Palm is banking on their OS being the big seller for the embedded device market, vs selling hardware.. Handspring, IBM, Symbol, TRG, Qualcomm are but a few of the hardware manufacturers that license the Palm OS. With agreements with companies like Nokia and Sony to boot, they are in a very good position for the budding, soon to explode embedded device/wearable PC market.
Sure a PDA is cool and all, but thats not the Killer App. An easy to use, crash proof(mostly), fast, cheap, handheld window to the infinite resources of the internet.. now thats utility. And I dont really need Windows/Linux/MacOS or any other full figured operating system to accomplish this. Granted there will always be some wonderful open sourcers that shrink a kernel down, but IMHO Palm OS will most likely be the OS thats running on such a device.
They pretty much have it in the palm VII's (all but the cheap part) I use my wireless palm to read slashdot on the bus to work everyday, check my email, etc. My boss uses his to unlock his car when he locks the keys in (using the infrared port). The value of these devices cant be understated. There is just too many possiblities.
The whole IPO craze is definitely a little disturbing, brought about because everybody wishes that they had bought some cisco 5 years ago, but IMHO you'll probably wish you had some Palm stock 5 years from now...
For those who don't see the power of a wireless web application, let me remind you that the motherload power of the internet is not in the rich content, or the snappy interfaces. Its the ability to access vast amounts of Data. Now think of the implications of having that data at your fingertips no matter where you are (okay, as long as your in a cloud of radio signals) I no longer need to stop and find a phone book for the address of that bar/restaurant, I just look it up in my phone. Add in the FCC's mandate for E-911 auto location services and I dont even need to know specifically what Im looking for. The phones will know where Im at, and the back end will be able to relate that to geographically relevant data (Hmm.. where is the closest chinese restaurant...) What we're seeing is the tip of the geographically sensitive data iceberg. Ever needed to know where an ATM is at? Ever been lost? The user interface is sufficient and there is a lot of ways around the tedious input (from a deveopers perspective) Oh, and access to relevant personal data anywhere is a real treat too. For a truly amazing look at what is available right now, check out www.yodlee.com They have a PQA for the Palm VII that gives you access to everything that you could ever want to take with you. Online banking, Slashdot, Frequent flyer programs, package tracking.. etc.. all in one login.. this site may in and of itself need to be slashdotted.. I've been developing wireless "web" pages for 2 months, tinkered with the SDK's from Ericsson, Nokia, Phone.com, RIM, Palm, and tested a whole pile of hardware (Mitsu t250,ma120, Motorola i1000, Neopoint 1000, Denso Touchpoint, Nokia i9000, RIM Pager, Palm VII, Palm V with a minstrel) And had dealings with many of the service providers (sprint, palm, at&t) Some of the technology leaves a lot to be desired, and some smokes from both barrels. Look forward to CDPD implementation for the web phones (19.2Kbps on my T-250.. awesome phone, awesome service..)
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Palm is banking on their OS being the big seller for the embedded device market, vs selling hardware.. Handspring, IBM, Symbol, TRG, Qualcomm are but a few of the hardware manufacturers that license the Palm OS. With agreements with companies like Nokia and Sony to boot, they are in a very good position for the budding, soon to explode embedded device/wearable PC market.
Sure a PDA is cool and all, but thats not the Killer App. An easy to use, crash proof(mostly), fast, cheap, handheld window to the infinite resources of the internet.. now thats utility. And I dont really need Windows/Linux/MacOS or any other full figured operating system to accomplish this. Granted there will always be some wonderful open sourcers that shrink a kernel down, but IMHO Palm OS will most likely be the OS thats running on such a device.
They pretty much have it in the palm VII's (all but the cheap part) I use my wireless palm to read slashdot on the bus to work everyday, check my email, etc. My boss uses his to unlock his car when he locks the keys in (using the infrared port). The value of these devices cant be understated. There is just too many possiblities.
The whole IPO craze is definitely a little disturbing, brought about because everybody wishes that they had bought some cisco 5 years ago, but IMHO you'll probably wish you had some Palm stock 5 years from now...
For those who don't see the power of a wireless web application, let me remind you that the motherload power of the internet is not in the rich content, or the snappy interfaces. Its the ability to access vast amounts of Data. Now think of the implications of having that data at your fingertips no matter where you are (okay, as long as your in a cloud of radio signals) I no longer need to stop and find a phone book for the address of that bar/restaurant, I just look it up in my phone. Add in the FCC's mandate for E-911 auto location services and I dont even need to know specifically what Im looking for. The phones will know where Im at, and the back end will be able to relate that to geographically relevant data (Hmm.. where is the closest chinese restaurant...) What we're seeing is the tip of the geographically sensitive data iceberg. Ever needed to know where an ATM is at? Ever been lost? The user interface is sufficient and there is a lot of ways around the tedious input (from a deveopers perspective) Oh, and access to relevant personal data anywhere is a real treat too. For a truly amazing look at what is available right now, check out www.yodlee.com They have a PQA for the Palm VII that gives you access to everything that you could ever want to take with you. Online banking, Slashdot, Frequent flyer programs, package tracking.. etc.. all in one login.. this site may in and of itself need to be slashdotted.. I've been developing wireless "web" pages for 2 months, tinkered with the SDK's from Ericsson, Nokia, Phone.com, RIM, Palm, and tested a whole pile of hardware (Mitsu t250,ma120, Motorola i1000, Neopoint 1000, Denso Touchpoint, Nokia i9000, RIM Pager, Palm VII, Palm V with a minstrel) And had dealings with many of the service providers (sprint, palm, at&t) Some of the technology leaves a lot to be desired, and some smokes from both barrels. Look forward to CDPD implementation for the web phones (19.2Kbps on my T-250.. awesome phone, awesome service..)