Posted by
CmdrTaco
on from the breaking-into-new-markets dept.
the beava writes "Palm has officially announced the release of their latest handheld, the Zire. At $99 dollars (retail), it looks like they're trying to market this thing to people like parents and children. " Not a bad looking unit for the price.
parents and children?
by
tps12
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
Parents and children don't need handhelds. I was all excited about handhelds a few years ago, but these days the only people still using them are CS grad students (not that there's anything wrong with that). I only keep mine around because my watch broke. Once the novelty wears off (and it has), the ability to play Asteroids at a movie theater isn't all that great a selling point. Palm is on its way down, and PDAs will be remembered as the pet rock of the late 90's and early 00's.
--
Karma: Good (despite my invention of the Karma: sig)
Re:parents and children?
by
Cutriss
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
Electronic shopping lists could be a real blessing for parents, specially those of young kids. Imagine putting your shopping list into your palm, then either syncing it with the grocery stores website or walking into the grocery store and beaming the shopping list to the store's computer. You can then sit at the coffee shop (more business for the store!) while someone packs your groceries for you and brings them over.
Probably won't happen, for the same reason that a lot of good things don't happen - money.
If I program my list into my PDA and sync it to the grocery store, I probably about brands enough to also record which brand of something I want. That leaves it open to interpretation. Imagine the nightmare of having to resolve vaguely shopping items with a database of similar matches...50 times (an assumed average number of items for a shopping trip).
This means that, ultimately, certain brands would likely get weeded out, as they'd lose their shelf visibility, and thus their marketability. Price would soon be the only attracting option for those purchases...and you'd probably be a lot less inclined to invest in the purchase since you probably don't know the brand name (since you were never in the store to see it).
Also, stores don't just put on sales to attract customers to shop there. Sometimes it's a calculated risk. Let's say (fake numbers) that I have a $0.20 margin on a gallon of milk. If I lower the price by $0.10, and it sells three times as much, I've still made money. Most of us have been in college before...What happens when you see "8 for a dollar" ramen noodles? You stock up, right? If you don't ever go in the store to see the prices, you'll likely be a lot less inclined toward impulse purchasing of stuff like that. Also in the impulse-purchasing category, you wouldn't see some other things in the store that you would consider purchasing, only to let it sit in your pantry or fridge.
It's unfortunate that all this is the case, of course. It's rather likely that all these boosted sales would be outweighed by the cost-savings of implementing a fully-electronic store. Logistics would be a one-time expense...you'd need fewer staff...and costs would go down. Naturally, though, the corps only see things in terms of profit and growth...
-- "Mod, mod, mod...and another troll bites the dust."
The one killer app I see...
by
Docrates
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
Is for those supermarket and logistics people that get to buy $800-$1200 rugged versions of palm for their inventory and tracking applications. Somehow I think that 10 cheap palm devices last longer than one expensive tough one.
--
There are two kinds of people in the world: Those with good memory.
Re:The one killer app I see...
by
Faggot
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
Put a barcode reader on this, and you'll have proprietors of even small-time grocers in the (ahem) palm of your hand. Especially for the price of a few tanks of petrol.:)
--
But what do I know. I'm just looking for anonymous gay sex.
2 Meg of ram?
by
TheLoneCabbage
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
With only 2 meg of RAM it's not going to be worth much more than an organizer. And you can buy those now for $20 (and some look much cooler than this).
Personaly for my tastes just sell me the husk, and let me buy the memmory as an option. I would think that a unit with NO memmory would be cheaper to manufacture and the modularity would allow it to have a wider market apeal (for the same manufactureing line).
Comments: Zire is reported to be extinct. No mother tongue speakers. There are apparently a few who learned it as second language. Grammar. Extinct.
--
Stop worrying about the risks of nuclear power and start worrying about the risks of not using nuclear power.
Re:two nice features
by
Pulzar
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
Exactly, I was surprised to see those two, which are usually only in more expensive units ($199+). A refurbirshed Visor Edge at $149 used to be the cheapest unit with rechargable batteries and USB.
If it had 4MB, I'd get one right now:(.
Anybody know any other PDAs with rechargable batteries, usb, and at least 4mb of ram at below $150?
-- Never underestimate the bandwidth of a 747 filled with CD-ROMs.
See how far we've come!!
by
PeterChenoweth
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
So in 8 years of progress Palm has gone from a 1MB Palm Professional with a backlight, a strange input character set, Notes, Calendar, To-Do, Appointments and Expense. To a 2MB Palm Zire with no backlight, same strange input character set, Notes, Calendar, To-Do, Appointments, and Expense.
It's no great wonder that Palm Inc. is dying a slow death.
Re:See how far we've come!!
by
Mr_Silver
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
So in 8 years of progress Palm has gone from a 1MB Palm Professional with a backlight, a strange input character set, Notes, Calendar, To-Do, Appointments and Expense. To a 2MB Palm Zire with no backlight, same strange input character set, Notes, Calendar, To-Do, Appointments, and Expense.
I argued this very similar point once on comp.sys.palmtops.pilot and got the following response:
In that time a top-of-the-line PalmOS device has gone from 160x160
monochrome with a 16 MHZ CPU, 4M of RAM and a unique internal
expansion slot... to 320x480 16-bit color with a 66 MHz CPU, 16M
of RAM, and an expansion slot that's shared with digital cameras
and MP3 players... the lightweight devices have gone from 160x160
monochrome with 16MHZ and 2M of RAM to 320x320 color with 33MHz
and 16M of RAM.
The operating system has added a new file system, a new network
stack, and a whole new collection of standard libraries... and it's
still backwards compatible and mostly forwards compatible with the
IIIx and V.
Meanwhile, the top-of-the-line Windows Powered device has gone from
240x320 8-bit color with a 70 MHz CPU, 16M of RAM, and a standard
CF expansion slot to 240x320 16-bit color, a 400 MHz CPU that's
not any faster than the previous 200 MHz one, 64M of RAM, and a
less capable expansion slot. The lightweight model has gone from
40 MHz to 200 MHz, 8-bit color to 16-bit color.
The operating system has changed the user interface incompatibly,
and added new drivers and applications.
So my figuring is that in the time it's taken low-end PPCs to cost
as little as top-of-the-line Palms used to, Palm's increased CPU
speed 4 times, display resolution 6 times, color depth 16 times,
and memory 4-8 times. Windows powered devices have increased CPU
speed 3-5 times, desplay resolution not at all, color depth 2 times,
and memory 4 times.
The operating system has had significant UI makeovers and new apps,
but the underlying functionality hasn't changed and some functionality
has actually been removed from the UI.
If you extend the timeline back to the first models, the differences
are even more striking. The first Palm only had 128K of RAM!
So don't tell me the Palm camp has been standing still, and expect
me to believe you have the vaguest idea what you're talking about.
Something to think about. Although having said that, I do think that Palm are dying a slow death. If OS 5 doesn't take off (and there is nothing radically different about the UI which will make most people go "oh, nothings changed") then they're going to be pretty much shafted.
-- Avantslash - View Slashdot cleanly on your mobile phone.
Makes sense IFF street price is lower...
by
dpbsmith
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
Like others, I'm scratching my head at this if the price is really $99.
The Palm m105 really does cost $99. (A quick check at Yahoo stores shows: Palm Online Store $99.00; Circuit City $99.95; Datavision $99.94; BuyDig.com $90.00).
Maybe the Zire costs Palm much less and is sold to retailers for much less; and, as with some other products, maybe the price at Palm's store will continue to be $99, but street prices at the Best Buys, Staples, and Wal*Marts of the world will be much lower.
If the price were really $58.88 or $49.95 or "39.95 after $30 mail-in rebate" I'd buy one for my wife in an instant.
Re:No backlight
by
c.derby
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
yes, but the m105 was originally more expensive. it only dropped to the $99 range when it was discontinued.
btw, if you know what avantgo is, you know where to get it. if you don't have it and dont' know what it is, do you really miss it? besides, this unit only has 2MB. avantgo would only fill up the "entry level" amount of memory.
yes, i think that the lack of backlight is a big mistake. i could never own (another) pda without a backlight. but remember, this unit isn't for the pda connoisseur. its for the k-mart, target, walmart crowd. an "affordable" palm handlheld to get them hooked on the technology.
This is the same as a Palm V with a different case. Go on e-bay and get a Palm V for about $75.00.
-- Do really dense people warp space more than others?
They were engineered that way.
by
stud9920
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
The people behind Palm had studies that showed that the greatest part of the market for palmtops are people that already have a desktop computer, a home computer, a laptop. Heck, with a price tag of hundreds of dollars to start with, only geeks and your boss could afford one, and only AFTER buying said devices.
Those are better fit to run full screen, full motion, full color videos and play mp3s. I don't need that on my palmtop. Besides, how long a video can you fit in even 64 MB of RAM ?
That's not what a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) is for. That's why these should be black and white, lowres. That's what rules about Palms. That's what sucks about $700 Windoze CE devices. If I want to play a video game, I buy a Gameboy, that's much cheaper.
Besides, Notes, Calendar, To-Do, Appointments, and Expense are only the surface. You're free to add dozens of other little softwares. The Hacker's Diet. AvantGo, to cite a few.
If you want to whine about the lack of evolution in Palm devices, complain about the fact that batteries still last for about three weeks only.
Slashdot Mirror
Parents and children don't need handhelds. I was all excited about handhelds a few years ago, but these days the only people still using them are CS grad students (not that there's anything wrong with that). I only keep mine around because my watch broke. Once the novelty wears off (and it has), the ability to play Asteroids at a movie theater isn't all that great a selling point. Palm is on its way down, and PDAs will be remembered as the pet rock of the late 90's and early 00's.
Karma: Good (despite my invention of the Karma: sig)
Is for those supermarket and logistics people that get to buy $800-$1200 rugged versions of palm for their inventory and tracking applications. Somehow I think that 10 cheap palm devices last longer than one expensive tough one.
There are two kinds of people in the world: Those with good memory.
With only 2 meg of RAM it's not going to be worth much more than an organizer. And you can buy those now for $20 (and some look much cooler than this).
Personaly for my tastes just sell me the husk, and let me buy the memmory as an option. I would think that a unit with NO memmory would be cheaper to manufacture and the modularity would allow it to have a wider market apeal (for the same manufactureing line).
I would rather be ashes than dust!
ZIRE: an extinct language of New Caledonia
SIL code: SIH
Region: Bourail, coastal plain.
Alternate names: ZIRA, SIRHE, SICHE, SÎSHËË, NERË
Classification: Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian, Central-Eastern, Eastern Malayo-Polynesian, Oceanic, Central-Eastern Oceanic, Remote Oceanic, New Caledonian, Southern, South, Zire-Tiri.
Comments: Zire is reported to be extinct. No mother tongue speakers. There are apparently a few who learned it as second language. Grammar. Extinct.
Stop worrying about the risks of nuclear power and start worrying about the risks of not using nuclear power.
Exactly, I was surprised to see those two, which are usually only in more expensive units ($199+). A refurbirshed Visor Edge at $149 used to be the cheapest unit with rechargable batteries and USB.
:(.
If it had 4MB, I'd get one right now
Anybody know any other PDAs with rechargable batteries, usb, and at least 4mb of ram at below $150?
Never underestimate the bandwidth of a 747 filled with CD-ROMs.
So in 8 years of progress Palm has gone from a 1MB Palm Professional with a backlight, a strange input character set, Notes, Calendar, To-Do, Appointments and Expense. To a 2MB Palm Zire with no backlight, same strange input character set, Notes, Calendar, To-Do, Appointments, and Expense.
It's no great wonder that Palm Inc. is dying a slow death.
Like others, I'm scratching my head at this if the price is really $99.
The Palm m105 really does cost $99. (A quick check at Yahoo stores shows: Palm Online Store $99.00; Circuit City $99.95; Datavision $99.94; BuyDig.com $90.00).
Maybe the Zire costs Palm much less and is sold to retailers for much less; and, as with some other products, maybe the price at Palm's store will continue to be $99, but street prices at the Best Buys, Staples, and Wal*Marts of the world will be much lower.
If the price were really $58.88 or $49.95 or "39.95 after $30 mail-in rebate" I'd buy one for my wife in an instant.
"How to Do Nothing," kids activities, back in print!
yes, but the m105 was originally more expensive. it only dropped to the $99 range when it was discontinued. btw, if you know what avantgo is, you know where to get it. if you don't have it and dont' know what it is, do you really miss it? besides, this unit only has 2MB. avantgo would only fill up the "entry level" amount of memory. yes, i think that the lack of backlight is a big mistake. i could never own (another) pda without a backlight. but remember, this unit isn't for the pda connoisseur. its for the k-mart, target, walmart crowd. an "affordable" palm handlheld to get them hooked on the technology.
-- derby
This is the same as a Palm V with a different case. Go on e-bay and get a Palm V for about $75.00.
Do really dense people warp space more than others?
The people behind Palm had studies that showed that the greatest part of the market for palmtops are people that already have a desktop computer, a home computer, a laptop. Heck, with a price tag of hundreds of dollars to start with, only geeks and your boss could afford one, and only AFTER buying said devices.
Those are better fit to run full screen, full motion, full color videos and play mp3s. I don't need that on my palmtop. Besides, how long a video can you fit in even 64 MB of RAM ?
That's not what a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) is for. That's why these should be black and white, lowres. That's what rules about Palms. That's what sucks about $700 Windoze CE devices. If I want to play a video game, I buy a Gameboy, that's much cheaper.
Besides, Notes, Calendar, To-Do, Appointments, and Expense are only the surface. You're free to add dozens of other little softwares. The Hacker's Diet. AvantGo, to cite a few.
If you want to whine about the lack of evolution in Palm devices, complain about the fact that batteries still last for about three weeks only.