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Re: Palm Launches the Foleo Companion for Smartphones

Gordon R. Vaughan — Thu, 31 May 2007 15:40:49 -0000

Palm needs to fire their corporate business development & marketing VPs. Seriously.

At a time when the world is anxiously awaiting the iPhone, they were building expectations pretty high saying they were "going to introduce a new kind of handheld device".

The marketing folks should have seen how underwhelming this would seem after such a big build-up. Maybe the Foleo is a viable niche product, but at first glance it doesn't seem very innovative, let alone revolutionary.

The folks at Palm obviously haven't been talking to anybody (i.e. customers) lately, but that's no surprise.

I was actually thinking that with Jeff Hawkins presenting, they might indeed be coming out with their answer to the iPhone. The way I see it, even if the iPhone is a hit, there's going to be a lot of folks who want a real keyboard, more apps, etc., so there should be a market for a strong contender.

Knowing how stubborn Jobs can be, he might never come around to offering an iPhone with a keyboard, so it's likely to be a viable market for a competitor who listens to what folks want!

Re: Palm Launches the Foleo Companion for Smartphones

zafar — Thu, 31 May 2007 09:49:04 -0000

Palm needs to fire their corporate business development & marketing VPs. Seriously.

I agree! There are other devices called Ultra Mobile PC and those did not make any impression on the market, why would a smaller laptop would? You need a bag to carry it around anyway so why not take a bit larger laptop?

Instant bootup is a good feature though!

Re: Palm Launches the Foleo Companion for Smartphones

a non — Thu, 31 May 2007 01:39:37 -0000

Palm needs to fire their corporate business development & marketing VPs. Seriously.

Re: Palm Launches the Foleo Companion for Smartphones

Gordon R. Vaughan — Wed, 30 May 2007 23:13:43 -0000

The Foleo reminds me of one of Eberhardt Rechtin's famous heuristics, "Beware of intermediate forms." I think Steve Jobs has acknowledged the obvious, that what we all really want is a device we can put in our pocket, that still has all the functionality of a full computer.

Whether the iPhone delivers, I guess we'll just have to wait and see, but the Foleo isn't likely to do very well compared to a laptop, and sure isn't nearly as portable as a smartphone.

In general, I think it's also safe to assume that most of us are trying to cut back on the number of devices we've got to carry around and keep track of, not add to them.

Simplicity used to be the hallmark of Palm. I wish they'd remember that!

Re: Palm Launches the Foleo Companion for Smartphones

Pete Cashmore — Wed, 30 May 2007 18:03:40 -0000

Useless, ugly product. We don't need anything between a laptop and smartphone (except a better smartphone) and this looks like an 80s throwback. Massive, catastrophic failure.

Re: Palm Launches the Foleo Companion for Smartphones

Mike Maddaloni — Wed, 30 May 2007 17:57:02 -0000

I am loyal to the Palm platform and own a Treo 680... but I see no need for the Foleo. I already own a notebook that I sync my Treo to, and I am sure most all others who own a Palm-based smartphone also have a PC or Mac.

mp/m