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Palm's Mistakes
putko writes "Mike Singer has an article at ZDNet called Five reasons for Palm's slide which describes succinctly how Palm went from owning the palmtop platform -- OS and apps -- to getting chopped into pieces (some recently sold to a Japanese firm), using an OS from Microsoft and teaming up with Microsoft. The author claims, among other things, that Palm's stuff never worked well enough with Windows (while the RIM Blackberry did), which ultimately allowed Windows Mobile to eliminate them. A hard fall for a company that really did innovate."
The Palm OS has stagnated. Windows Mobile for all its flaws is simply a better OS.
I've owned PDA's since the original Newton MessagePad, including every Newton model, numerous Palm Pilots, tons of proprietary junk models, halting with the HP iPAQ h6315 PDA Phone (for now).
The Pilot was doomed from the start. As a basic contacts + calendar + to-do PDA, it was great. I guess that's why it failed: too basic.
In my experience, basic users tend toward basic devices. I'd say nearly 30% of my consulting income for 5 years was helping basic company managers getting their Palms to work. Once they worked (synced, etc), these basic users spent more time navigating the software than using it efficiently. The working install rarely worked for long. My corporate customers hated the software. "Just get it working" was common to hear.
I'd considered teaching users how to really achieve PDA efficiency, but the Pilots that were so plentiful were just not powerful enough and frustrated me. I can't handle spending 30 seconds finding information that took 5 seconds in a paper dayplanner.
Then I started to realize something: people were buying these in a fad fashion. Many used only the calculator or a simple name+phone contact list. Not a renewable market there.
My PDA Phone is great because it is easily customizable, has enough software to give me options, and it has the Internet. But in the hands of a basic user, I'd see them using only the phone part. These devices just don't scream "easy to use."
Apple can turn this market on its head. I don't see them doing it (again), but if there is any market that needs a unique interface, the PDA market is it.
I'm not a pro-Apple guy. My lady has an iPod, I have no Macs. Yet I loved my Newtons. I can still efficiently use them, and basic users loved mine.
The Palm's limited resolution, limited speed, amd limited memory killed it. The market wasn't ready. There were too few customers. The economy of spending millions on the ultimate interface is not there, yet.
The cell phone market will help, as the best interface models get combined with one another. SMS messaging will usher in the perfect mini keyboard someday.
It will take time.
PS The Blackberry has to be a fad fluke. It feels like a Speak 'N Spell.
Mistakes? What about what Palm did right? e.g. Realizing that everyone didn't want to play movies/music on their handheld? Or their strong focus on using the Palm as a satellite device, and not as a REALLY SLOW desktop replacement. (I don't know what Microsoft was thinking with their Word and Excel CE versions... no wait, yes I do. They weren't thinking.) Not to mention their slowness to move to color screens when high quality grayscale provided a better experience and better battery life.
If anything, I think Palm's biggest "mistake" was their push for expensive networking features when no good infrastructure existed. Their devices kept going up in cost over useless features all while they stuck with that hideous dragonball processor and low-res screens. Thank God for Sony and their Clie series, or Palm never would have gotten their heads out of their rears. Sadly, it may have been too little, too late.
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
Pushing Palm? Palm fell on its rear, and got drug along. I owned a Palm, and it was the most frustrating device. Interoperability was horrible. I swore off PDA's at that point. Years later, I picked up an iPaq. Took me months to decide to bite the bullet after my prior experience. I still use the thing every day.
Bottom line: Palm would still be the leader had it supported better OS interoperability, and not been so anal about 3rd party developers back in the day.
See my journal for slashdot ID's by year. Mine created in 2005. http://slashdot.org/journal/289875/slashdot-ids-by-year
Although I was one of the only people who liked Graffiti. I thought it was really intuitive.
Palm helped pioneer the industry (following on previous work by Apple, etc.), then the leadership sold it and moved on. As such, it has been little more than a copyrighted name since then. It represented some visionary work and when the visionaries walked away, the copyright's value slowly disappeared. It wasn't a failure, even though the products that now are Palm are failures. Microsoft, et al, have picked up where Palm's visionaries left off, much as Palm did with its predecessors.
Obviously that analyst slept through the Zire phase of Palm's business. Getting that line out proved that people were still willing to buy a low-cost non-convergence device.
Have Keyboard, Will Travel
This is yet another reminder that no matter how dominant a company may seem there will someday be another company that comes along and replaces them. It's just a matter of when and how. Look at Novell, for example. Who that they would lose there dominance in local area networks? Yes, eventually even Microsoft will be replaced.
Bradley Holt
Inovative? That would be the Psions, or the Newtons - Palm just brought the idea to the masses. After the initial success, Palm managed to pretty much introduce no innovation into the product line. Yes - Palms eventually went color, then had a TCP/IP stack, then BT stack. Too bad there is still no commercially-available native ARM PalmOS environment, or an environment that doesn't allow tasks to blow out each other and the OS.
Now it has to be said that PocketPCs stink as PDAs, but they great all-rounders. Whereas Palm Pilots are great PDAs but just awful for anything but PIM functionality. I guess that Palm's problem was that the world started expecting more than PIM functionality from their devices and they couldn't deliver.
One would hope that they would still follow through with their plans to run over Linux - it offers the opportunity to leapfrog CE - but somehow I doubt it. I wonder if MS didn't throw a lot of cash at them to throw the towel in on that front.
US Robotics and then Palm had a great thing going for them. My first Palm was the Palm Pilot Professional back in the late 90's and it was a blast to use and it boasted a great feature set and unbeatable simplicity. Looking back at the introduction of Windows CE-based devices, I think this was Palm's primary advantage. Windows CE has a huge potential, but for many things, it's just too complex, at least in my opinion. Of course, for some power users, this complexity is welcome, but many people just want to hit a button and get their contacts and don't want to have to make 7 clicks to get there. Palm of course knew that they had a good OS that many people liked, but unfortunately, their platform has been stagnating for years.
Today I still can't believe that they never introduced proper handwriting recognition. Of course you can enter data faster and more precisely with their Graffiti system, but let's face it, nearly everyone would prefer using their own handwriting. Palm should have been releasing new API's and SDK's to extend the potential of their platform, but instead, they made incremental improvements to their hardware and software, hoping that their past dominance and legacy would keep them afloat.
The book isn't closed on Palm yet, but if they want to be around in five years, something has to change - fast.
They did not see that the Palm cost too much and delivers too little. I don't think anyone likes to write with a Palm stylus either, it was just too slow and difficult. Cell phones were being given away, Palm prices stayed high and could not communicate with each other easily. Innovate quickly or die seems to be the motto in this industry.
I partially agree with you, they were too expensive. I wouldn't say too late, more like wrong functionality.
The last Palm device that I have been satisfied with was a m505, but only because I bought it after the price dropped substantially due to the introduction of newer models (Tungston, Zire). The Zire I have now works sortof, but it has features that I really don't need (wtf do I need yet another crappy digicam for? like the crappy one in the typical phone isn't enough already, while lacking any out of the box connectivity other then IR, gimem a brak, IR only in 2004??)
With a little practise the handwriting on traditional (upto m series) palms worked very well however. I learned it when I got my frst Palm Pilot (pre Palm III), and got very profficient with it. I strongly prefer it over any type of mini keyboard simply because I do not have to look at the screen for taking notes etc. It makes it far more acceptable to use during a conversation for example.
With regards to the article, is there a beginning and end to it? to me it just reads like a random collection of things that were already known to about anyone interested in such devices.
My take at why they failed is:
- they had no clue what their market was and ended up with overpriced devices that were somewhat decent, and cheap devices that were utter crap, all of them having features people don't need, while lacking features people want.
- quality control went out of the window with the low end m series and anything after that (the m5xx and m7xx are imho the last high quality devices they made)
- After OS 4, they failed to properly develop the OS.
- A general lack of sense of direction.
It is too bad, I really enjoyed using the Pilot, Palm III and m505 that I had (the III is still working, my girlfriend has it now, the m505 gave up due to a failing battery), but as it is now, will not buy a new device from them.
Our network is heavily FOSS-biased and run Windows only on the desktops, jumping through hoops to avoid giving Microsoft a cent more than I am legally obligated to. That being said, I won't let my users connect their Palms to our desktops. It's way to hard to get working with non-privilaged users. If they want a PDA, they have to go PocketPC. The software does what you expect it to do. Works regardless of privilage level, syncs with Outlook without clumsy and expensive 3rd party software, and did I mention that it actually works?
Palm, who buys PDAs? Business people. What software do business people use? Windows and Outlook. In most businesses that have a lot of people with PDAs, do they all have Administrative rights? I sure hope not, but that's what you designed your software for. You deserve to loose your market share, you bastards.
I just had the battery in my Palm Vx replaced. The device does everything I need, so why treat it as a disposable object? I need a light and compact list holding machine (calendar, notes, addresses, etc.) and that's ALL. I have a phone for voice. I have a music player for audio. I've just never understood the appeal of integrated devices - one part breaks, and then you lose the whole device during repair/replacement. Also, I specifically don't want to deal with email and video on a handheld device. Almost no one else needs to either. You're not that important, seriously.
Not that I represent the kind of market that would keep a company going, but I just wanted to say that I think they created quality products. I've never had a problem with my Palm - the battery lasted several years and everything is fine.
Oh and Sony, who bailed out ... and that wasn't until they had to go and implement a whole bunch of Sony only API's to support colour screens and higher resolutions because Palm didn't.
I had a Vx, it was great for the time, but now I'm a Windows Mobile person as I haven't seen the Palm camp innovate for a very long time.
In fact, I still consider them to be the classic case of a company that owned the market, dragged their feet and suddenly found that everyone else had overtaken them.
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I have used Palm devices for over 7 years, and have gotten really attached to some specific Palm-only apps and peripherals over the years which has made me resist even looking at PocketPC devices for my personal use. I have The Axim is provided by work, and I only use it for testing my web applications. (/BIAS)
Here are my issues with Palms and PocketPCs respectively:
- 1. Palm cannot seem to build (and support) a device that has everything I want without any of the crap I don't want:
PocketPC:a. Built-in Wi-Fi AND Bluetooth.
b. Smaller form factor (I *much* prefer the Tungsten slider that they no longer produce. I hope my T2 never breaks.)
c. No stupid thumb keyboard. I prefer the stylus, and the 5-way navigator button.
d. Good battery life w/ EASILY replaceable battery.
e. I have never needed or wanted a voice memo feature, but I won't complain too much since the headphone jack and expansion card lets me use my Palm as a pretty decent MP3 player (using PTunes.)
f. a standard connector than can easily connect to peripherals. For criminy sakes, STOP SCREWING WITH THE CONNECTION! I hate having to replace all my cables and cradles each time a new model comes out.
2. Palm seems to abandon all development and support for its penultimate model as soon as the newest one comes out. (Grr...No apparent hope of being able to get an add-on Wi-Fi card for my T2 even though one exists for the T3. They have since dropped the slider design entirely which totally pisses me off as well, etc.)
3. The windows compatibility issues others have mentioned, I don't see as nearly big an issue. Third party vendors like Chapura and DataViz seem to do pretty well. Perhaps making their own email client (VersaMail) a bit more intuitive to set up would be nice.
2. Application file sizes are WAY TOO BIG (especially vs. Palm apps.) This further perpetuates Microsofts reputation for bloatware. My T2 holds MANY more applications than I can install on the Axim X30.
3. I like the replaceable battery on the Axim and the ease of sychronization (even though sometimes the ActiveSync client can be a bit pesky.)
4. A minor nitpick, but the stylus on the Axim is a cheap, thin piece of crap that is uncomfortable to hold, let alone use for any length of time.
5. Battery life on the Axim sucks in comparison with the Palm.
I like my Palm being so versatile, and it only misses in a couple major areas (no Wi-Fi being the big one.) But Palm has totally screwed up the more recent versions, and I would be hard pressed to find one I can honestly say I like. If I have to upgrade, I will probably try to find a T3...after that, i don't know what I will do.
When Psion stopped making consumer hardware, it was like hearing the news about Concorde stopping flying. We'd taken a great step backwards: there was nothing out there which would come close to what a Psion would do routinely, in terms of stability, application support, usability, and preceived speed. I've used Palm and Wince before and after, but both are too unstable to trust completely. Wince these days is fast enough, at the expense of battery life, but Palm hardly seems to have changed. The closest equivalents to the Psion 5 now are the Nokia 9300 and 9500, which use a later version of the OS. Nice smartphones, but they have a fraction of the battery life, perhaps 20% of the speed, and my 9300 reset itself within a week of buying it. In a sense Psion deserved to fail in the consumer space. They spent very little on advertising, and never moved to support features we would now consider essential such as USB and Bluetooth. Still, they remain the only "real" PDAs in my entirely unbiased opinion.
I respectfully have to ask if you have had any extensive use with Palm and Windows Mobile devices to draw the conclusion that "they both suck".
I have an Audiovox SMT-5600 Windows Mobile smartphone and it has replaced all of my portable devices.
Here's a link to a review I wrote about my experiences using only a Windows Mobile smartphone for a week.
Review - SMT-5600 as a notebook replacement