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The once-mighty Palm Inc. doomed to decline and failure – thanks to Apple’s iPhone

Friday, February 23, 2007 · 4:45 pm · 43 Comments

“The once-mighty Palm Inc., still successful on paper from the momentum of past glories, is doomed to decline and failure,” Mike Elgan writes for Computerworld.

The tragic story of Palm’s fall from greatness is a history of squandered resources and misplaced effort,” Elgan writes.

Elgan asks, “How many times has Palm distracted, divided and plundered the company with spin-offs, acquisitions and mismanagement?”

“Currently, Palm is a profitable company with lots of customers, partners and investors. The company seems to be doing OK, and Wall Street isn’t worried,” Elgan writes.

MacDailyNews Note: Uh, Mike? Your Computerworld colleague David Haskin wrote earlier this week: Analysts: time is right for Palm sale – February 20, 2007

Elgan continues, “Last month, iPhone changed everything. Jobs’ Macworld keynote was like a nuclear bomb in the world of smart-phone enthusiasts. The ‘key influencers’ who gave Treos visibility and cachet a year ago — Hollywood types, gadget freaks and absolutely everyone who’s anyone in Silicon Valley — have stopped talking about Treos and are simply waiting for the iPhone to come out, at which time they will unceremoniously dump their Treos and embrace the new innovation leader.”

Full article here.
iPhone, bitch!

How Steve Jobs played hardball in iPhone deal with AT&T (Cingular) – February 17, 2007
Telstra exec tells Apple to ‘stick to its knitting’ as iPhone looms – February 15, 2007
Digit takes a closer look at Apple’s iPhone – February 14, 2007
Microsoft caught off-guard, beaten badly by Apple’s iPhone innovations – February 13, 2007
RIM co-CEO doesn’t see threat from Apple’s iPhone – February 12, 2007
How Verizon blew the Apple iPhone deal – January 29, 2007
O2, Vodafone, Orange, T-Mobile battle for exclusive rights to Apple iPhone in UK – January 26, 2007
Rogers to offer Apple iPhone exclusively in Canada – January 25, 2007
FUD Alert: Apple iPhone ‘isn’t very practical’ and a ‘security risk’ for business – January 24, 2007
Research in Motion downgraded due to Apple iPhone competition – January 23, 2007
Ihnatko: Hands-on with Apple’s iPhone (which runs Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard) – January 18, 2007
Microsoft CEO Ballmer laughs at Apple iPhone – January 17, 2007
RealMoney: Apple just blew up the whole damn mobile-phone supply chain with its new iPhone – January 11, 2007
eWeek: Apple iPhone fallout: ‘They must be crying in Nokia-ville and other telephony towns today’ – January 10, 2007
Jefferies downgrades Motorola on fears of market share loss to Apple iPhone – January 10, 2007
The massive FUD campaign against Apple’s iPhone ramps up – January 10, 2007
Time: ‘iPhone could crush cell phone market pitilessly beneath the weight of its own superiority’ – January 09, 2007
Analyst: Apple iPhone should be given its own category – ‘brilliantphone’ – January 09, 2007
Apple debuts iPhone: touchscreen mobile phone + widescreen iPod + Internet communicator – January 09, 2007

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Comment Feed

43 Comments

1 2 3 Next »

RC

Friday, February 23, 2007 - 5:53 pm · Reply

While I agree that Palm is doomed to failure, that has been the case long before the iPhone was ever introduced. Palm has been circling the drain now since 2002 at least…
mudflapper

Friday, February 23, 2007 - 5:57 pm · Reply

Favorite. MDN. Take. Ever.
Mac ed

Friday, February 23, 2007 - 6:06 pm · Reply

MacDailyNews Take: iPhone, bitch! … I second the motion.
MikeK

Friday, February 23, 2007 - 6:10 pm · Reply

I’m a typical Treo lover — I’m never far away from my phone, and I thought you’d have to grab it from my cold, dead hands before I’d give it up. Then I saw iPhone. I had just ordered a new Treo 700p when I saw the keynote, and returned the box unopened to Sprint shortly thereafter (and told them why, too!)

If the iPhone is only HALF as good as what I’ve seen, I’ll be an early adopter. I hate not being able to see full web pages. I hate the tiny little keyboard. I hate that the Treo seems to have a life expectancy of about two years before it starts to fall apart (my Treo 180 literally fell apart in my hands about 18 months after purchase; my Treo 600 is still working after 27 months, but the AC adapter port is starting to get wobbly, and battery life is shrinking).

Frankly, the price isn’t a problem. I’m more concerned with durability and usability. I’ll be awaiting the early reviews with a LOT of interest…
WiseGuy

Friday, February 23, 2007 - 6:14 pm · Reply

Hmmm I wonder if the newly announced Google online apps will run on the iPhone?

You can sheet your pants now Steve Ballmer.
JC

Friday, February 23, 2007 - 6:22 pm · Reply

MDN just lost me as a reader… Good bye
tony

Friday, February 23, 2007 - 6:24 pm · Reply

I am only going to switch from my Treo 680 if Apple has shown a plan for third party developer support. There are way more applications that I am using on my Treo than I can afford to miss after switching to Apple’s iPhone. One of them is FileMaker Mobile. Apple better makes sure that gets ported to the iPhone…
me

Friday, February 23, 2007 - 6:25 pm · Reply

Bye JC.

iPhone bitch.
MikeK

Friday, February 23, 2007 - 6:27 pm · Reply

So what in the world is JC’s problem??
MacMania

Friday, February 23, 2007 - 6:43 pm · Reply

{I haven’t seen Sputnick or any of our other trolls lately so I’ll try to stand-in}

Apple doesn’t know anything about the cell phone market. Plus Microsoft is launching Vista Mobile Micro Standard, Professional and Home soon for smart phones and then that all she wrote for Apple. Palm made the best decision ever to jump on the Windows bandwagon. Expect Palm stock to triple in a month!

{Sorry, I can’t go on. I feel so filthy}

Ah, Rock on Steve!
Shooter

Friday, February 23, 2007 - 6:43 pm · Reply

I’m with tony on this one- I’ll switch over to an iPhone when there’s support for 3rd party apps. Though I’ll also wait for the iPhone to be available with any carrier.

While I’m not exactly a fan of Sprint, no other carrier has been able to offer me a plan to suit my needs at a better (or even close) price. I don’t talk on the phone all that much, and have my minutes shared between three phones. Including unlimited data on two of the three phones, my cost is under $100/month.

And I use a number of 3rd party apps on my Treo 650 nearly every day. It’s simply not worth it to me to switch and lose access to those apps and face an increase in my monthly expenses.
Spark

Friday, February 23, 2007 - 6:47 pm · Reply

JC has probably not seen the cartoon from which the phrase “iPhone Bitch” was made famous. Maybe JC believe MDN is being gratuitously crude. I think MDN should link a take like this back to the source so everyone can be made aware of the context.
Gandalf

Friday, February 23, 2007 - 6:49 pm · Reply

Could the lessons here be that (1) you have to make a complete product (hardware and software and marketing) and (2) You can’t trust The Street – who make money on commission so buying/selling (and mergers/spin-offs are buying/selling in bulk) is to their advantage and they encourage them.

It’s very difficult to be successful as a small company against the big companies, you need a genius who is in control and those two qualities are virtually mutually exclusive.

BTW Mike Elgan refers to the Haskin article in the article.
m&m

Friday, February 23, 2007 - 6:57 pm · Reply

hahaha!!! LOL! ah… that was the best MDN take i have seen yet. Thanks for that now my drive home won’t be so bad
m&m

Friday, February 23, 2007 - 6:57 pm · Reply

hahaha!!! LOL! ah… that was the best MDN take i have seen yet. Thanks for that now my drive home won’t be so bad
m&m

Friday, February 23, 2007 - 6:57 pm · Reply

hahaha!!! LOL! ah… that was the best MDN take i have seen yet. Thanks for that now my drive home won’t be so bad
Wun Dum Gai

Friday, February 23, 2007 - 7:07 pm · Reply

I agree with Tony and Shooter. There are way too many cool apps for palm by third-party developers that probably won’t ever make it to the iPhone.

But then again, there were also a lot of great apps for OS 9 that have never made it to OS X, too!

Some of you will say this is blasphemy to talk stink about OS X but there’s a lot of functionality of OS 9 that never made the “upgrade”.
Snapper

Friday, February 23, 2007 - 7:08 pm · Reply

I gotta have maps, The navigation will have to be as good or better than on my Palm T5 with bluetooth. If those iPhone google maps are strickly on line then the data price will be through the roof. I’ll stick to Palm.
Kris

Friday, February 23, 2007 - 7:29 pm · Reply

For all you crying about third party apps, Daniel Eran has done a great research and wrote an article which you can read here http://www.roughlydrafted.com/RD/RDM.Tech.Q1.07/9FB758E7-CA6E-415F-828D-08F01471F6B5.html

Here are some of what he has to say:

#
Software that solves problems that shouldn’t exist

$110 of actual examples of popular Windows Mobile apps unnecessary on the iPhone:

#
•memory managers that squeeze apps into the tiny bit of RAM installed: MemMaid $15

#
•interface patches: SPB Pocket Plus $25

“The best selling system utility for Pocket PC. Winner of Pocket PC 2004 Awards as the best task manager. Powerful Today plug-in with tabs. Close button that really closes, etc.”

#
•File manager: Virtual Explorer $25

“Virtual Explorer is a revolutionary and powerful integrated solution designed to replace the rather restricted features of the standard Pocket PC file explorer.”

#
•System cleanup, clumsy workarounds: Pocket Mechanic Pro $25

“The ultimate Pocket PC maintenance utility comes re-loaded with features and tools to keep your device and storage cards in perfect shape. Pocket PC Magazine Best Software 2006 Finalist.”

#
•File backup: SPB backup $20

#
•Software that should have been provided by the vendor

$344 of actual examples of popular Windows Mobile apps included on the iPhone:

#
•Dashboard: WorldMate Pro $75
“world clocks and weather forecasts, flight and travel information”

#
•real email client: Pocket Informant $25
“replacement for Pocket Outlook on the Pocket PC”

#
•real web browser: none seem to exist.

#
•real contacts: Photo Contacts PRO $30

#
•Photo browser: Imageer $15

#
•iPod: Pocket Player MP3 player $20

#
•Movies: Pocket DVD studio $30

#
•TV: HandiTV $20 “watch TV from mobile devices”

#
•Dial up networking: PDANet $34 “use your mobile as a modem!”

#
•Calculator: Revolutionary Calculator $30

#
•Touch screen type input: Full Screen Keyboard $10

#
•PDF: PDF Reader $25

#
•Notes: List Pro $30 “Manage your notes”

#
•Software that is absurd
Real titles for Windows Mobile, Palm:

#
•Ring Tone Choosers
#
•Ghost Detectors
#
•Love Detectors
#
•Lie Detectors

#
•Propel – $25 “the ultimate launcher – you’ll be amazed at how snappy and straightforward launching applications, finding contacts and keeping in touch will be.”

#
•Software that is overpriced trash

A $92 selection of popular Palm OS titles already available for $15 on the iPod today:
joell

Friday, February 23, 2007 - 7:44 pm · Reply

OK steve, we know what you think about teacher unions.

what are you views on CEO compensation, including HP’s 20 million reward for failure to Fiorina?

what’s disgusting is that on this site unions evoke more anger than CEO golden parachutes.