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A Look at Palm's Latest OS

gadgetwise.blogs.nytimes.com

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Re: A Look at Palm's Latest OS

#11

Post by camiller »

zandorg wrote: post #6
meowzero wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think it came to the market too late. It had a lot of potential to be a solid #3 competitor in the mobile space behind Android and iPhone. I think their main problem was their crappy hardware they put the OS on.

Don't forget RIM and Blackberry in that list.

I don't think he is. According to comScore Palm managed to not lose market share in the last three months while Microsoft, Apple, and RIM lost a collective 5% to Google. In the long run and with HP now behind it I think that webOS certainly has the potential to become #3.

RIM has most of it's market in enterprise's and that certainly won't be easy to crack so in the short run I expect that RIM will remain top of the heap. But in the 5+ year horizon HP certainly has the relationships with enterprises through it's server sales to get their foot in the door and start shifting that mindset.

Apple will always have it's core (pun intended) of ardent supporters, but most of them already have the iPhone. The fact that they lost market share in the second quarter demonstrates that.

Android has such a diverse set of hardware vendors using it that it is destined to eventually take the top of the market.

In the short term 2-4 year horizon I don't see anything really changing except Android continuing to inch it's way up the ladder. In the long term iff HP/Palm manages to get some great hardware out it could move up as well but they really need to execute to make it happen.

*disclaimer: I have carried a Palm branded product since the Palm Personal (1995 IIRC) and currently carry a Palm T|X and a dumb phone. My preceding comments might be colored by my loyalty to the brand but I still haven't jumped to the Palm Pre yet.

ComScore info here: http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2010/9/c...

Re: A Look at Palm's Latest OS

#12

Post by irons »

As difficult a situation as Palm is in, I was reading that article thinking Nokia is in far worse shape. WebOS remains just a promising also-ran next to iOS, Blackberry, Android, and presumably WP7, but MeeGo doesn't even rate mentioning, and Symbian is a walking corpse.

Re: A Look at Palm's Latest OS

#13

Post by kenjackson »

teeohhem wrote: post #2

Great OS, but it came to market too late. Not to mention WebOS was half broken when it was released. It STILL does not have voice recording capabilities, which eliminates a ton of app-potential. I love it...but it is too little, too late, Palm.

It's timing to market was just fine. But two issues killed it, IMO:

1) The SDK took way too long to come out. I was ready to do some dev work on it. But by the time it came out, I had passed on it. SDKs must be ready at device launch, and the app store must ship with the device.

2) The advertising was horrible. The Pre should have been a huge seller with Sprint customers, but many didn't even know about it.

Re: A Look at Palm's Latest OS

#14

Post by iuyhgtfvgbhjn »

irons wrote: post #12

As difficult a situation as Palm is in, I was reading that article thinking Nokia is in far worse shape. WebOS remains just a promising also-ran next to iOS, Blackberry, Android, and presumably WP7, but MeeGo doesn't even rate mentioning, and Symbian is a walking corpse.

90% of potential cell phone customers aren't looking for a smartphone, they don't currently have any sort of phone and guess who makes all the cheap waterproof rugged phones.

hint - the next billion customers don't live near Apple stores.

Re: A Look at Palm's Latest OS

#15

Post by mikedouglas »

iuyhgtfvgbhjn wrote: post #14
irons wrote: post #12

As difficult a situation as Palm is in, I was reading that article thinking Nokia is in far worse shape. WebOS remains just a promising also-ran next to iOS, Blackberry, Android, and presumably WP7, but MeeGo doesn't even rate mentioning, and Symbian is a walking corpse.

90% of potential cell phone customers aren't looking for a smartphone, they don't currently have any sort of phone and guess who makes all the cheap waterproof rugged phones. hint - the next billion customers don't live near Apple stores.

You'd be surprised. Worldwide mobile phone ownership is up to 5 billion[0]. Meanwhile, much of the first world has already transitioned to smartphones.

If you wanted to jump on the cheap phone trend, you're ten years late. Whatever margins existed once are now gone. Nokia, the king of cheap phones, just fired their CEO and replaced him with a software guy from Microsoft. Apple, HP and Blackberry know exactly what market their fighting over.

[0]: http://www.poder360.com/article_detail.php?id_article=4704

Re: A Look at Palm's Latest OS

#16

Post by megaman821 »

henry81 wrote: post #9

I have a Palm Pre.. I got one early on, was a huge fan, but now I fully believe the platform is dead. All you ever hear about is iPhone or Android. That aside, the Palm experience totally sucks. It would be amazing if the phone didn't freeze on me while trying to view a webpage and listen to an MP3 at the same time. No, that's asking too much

I don't understand, this article is talking about the future of Palm devices. You don't think a faster OS and newer hardware will fix a couple of freezes when multitasking?

Re: A Look at Palm's Latest OS

#17

Post by sandGorgon »

iuyhgtfvgbhjn wrote: post #14
irons wrote: post #12

As difficult a situation as Palm is in, I was reading that article thinking Nokia is in far worse shape. WebOS remains just a promising also-ran next to iOS, Blackberry, Android, and presumably WP7, but MeeGo doesn't even rate mentioning, and Symbian is a walking corpse.

90% of potential cell phone customers aren't looking for a smartphone, they don't currently have any sort of phone and guess who makes all the cheap waterproof rugged phones. hint - the next billion customers don't live near Apple stores.

You are wrong - the next billion (or two!) live next door to China, from where we are seeing the emergence of the first sub $200 (full, unlocked price) phones this month [http://www.priceindia.in/tv/spice-mi-300-price-%E2%80%93-che...]

That price figure is going to fall way, way lower once the Android supporting Mediatek chipsets enter full production [http://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/david-manners-semicon...]

I predict $100 Mediatek-powered Android smartphones by summer 2011, flooding the Asian market.

Re: A Look at Palm's Latest OS

#18

Post by vladk »

Palm/HP is in a tough spot, but it's possible for them to go up with a bit of luck.

They need mindshare, solid hardware, and apps. The 3 are codependent. Good hardware and apps help mindshare, and having market interest and a good phone attracts app makers. If they mix their timing just right they could come in at third place behind apple and google.

They are doing good things right now on the app front. More and more good iPhone games are coming to WebOS. HP is having a lot of their software engineers spend a bit of time writing for WebOS as a sort of 20% project.

If they can get an exciting headset (not just good, exciting), and a marketing campaign that puts it in enough impulse buying hands, then win those users over with webOs + good app selection, they have a chance.

However, if they release a half hearted handset with little marketing, their base wont' expand and it will slowly but surely fall into obscurity.

Re: A Look at Palm's Latest OS

#19

Post by iuyhgtfvgbhjn »

sandGorgon wrote: post #17
iuyhgtfvgbhjn wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

90% of potential cell phone customers aren't looking for a smartphone, they don't currently have any sort of phone and guess who makes all the cheap waterproof rugged phones. hint - the next billion customers don't live near Apple stores.

You are wrong - the next billion (or two!) live next door to China, from where we are seeing the emergence of the first sub $200 (full, unlocked price) phones this month [ http://www.priceindia.in/tv/spice-mi-300-price-%E2%80%93-che... ] That price figure is going to fall way, way lower once the Android supporting Mediatek chipsets enter full production [ http://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/david-manners-semicon..…

What about the Asian market more than 10km from the coastal cities?

The same market that has one Nokia1100 per village in Africa aren't about to buy $100 smartphones for each of their kids.

Re: A Look at Palm's Latest OS

#20

Post by megaman821 »

camiller wrote: post #11
zandorg wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't forget RIM and Blackberry in that list.

I don't think he is. According to comScore Palm managed to not lose market share in the last three months while Microsoft, Apple, and RIM lost a collective 5% to Google. In the long run and with HP now behind it I think that webOS certainly has the potential to become #3. RIM has most of it's market in enterprise's and that certainly won't be easy to crack so in the short run I expect that RIM will remain top of the…

I also see this as being a three horse race. Android will eventually end up in the #1 position. Apple #2. With RIM, webOS, MeeGo and Win Mobile 7 vying for the third position.

Even now Blackberry Enterprise Server installs are falling. It won't be a single player that take RIM down, it will be the all the majors have good enough exchange and security support.

I liked what I have seen so far of MeeGo but I am afraid it will only been seen as a less popular alternative to Android and will have the low market share to match.

Until the changing of the guard, I just don't any new successes out of Microsoft. Besides it will be the next version of Windows Mobile that gets all the effort. There is a MS cycle enter market with a product better than all their competitors and capture a large market share, stagnate, half-hearted release, start picking things up, and release something good again. E.g. IE6 was better than everything else at the time, IE 7 was lipstick on a pig, IE 8 was basically a rewrite to have a better foundation, and IE9 might actually be good. This pretty much mirrows Windows Mobile 4 - 7. I see Windows Mobile 7 at the IE 8 level.

Palm was some really interesting stuff and with the money of HP behind them I really don't see why they couldn't be number 3.

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