Palm is the company that has habitually introduced remarkably handy new products and then handed off the mantle of "leader" to others. Remember the original Palm Pilot? I do. I loved the thing and even mastered the Graffiti method of inputting notes. I also must admit my fond feelings for the Palm Treo smartphone. And now? Now, Palm brings us the Pre with promises of delight to users. I have been giddy just thinking about it (having seen a pre-Pre at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas earlier this year).
Apple, the company that came so close to failing utterly years ago but now dominates a couple "small" categories like portable music players and must-have phone-like multi-tasking devices, is launching the baddest iPhone yet... Say hello to iPhone 3GS. What you haven't heard about this launch? Oh, you must be the one person on the planet who was in Antarctica communing with penguins and had a dead battery in your radio.
There are several aspects of this technobattle I find intriguing. The Pre is clearly trying to "product plus" the functionality of the iPhone while Apple is building on its massive momentum and much higher market share in the category. Can the Pre capture a lot of share? Can it make Palm relevant again? Will these two players, with their ultra-sleek I-want-one-now products, end up putting a big hurt on RIM, the maker of Blackberry? Time will tell. What do you think?
I heard that there was a senate inquiry into AT&T's lock on distribution of the iPhone;Which is one of the reasons that I have been waiting for an alternative.
ReplyDeletePersonally I find the "leave behind" issue of Apple tech distasteful, and am continually surprised by the loyalty of the faithful.
So I will be a Palm user again. I'll let you know what I think.
-T
My favorite example of companies managing to innovate and then handing off their great ideas to others is Xerox... PARC (the famed Palo Alto research facility) was around the corner from where I worked in Los Altos Hills, CA. That's where they developed the "mouse", the WYSIWYG interface that Apple turned into the MAC, etc. And, BTW, I was an early adopter of the Palm product line... my graffiti chops were impressive...
ReplyDeleteSmart consumers will do a cost comparision and find the Pre with a big cost advantage for same features...with better features for business. With that in mind...Blackberry still commands the marketshare.
ReplyDeleteThanks all for the comments... Please check back and chime in on this topic as things progress. I love markets in change, and the evolution in mobile devices is a great one to watch.
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