“In this thread in our TreoCentral forums, user TreoNeo cited an anonymous source, telling him that Palm intends to close down their retail shops [31 locations, most of them in airports] by the end of the month. After seeing the story pick up some traction in the blogosphere we decided to check in with Palm to see if they’d confirm the rumor,” Dieter Bohn reports for TreoCentral.
A spokesperson from Palm got back to us:
“We continue to focus our company around core business initiatives and are consolidating more resources behind fewer programs in order to compete most effectively and build world-class, category-defining mobile solutions. We have therefore made the decision to close our retail stores.”
Full article here.
We’ve learned and struggled for a few years here figuring out how to make a decent phone. PC guys are not going to just figure this out. They’re not going to just walk in. – Palm CEO Ed Colligan, commenting on then-rumored Apple iPhone, Nov. 16, 2006
What, no blood on the iPhone’s touch screen?
They had stores???
TreoCentral: Lots of praying going on over there, I’ll bet.
What is their core business? The stylus?
ooohhhh…snap!
To be fair to Palm CEO Ed Colligan, “PC guys” didn’t figure it out. Apple did. Never underestimate Apple.
I, for one, would LOVE to see “PC guys” like Dell and HP even try and make a phone.
lmfao…. I love that you guys iCal all the morons
This is the rare instance where a company partnered with Microsoft and didn’t prosper. I mean you have the worlds greatest software company with the largest market penetration behind you and this happens. I can’t explain it. It’s a fluke.
No matter what happens, those Treos with Windows Mobile still blow the doors off the I-Phone.
Your potential. Our passion.™
That’s not good…!
Oh and BTW, Apple should clearly follow suit before they end up with an expensive & disasterous mistake on their hands.
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I guess this proves that fronds are born and not made.
Palm will probably need to dump that Colligan implant for a new company pilot. It’s still no reason for gleeful handsprings though.
@Zune Tang
Not so rare. Remember PlaysForSure? How about Origami? Tablet PCs? Mira? OS/2?
I read the article on TreoCentral and it noted that Palm has a “flagship store” in Rockefeller Center in New York. Well, I live 4 blocks from Rockefeller Center and am through there all the time, yet I never knew Palm was there. So much for a “flagship”. I’m glad I’m lucky enough to live 3 blocks from the 24-hour Apple store on Fifth Avenue!
I used to admire Palm and was a very happy owner of the Treo 600 when it came out in 2003. The problem was, it never went anywhere. The Palm OS-based Treos today are all still essentially Treo 600s with the most minimal hardware or cosmetic changes. (I don’t consider the Windows Mobile based Treos to be legitimate at all. Even circa 1999 Palm OS is better than current Windows Mobile.)
okay…now is the time for Apple to buy Palm.
“So much for a ‘flagship’.”
It’s a very small flag. Well, more like a white hanky on a stick.
I used to love Palm. I had one of the first models (actually, it was called WorkPad, OEMed through IBM); then a Handspring knock-off (the Visor, with a GSM phone springboard module – a neat thing for 2001!) and I could swear there’s a Tungsten T2 sitting somewhere in my desk. I really liked the devices, I used AvantGo for offline browsing; I had several games on it (including a simple, yet quite impressive, flight simulator!), it synced with everything. There is abundance of software for it out there, and medical profession relies very much on e-Pocrates for Palm.
For a company to so thoroughly drop the ball on a platform that was so successful is just incredible. Almost like Apple in the mid-’90s.
It is my greatest hope that the void made by the abandoning of Palm (the OS, and the hardware) will be quickly filled with the iPhone, once all the 3rd party developers begin churning out their stuff.
Hey Zune Tang, why dont you pull that microsoft branded butt plug out of your ass, and stick a treo up there instead? The treo is bigger right?
@ Cire: Why the hell would Apple buy Palm? Palm has nothing to offer Apple.
And who was the brilliant person who thought that Palm retail stores in airports would be successful?? If I haven’t brought my PIM handheld to the airport, just how am I supposed to get my data in there? Key in all 3,000 contacts??? Sit at the gate hoping my sync with my laptop finishes before I board?
I feel sorry for Palm. It had the market many moons ago, but now it’s just another example of failure to evolve and innovate. That’s why Apple made a comeback and will remain a major player in the personal electronics industry – Apple changed its corporate thinking such that innovation and the end user experience is what drives the company’s products, not some engineer deep inside 1 Infinity Loop.
Zune Tang, is that the ONLY example you can say is a fluke? Really……
Zune Tang®: No matter what happens, those Treos with Windows Mobile still blow the doors off the I-Phone.
iPhone has no “doors”. Sorry!
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I’ve still got my T3 and the grandkids love to play on it. Personally I thought it was a great design and it served me very well over the years.
The important thing to remember is the speed that developers got onto the platform after popularity built up. This is what we are looking for with the iPhone and is a very good guide (along with the Widgets for OS X) of what is possible.
Time to go through those old apps to see what can be reborn!
Zune Tang is experiencing what incarcerated men know as the
“no chicks” syndrome, too much free time in their hands, . . .
among other things.
Dell will probably follow with its retail “stores” (which is actually one of those center-aisle kiosks at a local mall that also has an Apple Store). I didn’t realize Palm had retail stores. Apple has taken some steps to distinguish itself from the other retailers. The Apple Store is more of a service center that provides sales service, maintenance service, and training service. When people have more reasons to come back, they will find more reasons to buy things.
Z.T.,
You never fail to reel those guppies in. Entertaining.
@ZT
“those Treos with Windows Mobile still blow”
You got that part right.