is it....
Now you think they'd be a good cellular smartphone hardware developer AND OS designer?
Comments
Exactly. It "encourages" the user to swipe to the next part of the interface. I thought that by now everyone knew this?
Yes. And it's a pretty horrible idea.
The market certainly didn't expect Palm to turn it around. The short percentage is almost 75%.
The board of directors should remove the entire Palm senior management team, starting with CEO Jon Rubinstein. Palm stupidly got involved in a cat-and-mouse game concerning media syncing with Apple's iTunes. Palm got slapped by the USB folks when it turned out that they were faking Apple's unique vendor ID (against USB standards). Above all, this cat-and-mouse game showed a complete disregard for their customer's user experience. They should have worked on their own native media syncing tool instead of lying about how the device presented itself to computers.
That episode showed a basic and systemic lack of honesty and respect. The Palm senior managers are charlatans and hubris-laden bumblers.
At this point, Palm's greatest challenge is to retain top-quality engineers. That's particularly difficult because the best and brightest of a company are usually the first to leave (they're smarter and have more opportunities elsewhere). The people stuck pulling the galley oars are the ones who didn't have the foresight to bail.
Without top-quality engineers, Palm will find it difficult to release new products in a timely matter in what is now a very competitive marketplace. And no, you can't stick a bunch of snot-nosed 22-year-old EE/CS grads to replace those valuable engineers.
My biggest regret is that I didn't put my money where my mouth was and short these nitwits. Rubinstein has no right to be the chief executive of a technology company and I should have known that he would fail spectacularly.
This. ^ Excellent post.
Yes. And it's a pretty horrible idea.
It's positively grotesque. It is the worst "new" user interface in a long, long time.
The text isn't exactly "missing". WP7S is based off of a hub ribbon that's many screens wider than...well, your screen. What that cut-off text is actually saying is that there's more information to the left or right if you scroll that direction. It kind of works on the "curiosity factor" we have. You kind of instinctively want to scroll over just to see if there is anything there.
The whole concept, to me at least, is a fairly interesting and new approach to displaying the massive amounts of information we have access to on our phones.
I will admit it is interesting, perhaps even novel. But, as an interface, the novelty will wear off in about a week. After that, it will just be an annoyance that I would have to keep swiping over just to read what is on screen. A similar effect, I guess, to narrowing a browser window to half the width of the content on a web page. Perhaps it would be different and if done well, even engaging for a brief time. Then I would get annoyed and want to maximize the window.
But I do have a question: Who do you think will buy Palm, if anyone, and for what use?
This is the only question that I see is worth talking about, as far as Palm is concerned.
Here's the cold hard fact for Palm Inc.
FAILURE IN THE CELLULAR ARENA WAS SIMPLY NOT AN OPTION!
That was the bottom line for Palm... they milked their devoted but dwindling user base for as long as they could... but they never saw the dire need to move from being a 'really cool PDA maker from the 90s' to a 'smartphone cellular star' of the 21st century... Not until it was far too late.
And just like the really well respected wagon wheel makers of the 19th century who didn't see the need to quickly adapt come the 20th century... Palm will grow less and less relevant with each passing year. The only thing that might save them is their collection of patents - provided they still have value with todays technology.
The one thing they CAN'T do is to simply go back to doing what they once did... Nobody wants a PDA in this decade... and come the next decade the kids won't even know what the letters PDA stood for...
But, like many others are saying, they just do not know how to sell. The biggest features that interest me in the WebOS platform, they never even talk about! The beautifully user-friendly integration of all a user's existing email/im/contacts/calendar accounts, integrated context-sensitive task/todo list accessible when a person is called or calls, and able to be used as a wifi hotspot.
It's a shame though the hotspot feature is currently exclusive to Verizon at an extra $40/month
Not sure if this has been mentioned but the key reason why the Pre failed is because Palm launched a phone that only works in the US and maybe 1 or 2 other countries. Even though this is now being addressed, it is too late because they already missed the window.
The DROID was released just like you said and it enjoyed 1 million+ sales so far. I think it all boiled down to bad marketing (that woman was kind of creepy) and those tiny raindrop buttons.
I will admit it is interesting, perhaps even novel. But, as an interface, the novelty will wear off in about a week. After that, it will just be an annoyance that I would have to keep swiping over just to read what is on screen. A similar effect, I guess, to narrowing a browser window to half the width of the content on a web page. Perhaps it would be different and if done well, even engaging for a brief time. Then I would get annoyed and want to maximize the window.
From all the videos I've seen, to go from one side of the ribbon to the other takes about 4 swipes or so. Can 4 swipes really be that annoying?
The way I see it, the iPhone gives you 7 "screens" to place all your icons on. You can place all your most used apps on the first screen, but eventually you run out of space and have to move to the next screen (and so forth and so forth). Kind of the same layout for Metro. So far, I've heard/read no complaints about needing to swipe through 6 screens to get to the app you want on the iPhone...
Yes. And it's a pretty horrible idea.
It's positively grotesque. It is the worst "new" user interface in a long, long time.
Yea... I'm with you guys...
I'm certainly NOT a UI design genius... However I can sure tell you when something just doesn't look/feel right.
It's like someone designed a spreadsheet with 98 columns (I've actually seen them) and has 400 rows of data... You are unfortunate enough to open it up and you're smack dab in the middle of the sheet... somewhere around column BH and row 237... You instantly say to yourself... This is NOT the right way to present this data.
Exactly. It "encourages" the user to swipe to the next part of the interface. I thought that by now everyone knew this?
You would have thought, but AI seem to have reported everything about the Windows Phone except it's actual launch. Probably because its quite good.
I will admit it is interesting, perhaps even novel. But, as an interface, the novelty will wear off in about a week. After that, it will just be an annoyance that I would have to keep swiping over just to read what is on screen. A similar effect, I guess, to narrowing a browser window to half the width of the content on a web page. Perhaps it would be different and if done well, even engaging for a brief time. Then I would get annoyed and want to maximize the window.
Your not swiping to read a sentence though, your swiping to go to a different piece of info. E.g. In the iPhone App Store App in the featured section you have tabs for New, What;s Hot and Genius. This is just like having them all on screen but next to each other. The swiping is generally replacing a button push somewhere making it easier to navigate backwards and forwards.
The other difference is some of the areas can be added to, like if you install the Netfilx app then it appears in the Zune app and you can access its content there. Unlike on the iPhone where you have lots of separate apps.
Bit of a jump I think to say that because Palm haven't succeeded MS will fail. MS have come out with something completely different that will ship on multiple types of phone. In a world where people get board of their phones unless Apple can do something to makre the iPhone new again its looking like an excellent alternative. Plus with all the Apps being Silverlight based, for the developer community there's huge advantages over the iPhone. Write you app once, then deply to phone, web and desktop all with a theme change.
From all the videos I've seen, to go from one side of the ribbon to the other takes about 4 swipes or so. Can 4 swipes really be that annoying? The way I see it, the iPhone gives you 7 "screens" to place all your icons on. You can place all your most used apps on the first screen, but eventually you run out of space and have to move to the next screen (and so forth and so forth). Kind of the same layout for Metro. So far, I've heard/read no complaints about needing to swipe through 6 screens to get to the app you want on the iPhone...
From the screenshot above its NOT simply 4 swipes from left to right... It looks closer to the information is put on a three-foot square piece of poster paper and you're forced to view it in 3x5 index card sized chunks... Up down left right.. diagonal perhaps too?
Thinking about it ... It seem JUST like GOOGLE MAP navigation... which... for MAP DATA is a really good idea/design - perhaps for complex blueprints too... but do you really want to view written text and graphics in that way when so many other types of presentation are available?
From the screenshot above its NOT simply 4 swipes from left to right... It looks closer to a three-foot square piece of poster paper and you view in 3x5 index card sized chunks... Up down left right.. diagonal perhaps too? Seem JUST like GOOGLE MAP navigation... which... for MAP DATA is a good idea... but do you really want to view written text in that way?
Again, please see the many videos out there. It is clearly a straight left-to-right swipe to get from one screen to the next. No up/down/diagnol panning.
My current personal favorite is still the iPhone. I think the interface is the most polished and intuitive. My iPhone users have the least amount of questions/problems. Do I miss multi-tasking a little bit when I move to the iPhone from something else? A little bit, but only a little and it's made up for by other things.
That said, after only a few days with the Palm, I really do enjoy it's interface. Simple and intuitive, good looking, functional. I don't love the keyboard (but I dislike most physical keyboards), and I wish the screen were a little bigger.
It's a shame that they couldn't get more people excited about it. Before they go out of business, I'm definitely moving some of my Blackberry users over to the Pre.
I have access to any phone that runs on any U.S. network (an advantage of being the person who chooses equipment and plans) and the only two current smartphones I really enjoy using are the iPhone, and the Palm. I sure hope someone steps in to fill the spot that Palm is getting ready to vacate. I like to have choices.
Microsoft. For IP. For $750M.
See? That was simple.....
I would not be surprised to see ATT or Verizon buy out Palm.
They could make the Pre and Pixie a carrier branded phone, give it away or sell it very cheaply, and then load it up with crap ware and ass rape users at the app store.
I'm not saying it would be good for users but it would give them some control that they have been rapidly loosing since the iPhone came out.
Again, please see the many videos out there. It is clearly a straight left-to-right swipe to get from one screen to the next. No up/down/diagnol panning.
I just watched the video and yes scrolling was left to right and then swiping up (on screen keyboard)... etc... perhaps you didn't watch it close enough.
If you still can't see it... its about 45 seconds INTO the video... the person pans right and right and then back left a little and then down (up swipe) and then jumps to an onscreen keyboard...
The most random UI navigation I've ever seen -- given the content that was being shown.
Yea had it been a GEOGRAPHIC MAP or BUILDING BLUEPRINT sure... but that just looked like you could randomly swipe all over the place and still be shown something... Very odd.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q43jJ7slrGU
Watch the video AND YOU TELL ME what happens at 45-55 seconds into that video.
I will admit it is interesting, perhaps even novel. But, as an interface, the novelty will wear off in about a week. After that, it will just be an annoyance that I would have to keep swiping over just to read what is on screen. A similar effect, I guess, to narrowing a browser window to half the width of the content on a web page. Perhaps it would be different and if done well, even engaging for a brief time. Then I would get annoyed and want to maximize the window.
I agree. A better strategy would be to offer it as a UI option rather than as a 'take it or leave it.'
and come the next decade the kids won't even know what the letters PDA stood for...
pda = public display of affection
pda = public display of affection
Heh.... zactly!
I would not be surprised to see ATT or Verizon buy out Palm.
They could make the Pre and Pixie a carrier branded phone, give it away or sell it very cheaply, and then load it up with crap ware and ass rape users at the app store.
I'm not saying it would be good for users but it would give them some control that they have been rapidly loosing since the iPhone came out.
AT&T or Verizon buy palm and continue to build cell phones with it? Cell phones that didn't sell well to being with?!?! Oh and lets leave OUT the fact that Verizon and AT&T can barely run their respective cellular carrier businesses, and had it not been for their boatloads of cash and assets from a former government established phone monopoly (aka MaBell) they'd be all but a memory in communications history and the cell industry would have entirely different companies running the show. Okay perhaps I'm being too cruel but not by much. They are both in business despite themselves and if someone with vision decided to step up to the plate and started buying up the US frequencies (back in the day) they'd both be hurting.... It's easy to keep limping along when you own the frequencies and have an equally unspectacular competitor.
It's not unlike what Major League Baseball would be like if it only consisted of TWO teams...
The Mets & The Cubs
Sure.. they would each 'split the market' but that isn't really saying all that much now is it....
Now you think they'd be a good cellular smartphone hardware developer AND OS designer?
Sorry... but yea sure why not!