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Apple to Buy out Palm?
JFlex writes "According to a story over at Personal Computer World 'Speculation that Apple plans to buy handheld maker Palm has been revived by a call from two leading Palm investors for the company to be put up for sale, according to the local paper of both companies.'"
...the Infinium Phantom will be released next month!
(Seriously...this "Apple to buy Palm" rumor has been going on forever...)
If Apple could make a Newton / Palm hybrid, it'd be the ultimate PDA.
How to kill a good product.
At this point, why not have all the companies merge into one mega-corp...
Micro-App-AM-Dell-Tel-Palm-Ony...
We apologise for the fault in this post. Those responsible have been sacked. -- Signed RICHARD M. NIXON
So does this mean that the BeOS will be under the ownership of Apple as well?
Secretly, Jobs would like to buy Palm just to get to BeOS. OS XI, here we come!
well the headline asked a question, I answered it. because my answer has just as much authority as the wild speculation in the article... I honestly think the writers of these "xyz is gonna buy out abc" articles have a big dartboard with the names of various companies and they play madlibs to come up with "content"
The phrase "more better" is acceptable English. suck it grammar Nazis
Coming soon, the iPalm, Apple's combo PDA-digital music video player.
This sig, aah-ah, is comin' like a ghost-sig...
According to a story over at Personal Computer World [two leading Palm investors have created the]Speculation that Apple plans to buy handheld maker Palm [in order to drive up the stock price before they dump it and make loads of $$$.]
Obama's legacy: (N)othing (S)ecure (A)nywhere and (T)error (S)imulation (A)dministration
Too bad the article isn't working for me.
Considering the previous technology leading position of the Newton MessagePad back in the late 1990s, and the fact that Steve Jobs killed it (calling it a "damn scribble pad"), coupled with changing demographics due dramatic shifts in the paradigm of handheld computing, if this actually happens I believe I speak for all former Newton owners, when I say WTF??
Insert simplistic political, ideological, or personal proselytization here.
This was already on digg a while ago, has no factual basis, and is the result of reporters that have nothing to write about resorting to these 'what if' articles.
/. difference is that it wouldn't expose its readers to these higly vapourous 'fairy articles'.
I thought the
Did we hit a time warp and end up back in 1997?
Apple could jump back into the market with the Blackberry struggling/in limbo, and offer the sort of solution they're famous for - one which somehow integrates all parts of the product's chain. They could stick Safari on it, and have it synchonize histories and emails with the home iMac/mini, as well as having some sort of iDisk related fun (which will have to drop in price).
Apple's Ipod boom can hardly be sustained unless it can head off competition from PDAs and smartphones that can pack music players along with a host a other functions.
This can go both ways. I don't see any reason why Apple couldn't start putting some of those "other functions" into the iPod. Brand recognition is huge part of having a successful product, and, with the iPod brand, Apple has built a strong foundation.
FREE - Java, J2EE and Ajax Audiobooks for Software Developers - www.DeveloperAdvantage.com
What's next, duke nukem forever?
These come to mind:
* BeOS/BeIA code: no idea how relevant it is today, but could still prove worthwhile.
* Palm-sized device expertise: maybe some of the knowledge and technologies palm has could go to make an even-better iPod. (can't wait to see that).
* Application Base: maybe we're going to see an app translator?
* Synchronization software: maybe newer iPods will need to sync apps and documents too. might want to have access to well-established code for that.
Frankly Im surprised Apple hasnt already started a PDA product line. It seems like everywhere I go, I see Ipods or Palms. Whats taking Apple so long to get in?
I must admit to not being completely up to date with the whole BeOS saga. But afaik the last company to own BeOS was Palm. And yes, I know about yellowTAB's ZETA, but they never claimed to actually own any of the BeOS code.
So it might just be it's not palm, but BeOS they are after. Which might fit into the whole Apple X86 thing.
I'm rather suspicious of this story, in part because I don't see Palm adding much value to Apple. When the Palm Pilot was popular, the fact that so much could be fit in such a small device was nothing short of amazing. It was also a useful little tool for all kinds of data organization. But now? Palm's OS is older than the hills, designed for hardware limits that no longer matter. Palm has been using bits of trickery to extend the limits of their OS, but at the end of the day they just need something new that takes advantage of modern, low-power hardware.
Another problem is that Palm has been about as phlegmatic as you can get when it comes to promoting their market. If they were like Apple, they could have sewn up the electronic book market years ago. Instead, they seem content to allow the rest of the market to make half-hearted attempts at producing solutions. That just isn't going to work. If Palm wants to grab the e-reader market (a market for which they are extremely well suited), they need to follow Apple's lead and grab the bull by the horns. Since they show no signs of doing this, I see nothing but signs of decline for Palm.
If Apple wants to enter the handheld market (again), I see them developing a new device with a high-resolution, high-pixel density screen. They would then try to add the ability to show documents are precisely as possible, utilizing scaling algorithms. (Many books and documents suffer if their layout is changed a la Acrobat Pocket.) These features could be easily built into a new device OS by Apple engineers rather than trying to overhaul the aging Palm OS.
They would then market it with a new "catchy" Apple brand like "iHand" or "iBooklet", and either integrate it into a new eBook/Portable App section of iTunes, or develop a new iTunes-like app.
So given this scenario, where does the Palm value come in? The name? Nope. Apple would want consistent branding. The OS? No way. Palm is so full of cruft I swear that the developers are ready to shoot it. The device designs? Never. They're way too far behind the curve.
So I think I'm going to go with "rumor" on this one.
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
I doubt this will happen, especially since palm is starting to make windows mobile devices (treo700w). An ipod like treo would be interesting to look at but I doubt it would be useful.
What next? Microsoft makes software for Apple? Apple switches to UNIX? Apple uses Intel for processors?
This story is ludicrous!
Small potatoes make the steak look bigger.
This is perhaps the most elegant summary of the Newton's limitations I ever read:
Q: What's 2 + 2?
A: Farm
Also, for all their vaunted style, the latest Apple notebooks look like antiques beside the latest pen-driven Tablet PCs.
No shit. The latest Dell notebooks would too. Apples vs oranges people. Geez.
Other than a full license to Graffiti, there is little for Palm to offer. Don't get me wrong, I own a Palm Pilot and am probably one of the few left who love it.
However, I can easily see Apple producing a product of superior technology with as good an interface, based on the iPod. In fact, my iPod supports full motion video, gigs of data, and a simple interface. Start adding features and you face the Palm conundrum: How do you change the interface to a vastly successful product, and keep your customer base?
Part of Palm's other dilemma was its success. I have had the same Palm Pilot since it came out five years ago. It does everything I need, it syncs to my desktop, keeps outlook happy (oops that may be an Apple issue), and allows me to handle the things I want to. It will be interesting to see if iPod suffers the same issues.
If you want to make me a happy camper - make an iPod version with a nice 4" screen, support for palm like applications (notebook, address book, calendar, etc.) and support Ebook formats. Then provide a truly open development environment. One of the great things about palm was how many 3rd part applications were available because Palm wined and dined independent developers. But that means you (the platform owner) do not control everything on your platform.
Such a tool would allow me to hold my videos, books, and all the last things my palm does today. But none of these require palm to provide.
But wait -- what about the phone? Forget it. While some people do use the phone to replace the palm, most never do much but store phone numbers. Further, people are used to a phone being replaced every two years - for free. That is a market that pays for itself in the marketing of minutes. Not a good place to play.
The site is not slow at all. WebHostingGuy is Karma Whoring to pimp his crappy-ass hosting service via his signature file. Come on, mods. Don't be suckers.
Information wants to be anthropomorphized.
Let's see.
Apple has:
1. Style.
2. Newton OS / Handwriting recognition / IP - all recognized as lightyears ahead of anything (at least back in the day).
3. The BeFS dude.
Palm has:
1. BeOS IP.
2. PalmOS / Handwriting "recognition" that "works" nothing like the Newtons (vastly inferior).
3. Not much else.
What use would Apple have for Palm, exactly?
Actually, for all new products under this venture, they'd drop the "i" and replace with an "na" so as to differentiate the lines.
This is Slashdot in 2006 - surely they meant Google?
This is not news. "Apple buys Palm" is news. Speculation that Apple might buy Palm in the future is not.
The news business used to be about reporting things that actually happened.
I remember seeing in 99 or 2000 a picture of an Apple branded Palm handheld. Here is a write up of an Apple branded Palm called "MacMate". The URL www.macmate.com points to Apple's website. http://www.theapplecollection.com/design/macdesign /ApplePalm.html
I heard they had to grease some palms to get a piece of the pie, but it was a golden idea any way you slice it.
He who knows best knows how little he knows. - Thomas Jefferson
That would be stupid purchase. Palm is a loser company with barely anything to save. PDA sales are relatively flat and if Apple wants to enter the market they could license Symbian or develop their own smartphone OS.
I agree that phones will eventually own the music player market, and probably even the P&S camera market also. Apple would be foolish not to evaluate its choices, but I would choose a platform that is more focused than Palm on smartphones over PDAs.
The phone market is super-intense and super-competitive, especially for global competition. Once 3G rolls out, the market should probably consolidate some as one network standard will prevent as much fragmentation, so it is a bit early to enter the market.
So, the market doesn't believe the rumor either
Helium balloons want to be free.
God, sometimes anything feels like it would be better than Finder!
No. I think* that Apple will develop a cut down Carbon UI toolkit and run it on top of Darwin for ARM (I bet it exists), creating a Mobile Mac OS X.
They'll get the Palm side to develop hardware based around Intel's XScale processor, and run this cut down Mac OS X on top. Sure, it won't be binary compatible, and source compatible only when the source only uses the APIs that are available on the cut down variant. But it won't take much work to port useful tools to it, or to create new ones. mCal, mTunes, mMail, mSafari. m is the new i, and should be used even where i wasn't.
(* Actually, I think the whole story is a pile of steaming bull turds, hence my post is ridiculous *)
will it run windows mobile???
My tech blog
If Apple wanted to try and break back into the PDA market (which I think would be a poor strategic move, but I could be wrong), then buying out Palm might be a way to speed up their development. But, does Apple really want to be associated with - and have responsibility for - the existing Palm product line, from Zires to Tungstens to Treos? I think the answer there is an emphatic NO. I think that, if Apple were to develop another PDA, it would be a real slick product that would have very little in common with the current Palm product line. In that case, I would have doubts that buying (or even lisencing) Palm would give Apple an advantage enough to justify the transaction.
For FUTURE sales it's a different story though... If Apple were to buy Palm and/or introduce the iPhone then a measurable number of people that have neither iPod nor smart phone would buy the iPhone instead of two separate devices, and that means less iPods sold. Thus there would be an impact on future revenues.
I don't believe that Apple will be buying Palm. Remember that Palm no longer owns PalmOS, so all I can think of that Palm brings to the table is the Palm and Treo brands, domain knowledge around smart phones, and existing relationships with contract manufacturers and carriers.
It is my belief that Apple will introduce the iPhone, and that it's just a matter of time. When they do they will probably contract with someone like HTC to make a custom phone, exclusively for Apple, then load it with Apple's own software. Further, it will either be appropriately crippled to not undercut the Nano, tied to an MVNO so they get ongoing revenue from the monthly subscription, all you can eat subscription iTunes downloads service, or will coincide with some other clever strategy to drive additional revenue growth.
Wow! Great news. ;)
Maybe they will dump OSX and make a 64 bit version of BEOS!!!!
YAY!!!!
We all knew Jobs couldn't keep his hands off BEOS.
(I'm being levitous)
Apple is dying again, huh? Clearly it was a mistake to switch to an operating system based on BSD :)
English is easier said than done.
AAPL is down 20 percent and looks like it is on its way to the mid-50s support level.
You obviously got modded "insightful" by an Apple-basher. Yes, Apple is down 20% from its peak, but it's still up 600% in the last two years, up 80% in the last year, up 50% in the last six months, and up 10% in the last three months. That performance whoops ass on just about any other investment out there.
You seem forget that Palm has switched to Windows. The Palm OS is a spinoff that isn't owned by Palm anymore.
It's comes up from time to time, "Apple is going to buy Palm!" "Apple is creating a version of their OS to work with Intel chips!" .. . . err.... uh.... hmmm.
As an annoyed PDA (and Mac) user, I'd love to see Apple develop a full-fledged PDA -- preferably something along the lines of a Tungsten C with bluetooth and wi-fi.
I still use my Palm T|C but its definitely showing its age with no other alternative in sight. WM2003SE was crap, and WM5 is still crap. It is neither reliable nor big on usability.
Give us something, Apple. I believe you're the only hope for something in this arena that "just works".
Last I knew, Palm was owned by U.S. Robotics...
Palm has been going down the drains for many years now. Too bad - I like my Palm Pilot. Maybe getting bought by Apple will save the platform...
Apple would gain less than you think...
While there could be some useful meta-data stuff there, much of the promise BeOS held had yet to be developed and I don't think Apple needs it now. Apple also has the experience from the iPod, their laptops, and perhaps from the Newton if any of those engineers are still around... add OS X to that, and I really question how much of a benefit Apple would gain from Palm's device expertise
Perhaps the biggest benefit is the software base, but most of the thousand of Palm apps are worthless or overpriced. In fact, there's probaly only 10-20 third-party apps that the majority of Palm users rely on. I think Apple could quickly and easily make up any deficiencies in the shareware market. Finally, Apple doesn't need synchronization software, they already have iSync and SyncServices for that, and they use the SyncML open standard instead of some other proprietary method.
In the end, there's really very little advantage to buying Palm outside of an already developed solution they can quickly take to market. Frankly, I hope Apple decides to enter the PDA/Smartphone market and puts Palm out of business. Palm has been arrogant and complacent in the development of both its hardware and OS, and they gave a big Fuck You to mac users a few years ago when they dropped official support of the Mac and decided to rely on a third party.
It's a rumor, but wouldn't it be great to have a palmpod? http://www.pdafrance.com/img/pdanews2004/ipod1.jpg
technology? I will do some digging on this.
photosMy Photostream
After Cisco is done buying out Nintendo AND TiVo. The only problem we will have after this is those pesky flying pigs, and getting the heat turned back on in hell.
Cool, they can combine the Newton with the Palm and use Apple's exploding battery technology. Introducing NAPalm. Burn different!
"You'll get nothing, and you'll like it!"
That's really weird, as I was walking to work this morning I was wishing that someone would take Palm from it's current state of elegant crashiness and do something wonderful with it like apple did going from os9 to osx.
I doubt it's true, but it would be nice.
with the help of Palm, the company who still uses their old crappy OS4/5, who still hasn't brought to market a single device with their ready-for-maybe-two-years-now PalmOS6, who is reportedly trying to port some Linux to their devices, who's even selling Smartphones with Windows on it.
Whew.
Will they now try to develop some Mac-like OS for their handhelds? Yet another system would hardly be a surprise.
Palm is already working a new version of Palm OS with Linux as the kernel, effectively creating their own "OS X" story. Whether they'll be as successful as OS X is remains to be seen.
So what?
I mean, PalmSource has already made OS6 but nobody's using it. Almost everything (on the ARM devices) is still running under an emulated M68K, as it has been for about four years.
Maybe Apple will show Palm how you change processors on a platform. Oh, I wish. The thought of somebody buying Palm, somebody with maybe some drive to see it amount to something, is just too tempting.
---GEC
I'm but the humble pupil, seeking to snatch the scratchbuilt pebble from the master's fully articulated hand
Palm does not own BeOS. ACCESS Co., Ltd. of Japan does.
Well we all know what a farce the Rokr was - a limited music playing phone to avoid eating in to iPods profits. If Apple buy Palm what will they do with phones like the Treo which can play MP3's? Will they remove the headset jack??
Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so. - Douglas Adams
Didn't Creative patent the interface that Apple uses to menu thru selections on the iPod. If Creative decides to put pressure on Apple and the patent is upheld, wouldn't Apple need a way out?
It's not a direction I'd like to see, but the OS is flashable on the iPods and could be replaced like any other updates to the iPod.
I am not a patent expert, but just a though.
I thought Disney was gonna buy Apple. Or was it that Sun was gonna buy Apple? Actually, maybe the new rumor is that Apple is gonna buy Sun. Wasn't Apple gonna buy Pixar? D'oh! Too late. But they can still buy TiVo, right? Maybe if Apple does it quickly enough, by the time Sony buys Apple, Sony will get a twofer.
Still, the timing is perfect for an Apple buyout of Palm.
Read the EFF's Fair Use FAQ
II'm not a big fan of the Mac, but i do love the way apple products are designed if apple took over palm, Palms would be better than ever i think!
Here the situation: Apple is looking (it's not a secret) in penetrating the smartphone market. They experimented with Motorola, but didn't seem to work well. The Treo would be Perfect for Apple (Jobs praised the Treo some time ago).
Palm on the other end has a great device (the Treo) and some farily good ones (the high end PDAs, such as the Tungsten TX). The weakest link is currently the OS. It seems that they are hanging around using a bit of everything. PalmOS in its current version (5.4) is a dinosaur, patched to make it running modern applications. Palm does NOT own PalmOS, being developed by PalmSource, a separate coumpany own by the Japanese company ACCESS. Palm has no control over PalmOS. THey have the 700w running windows targeting consumers. They would like to use Linux too. basically they have no direction, developing a new OS wouldn't go into a device before 2-3 years. Palm would gain A LOT from Apple. An OS to start with, either a scaled down version of MacOSX, or a scaled up version of whatever OS inside an iPod.
It's a win-win deal, that should have been done long ago!
Wasn't NeXT languishing when Apple bought it and developed OS X from NextStep?
I would bet it is just a rumor, but Apple does some weird moves that only make sense on the long term, and then everyone says "Oh, yep, they did it sooo right".
Sometimes, the ways of Jobs are inscrutable...
To Tech or not to tech...
Just the other day there was a similar rumor that Google was going to buy nVidia...
People are just loopy sometimes. Google is investing its IPO capital in itself. And it doesn't care about the stock price. They have a policy of not trying to make quarterly numbers.
Oh grand.
Now Apple will end up with as many unexpected hardware crashes, system freezes and other problems as a PC or Palm Pilot.
Palm, the only platform less stable than Windows.
"Live Free or Die." Don't like it? Then keep out of the USA
Palm purchased the BeOS back in the old days.
Be Inc. Attempted to sell to Apple at one point, and then Next happened.
Now it comes full circle, but really if this rumor is true I doubt the software parts of Palm are interesting to Apple.
Just a thought.
It isn't a lie if you belive it.
Apple (or at least Steve Jobs) has had a long history of going on record and saying they will not make a PDA like device. They failed with the Newton, and don't want to repeat that failure.
While the iPod is an excellent mobile entertainment platform, the PDA market in generally is drying up. While PDA's are being integrated literally as "bonus features" in some cellphone models, standalone PDA devices have steadily been on the decline in sales over the last 5 years, as the recent dropping of the PalmOS from retail products can attest to. It simply doesn't make sense for Apple to have waiting until the industry is nearly dead to pick up a PDA company and make a PDA product.
Perhaps, if anything, Apple will build PDA like functionality into a future version of the iPod and tap into Palm's expertise, but I think we can safely say that it would we ridiculous and shortsighted for Apple to try and market a PDA device separate from the iPod line when nobody wants a standalone PDA anymore.
Will Apple make a cellphone? I doubt that too. The cellphone market is just too hot for Apple to step into cold. Nokia, Motorola, Sony, Samsung all have firmly embedded themselves in this market and consistently develop excellent and highly sought after devices between them. Apple could not do in the cell phone industry what they did with digital music players, that is, dominate. When Apple came out with the iPod, there was simply no other player on the market that was slick and easy to use as the iPod, so they were able to take over. Apple would have a constant uphill battle to gain cell phone market penetration and companies like Nokia and Motorola will not idly stand buy while Apple tries and steal their market. Both companies would quickly (and easily) counter any Apple made cellphone with their own creation and undercut Apple on price and features. I can't see Apple leveraging Palm for the purpose of creating a PDA/Cellphone.
Perhaps Apple is buying out Palm (if this is the case) as a sympathy buy-out. Obtaining a solid team of developers to aid in Apple's current product lines, get new blood for new ideas and concepts in Apple's notebook, desktop and iPod lineups.
Who know what Apple has up their sleeves. It won't be the first time that Apple reneged on a statement by doing the opposite of what Steve Jobs has said. But I think it would be foolhardy and ridiculous for Apple to trying and create a PDA in a market that is dead. Apple doesn't have a chance to make a cellphone highly successful either, and while it would be a novelty item that would sell well for a year or two, too much competition will ensure that Apple never gains the same market penetration as the iPod.
So, I will wait until something actually happens with this story before believing that Apple has any intention of buying Palm. But my bet its probably out of sympathy, or perhaps Steve has a few friends over at Palm as opposed to Apple having any intention of developing a new PDA product or cellphone.
I haven't thought of anything clever to put here, but then again most of you haven't either.
An OS designed by two opposing UI teams is already bad enough...
Palm turned into two companies. PalmSource owned beos source code. They were bought by Access (from Japan).
Repeat after me.
Access own BeOS.
Haiku is the open source beos replacement.
Access own BeOS.
Haiku is the open source beos replacement.
Access own BeOS.
Haiku is the open source beos replacement.
Apple does Windows (Mobile)?7 00w-aka-treo-670-exclusive-first-look/
http://www.engadget.com/2005/09/22/the-palm-treo-
"You see, we alaready got one! Izza verra nize!"
"Speaking the Truth in times of universal deceit is a revolutionary act." -- George Orwell
If they did, it would be to enter the cell phone H/W market. That's where the iPod Nano is heading in the future IMO. It has nothing to do with palmOS since that's a different company these days...
Two words:
"Thank Jobs"
"Love is like pi - natural, irrational, and very important." (Lisa Hoffman)
Don't newer Palms run Windows Mobile anyway?
The operative word here is "speculation."
..and IF Apple is interested, maybe they can fix Palm's crappy Mac support.
The big "IF" qualifies everything--it's just a couple of dudes doing the corporate carnival barker routine.
I might know what I'm talkin' about, but then again, this is Slashdot...
If this story is true, I would doubt that the nugget that Apple is after is BeOS but rather the Treo. Phone PDA fits much better in to the iPod than an OS from the 1990's.
What does BeOS have that they can't get or already have? The one thing that I remember being better on BeOS when it was new, was multimedia and being able to play multiple videos at the same time.... I just loaded 2 music videos in QuickTime Player on my iMac with 10.4.4 and the sound goes to the one with with focus but the video part plays on in both, which seems like a feature rather that a problem.
In the recent Wired dead tree mag there is an article about GM's chop shop where they buy the latest (insert car maker other than GM here) car and disassemble it to discover what the competition has to offer and how they do it. Why should we assume that this has not been done to BeOS a long time ago?
However, the Treo is eating up the market and it seems that merging a phone to an iPod is what is desirable (or so they tell us, personally I like separate devices). As others have said though, Apple does not seem to like the PDA market.
Palm is a slowly deteroriating asset. Apple woul have to pump billions into it to resuscitate it. Additionally the PDA market has been slowing for the last 5 years. Why would Apple waste the money? They wouldn't but a couple of guys who own a bunch of palm stock hope it happens ;->
Thalasar
Apple is sitting on a boatload of money and has a couple of hot products that will continue to show amazing growth for the near future at least. Like the Sony Walkman before it, the iPod line is an industry leader that can command a higher price than it's immitators.
The Palm products look like a good match for Apple. Like the iPod they are personal, portable devices that litterally define the niche they fill. They don't exactly compete with the iPod but are technological cousins that could be combined into a killer product.
Having said that, I'm not so sure that Apple needs Palm. Why would they? They have a partnership with Motorola where their product is already married to a phone which incorporates many of the most necessary features of the Palm devices! It seems to me that it may be a smarter move to work with Motorola to come up with a product that is one thrid cel phone, one third iPod, and one third PDA. This would cut their risk in half and would be far less expensive than buying another company outright. The only downside would be that they would have to share revenue with another company. I'm not even sure that would be so bad, the Motorola production capability combined with the Apple marketing savy may mean they could sell far more units than if they tried this on their own.
So, while Palm may look like an attractive pickup, once you got into bed with her, maybe the excitement wouldn't be there (and you would certainly offend your current partner.) Maybe staying in the marriage that you already have is a better option although far less exciting.
I don't know all the angles to this. What I do know is that the Apple managment has been savy enough in the past to recognize opportunity and also understand their market far better than anyone else. This is the primary reason why they are where they are today. Anyone else who has followed the path they did would have fallen in one too many potholes and been burried. Apple is still in the race. This tells me buy or no-buy, they will make the right decision.
Palm was founded by Jeff Hawkins, Ed Colligan, and former Apple employee Donna_Dubinsky. They also brought some programmers from Apple on board. Later they left and formed Handspring, then Handspring was bought by Palm.
Their histories are similar to Apple's so it would not be out of the question for Apple to buy Palm and use their technologies.
Steve Jobs and Steve Woz create Apple. Steve Jobs leaves and creates NeXT. Apple buys NeXT. Former Apple employees create Palm. Palm founders leave, create Handspring. Palm buys Handspring. Apple buys Palm? Their histories and people are intertwined.
Apple knows that the stand-alone mp3 player is only a short term phenomenon. Eventually it will be just one more feature on a PDA that also acts as a cell phone. You will even be able to buy music directly on the phone. What would really be cool is a feature that identifies a song coming into the phone mic, so you don't even need to ask anyone what the song title or artist is to figure out what song to buy.
Vote for Pedro
They certainly wouldn't use BeOS technology in MacOS, but they might use BeOS tech inside the PDA itself, it was a reasonably small, efficient, responsive operating system. OS X is great for desktops, laptops, and servers but it may be overkill for a PDA. BeOS could probably also run on cheaper hardware. I can imagine BeOS being themed/modified to appear like a mini version of OS X for handhelds (all it took for the iPod OS to look "Mac" was to use the Chicago font and have an apple logo when booting).
But as someone mentioned, it doesn't appear this Palm entity actually owns rights to PalmOS or BeOS.
I'm still surprised Palm didn't do ANYTHING useful with BeOS technology.
if apple wants to create table pc style laptops, maybe palm has the right amount of IP and
technology for that?
He'll finally be able to EAT UP MARTHA!
In fact, stretched out over the chopping block, Palm really isn't in the perfect postion to do much of anything. Consider what has been thought to be their core asset for many years -- PalmOS, a system designed from the ground up to run on light weight mobile devices. The software quality is crap, and had been for years. Phone vendors are giving up on PalmOS. Palm is giving up on PalmOS. What do they have left? A few patents, a few hardware and software engineers and Grafiti. Well, honestly, I preferred the handwriting recognition in Newton (presently in suspended animation known as InkWell). The quality of other Palm software (which runs on the PC systems they connect with) is even worse, and demonstrates a deep lack of concern for the user experience of their customers. This leads me to suspect that if you scratch the surface, Palm is really not very much Apple-like in corporate culture in many ways.
No offense intended to those of you who might still work there, but the quality of PalmOS doesn't exactly scream, "Hey, buy the company because you'll get a great engineering team!"
The point is: There are undoubtedly a few good engineers left at Palm, but Apple can simply hire the good ones. They don't need to buy the company and get layers of clearly innefective mangement, legions of pissed off customers, and legacy technology baggage like PalmOS and HotSync as part of the deal.
If you mod me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine.
Was this a subtle dig at the iPod Nano's screen? Do I really want to run a stylus across a screen made by Apple? *ducks*
-Peter
. Penguins Surely Ca
i hope this happens... maybe apple would be able to breathe some life into palm. their os has been languishing and their products have been seriously left behind by the pocket pc crowd.
ConsultingFair.com
A hairy Palm!
they've got to have the notes around someplace yet at apple.
if this is supposed to be a new economy, how come they still want my old fashioned money?
>> Neither Apple nor Palm has given any sign that there is any basis for the renewed speculation but there are obvious fits between the two companies.
So, NO SIGN for any basis of speculation, but we are speculating for the hell of it and calling it news.
Next up, Google might buy Palm... Palm might buy Archos.... I might buy Google... There's some news for you.
Modesty is one of life's greatest attributes
It's also the same time frame phones with more features came out, and were subsidised by the telcos. That's what offed the PDA market. Something you could fit in your pocket and was a phone, which is still the killer feature of anything "mobile", then they could do some other stuff. PDAs weren't real laptops, cost a *whole* lot, and were clunky as phones needing adapters. I have yet to buy one myself, just can't see paying what a decent used laptop costs for something like that, and I already have cellphones. If they can get PDAs down to 200 bucks or less that are actually multifunctional and have a viewable screen for anyone besides hobbits, maybe. 500-800 bucks, no thanks, I'll get a lowend laptop. If I have to struggle with teeny buttons and diminutive screens, I'll just keep getting subsidised cell phones, you wind up paying some sort of monthly bill anyway, might as well get some hardware back.
So what value does Palm bring to Apple? The Treo? Why doesn't Apple just go straight to HTC, the company that makes the Treo 650 & 700 for Palm? Why does Apple need Palm at all?
I like Palm. Yes, they're a little bit slow to catch on to good tech, especially on the software end. Yes, it's a bit pricy to get the good ones. But if Apple buys them their products won't get better Either:
A) Palms will get new shiny cases, the pricetag will double, and the batteries will only last a year, or
B) Apple won't sell PDAs at all, and will just hold on to the IP.
Because the value of the product is in who develops it and design it, not in the company that manufactures it. If so, Dell has no value, because it does not "physically" build their products. Apple buys the blueprints, the rights to use the name Treo. Do you see where I am getting? If not, you should study marketing, my friend.
A preexisting userbase that would love to get our PDA/smartphone products from a company known for good design and good user service without dumping our investments in Palm software? A userbase that's conditioned to paying for software? $15-20 per package doesn't sound like much, but this times the number of packages required to make a Palm usable gets expensive.
Tech Public Policy stuff
As it of today, Palm (previously known as PalmOne) is an independent company Apple may be interested it (according to these rumors). PalmSource (and PalmOS) are fully owned by ACCESS.
P.
"That's exactly what I said, only different."
Not in California, they don't. And if they do (they don't because they know better by now) they're not enforceable.
The point is that the Palm OS is kinda done with. Palm is making devices with Windows Mobile now. There is a reason for that.
Apple would be better off going with pocket linux. Or, in their case, pocket BSD.
-------- -------- Support Wesley Clark for president!!!
VGA Pocket PCs are 640x480.
-------- -------- Support Wesley Clark for president!!!
Ah! I've found the old thread:
8 8&cid=10436404
;-p)
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Start here: http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1243
Read replies from Strider- and jcr, and such. I mean if you're interested (and anyone else
Relevant post:http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid
Read Heinlein's 1953 Revolt in 2100, now more than ever.
An Apple iPhone (iPod integrated with cel and PDA) in combination with a partnership-of-convenience with a Google wireless hi-speed ISP? No broken 'features' VoIP ready-to-go, cross-branding. yikes.
Maybe a linked .Mac account (email) and a Gmail account acting as a database to cut the storage on the Apple servers. Good for the biz crowd, and enabled enough to grab the crazy 'disposable income' kids with no time to upload their own ringtones and whatnot.
Something like that could make the iPod look like hors d'oeuvres, a simple intro. The little boxes would be flying out of Amazon, FedEx hubs like every-other-shipment.
For millionth time, we have someone repeating the convergence myth:
"Apple's Ipod boom can hardly be sustained unless it can head off competition from PDAs and smartphones that can pack music players along with a host a other functions."
You usually hear this argument from the executives of cell phone companies. They really want it to be true, but it's not.
The notion that everyone would prefer a single device that "does it all" rather than several devices that do one thing really well is flawed. The problem is that the elements that make for a good music player, a good cell phone, a good handheld game box or a good contact manager are different. If you try to cram them all into one device with a universal interface, the product sucks. It's like someone trying to sell you a combination toaster, microwave, coffee machine and ice cream maker. Wouldn't that be great?! No, it would suck.
For all the crap they have crammed into cell phones (email, web browsers, cameras, music players, games, etc.), how many people actually use those functions? PDA's have never gained widespread acceptance because they try to do it all and most PDA's have far better UI's than your average cell phone.
No doubt, the cell phone manufacturers will integrate music players into their phones. And, just like all other non-phone features they've built into over the past few years, they will be used once and then ignored. Quickly people will discover that their phone battery performance goes to hell if they use it as a music player. They'll discover that poorly placed, tiny navigation keys crammed next to a phone keypad make navigating to songs a nightmare. They'll give up. Then they'll go buy a dedicated mp3 player.
What do you want to do with your life? It's up to you! Think big! Think bold! Think red, white and...green!
We've all heard some of these phrases: "No, you're thinking too small!!" And similar stuff with other parts of speech: "I'm thinking: a beach, a drink with an umbrella in it, and you, wearing practically nothing." Is it perfect grammar? NO! But think meaning! We all understand that stuff.
So why did Apple choose "think different"? It's part of the heritage. Think 1984. Think Super Bowl 18, and the famous commercial. You can either be the same--one of those faceless corporate goons who go along with the crowd--or you can be different. Did Feinman wear a blue suit and march in a line? Einstein? Earhart? Ali? Ghandi? No. They were different.
Who do you want to be? How do you want to be remembered? Think genius. Think lyrical. Think contradictions. Think amazing.
Think different.
I would consider myself somewhat of a grammar nazi; if you don't believe me, ask my wife. I lament the fact that so many people don't know the difference between their, there and they're. If someone says he looses his dog all the time, I assume that he means that he lets the dog off the leash, not that he can't keep track of the darn animal. And I have shed tears--actual tears--over the loss of the subjunctive case in the English language. If it weren't for the subjunctive case, I would have said, "If it wasn't for the subjunctive case," and it wouldn't have sounded nearly as nice.
But that having been said, I believe it's all about the expression. If you know the rules and you bend them just a bit, you can turn a phrase of immense meaning and subtlety which just wouldn't be possible if you were constantly worrying about standard phrase and sentence construction. If you're not willing to play with the language, you would never have the brilliance of Shelley or Shakespeare, Joyce or Burgess, Stipe or Franti, nor would you ever have new language or dialect.
The CB App. What's your 20?
If anyone knows anything about Palm's patents, IIRC, Palm owns BEOS.
Now, if anyone remembers the BEOS backstory, BE inc wanted to sell BeOS to Apple, or at least have them use the BeAPI for the next generation Apple OS.
Irony, eh? Now if this goes through Apple will own the BeOS rights.
How about dem apples?
* AKAImBatman smacks iamacat upside the head
Former superhero Batman arrested for animal cruelty, film at 11.
You know, Microsoft's street address also says a lot about their mentality.
As a consumer, you get a large library of preexisting software (it's not all great, but some of it certainly is) and a device that does frickin EVERYTHING. I know people complain about multitasking and how it's not in PalmOS, but the fact that the OS allows only one user thread (and that's by design, BREW does the same thing) doesn't stop there from being a bajillion system threads, like those for playing music, fetching e-mail, handling calendar alerts, and taking phone calls. Plus I have my GPS and my MobiTV and my God knows what else. I own an iPod primarily because I used to do some accessories work, but it pisses me off that I can't integrate with iTunes on the Treo, because I'd buy a big SD card and be done with it. Done correctly, this kind of convergence will kick so much ass that there will be no reason not to buy an Apple-powered Treo, with or without a new OS.
I repeat: as a phone OS, PalmOS really does very well. I love OSX, but why throw the baby out with the bathwater?
Think mobile phones. The Palm Treo line (300, 600, 650, 700) is a big mover in the mobile handheld/pda market and is already Mac compatible. With the RIM litigation it is poised a heavy hitter for a Blackberry replacement. Verizon has a windows CE version of the phone already so Apple could sell 2 versions of the phone. A Windows CE version and perhaps a Mac branded version of the phone for OSX. Install the OS X version with Itunes instead of real player you have an IPOD phone worth talking about. Make Documents to go to interface with Mac Microsoft Office and make a desktop redirector you have a mac hit full GPS capabilities 1 + gis sd cards for music, video on the phone and so on. Why go through the headachhes mobile CE did when you can buy a mature os for your mobile phones?
> handwriting recognition in Newton (presently in suspended animation known as InkWell)
Actually, Inkwell is not suspended animation. I use it all the time. It is very useful for graphics pros who are using a pen and tablet. For example, if you are working in Photoshop you may have to type a line of text every once in a while, either to fill in a text block or to name a layer, and to type with both hands on the keyboard you have to put down your stylus. With Inkwell you can just write the text into the little window and keep working. Most of the time it is only a word or two anyway. Steve Jobs said in a Macworld interview or somewhere that this is why they put Inkwell into Mac OS X in the first place. With graphics pros you not only have highly-sensitive tablets but most of the time good handwriting also so it is probably less challenging than the general-purpose user with a little handheld touchscreen and stylus. My point is that it's useful today and being used by a lot of Apple's users. Wacom has a huge line of tablets for both pros and consumers.
Once upon a time Steve Jobs tried to buy Palm for Apple but it was in 1997.
Keeping your calendar is one thing you can do with a handheld computer, but it isn't the most exciting thing. Certainly, you wouldn't trade music and TV shows and other media distribution and playback for calendars. The handheld software platform that Apple features and promotes is MPEG-4. The development platform is this thing called "Mac".
In 2006, if you want miniature software applications you get a Web browser and Wi-Fi, not the whole Palm application platform. Is there really anything you can do in a Palm application that you can't do with a Web browser and Wi-Fi? These little operating systems crashing on handhelds is not the way to do it.
I bet you most everybody who works at Palm has an iPod but hardly anyone at Apple uses a Palm.
Intel's next-generation CPU family includes ultra-low-power models that could be used to design a handheld that runs Mac OS X.
Steve Jobs probably thinks the name "Treo" sucks.
Then again there is the "MacBook Pro" ugh.