Stokes covers a litany of issues: Severe App Lack™, lost momentum, Apple’s “wildly successful” 3GS, Palm’s serious quality control problems, marketing mistakes, and more.
“When I saw the Pre unveiled at CES 2009, I was a believer. And when I spent some serious time with the device and wrote a lengthy, positive review of it, I was still a believer. But over the past year, I lost faith for the reasons outlined above,” Stokes writes. “In webOS, Palm had a great, forward-looking platform that remains superior to the competition in a number of key ways. But for all of its software advantages, developer support remains tepid, and the PDK launch at this past GDC—as exciting as the resulting games look—is too little, too late.”
“Then there’s the Pre and the Pixi hardware—neither of these phones are really able to do webOS justice,” Stokes writes. “The company simply doesn’t have the time or the cash to recover from the mistakes outlined above by doing a round of fresh hardware launches and launching a major new marketing push.
Stokes writes, “So stick a fork in Palm—it’s done, the dream is over. It’s only a matter of time before the company is acquired or goes belly up. The most interesting questions that remain are: who will buy the company? and will the buyer keep webOS alive in some form? But those are questions for others to ponder. For my part, I’m moving on from webOS with a mix of nostalgia and optimism. Android is maturing rapidly, and Apple’s iPhone remains an amazing mobile platform that will continue to evolve and thrive. It’s a good time to be a smartphone user, even if it’s not a good time to be Palm.”
Full article here.
That was also said about Apple years ago…just sayin’
Who cares about Palm?
This is MacDailyNews, or should we talk about Toyota recalls?
I would like to read more news on Mac rather other junk.
You fail to understand that this site runs 90% on schadenfreude.
Hey MDN, would you please put titles on your main page so that we can tell what the article is about before we read them? It would also be nice if you were to somehow add a little snippet of the article below the link. I would sure hate to read an article about something I’m not interested in.
Oh wait, you do that already. Never mind.
@@SSL Very astute observation.
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Schadenfreude must be a right-wing kinda thing.
Poor Palm, but they did it to themselves… starting with their decision to drop all Mac support many years ago.
And by the way, I don’t know what that author is talking about, because Android is *NOT* evolving rapidly.
Maybe he meant that Android is DEVOLVING rapidly.
I refer you to my favorite chart of all time:
iPhone vs. Android comparison chart
So, let me get this straight: When your competitors heap crap and contumely upon your company (or favorite company) for decades upon decades, you’re not supposed to take any delight whatsoever in their fall? Is that correct?
What a wonderful world you must live in, sir or madam.
“i love you
you love me
we’re a happy family
with a great big hug
and a kiss from me 2 you
won’t you say you love me 2
i love you
you love me
we are friends like friends should be with a great big hug and
a kiss from me 2 you
won’t you say you love me 2″
Ah, peace and harmony and bliss and love and happiness.
Schadenfreude must be a right-wing kinda thing.
I think schadenfreude is a universal human condition. You would have to be a saint or the Dalai Lama to be immune from its seductive appeal.
@SSL
‘You fail to understand that this site runs 90% on schadenfreude.’
ROTFLOL
They should use all remaining assets to construct an android from the future, then send it back in time to kill Steve Jobs’ mother. Yeah – that’s the ticklet!
The Newton has been revived by Apple inc. Anyone wanting to buy into Palms IP’s and SD’s will have to scrutinise very carefully what it is they are buying into since the very basis upon which Palm came into being was through the Newton, an Apple IP based on Apple SD. They would have to proove that existing hardware and software was not built on Newton tech right down to Palms attempt to piggy back onto iTunes. Apple not chopping Palms legs from under them does not translate to the new buyer not having their legs chopped off even before the ink dries on the contract. BEWARE!
I’m getting sick of the word “beleaguered” -.-
I’m getting sick of the word ‘awesome’.
I’m getting sick!
I love the word beleaguered.
It is a joy to read that word associated with another company after so many uses of the word with Apple.
Man this is great!!!! Thousands of men and women will lose their jobs!!!!!!! Sure hope every other company on the planet except Apple goes BK and everyone loses their jobs!!!
You go Mr. Steve Jack!!! You are a credit to humanity!!
WOOOO HOOOO – Go APPLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Can someone please photoshop a Palm logo with thorns wrapped around it and the “Pray.” underneath it?
(I hope everyone still gets the reference.)
——RM
Pray. Or took action?
Dr. Amelio kept the patient from bleeding to death.
Steve Jobs, RDF — [;-)] preformed some logical ‘life’ saving innovation.
Then they got rid of the internal plaque from the Sculley; Gassee; Spindler; gluttony years.
Apple is now a lean, means business thru innovation, profit machine.
@LordRobin
Not only do I remember, I still have the edition.
My thoughts exactly. I’ve always suspected the psychological roots of most right-wing thinking come out of trauma: in this case, the bullied victim fantasizing about becoming the bully himself.
Hey, MDN, I understand feeling this way about Microsoft; there’s no one who shouldn’t wish Microsoft failure. But Palm was never a threat to Apple. Who among us didn’t have a Treo in the early part of this century?
They should stick with the sub iPod Market, make a wifi only webos device for say $100-$150 they need to stop trying to compete, and do what they are good at; making the cheapest PDAs
I know I’m not the only one who had a Pre-monition this might happen. When Apple jumped into this market they showed the world how lazy the cell/PDA makers had been by *not* developing a true OS and foisting CLI interfaces on customers. Now it’s too late, no matter how nice your handset is, unless you have huge coffers AND a broad customer base to operate from. BlackBerry will be next, within two years, simply because their underlying technology is already stretched trying to keep up with Apple and Android. Add in the new Windows Mobile OS, the fact that MS intents to mimic the Apple experience, and the news get worse. In financial comparison to Apple, Google, and MicroSoft, BlackBerry is a mere gnat to be swatted away. They must release or adopt a truly robust OS+hardware combo really soon (like yesterday) if they hope to survive the next two years without getting bought out. Once BB even begins to show signs of trouble, the end will be swift, as investors bail and inferior products founder.
Wanna watch cell makers crash and burn?
There’s an App for that.
Schadenfreude is taking pleasure from people’s misery and this is not how I view the case with Palm, nor with many other competitors that take pot shots at Apple.
From my perspective this situation looks much more like standing up to a bully. For example, over time I really haven’t read much derogatory remarks about or directed to IBM at MDN. Why? They haven’t to my knowledge gone out and bad mouth Apple.
Now other companies like Microsoft, Dell, and Palm have made derisive, offensive comments towards Apple. Like a bully would do. Fortunately there are those who have the integrity to stand up to a bully.
Personally I don’t really want to. I would much rather spend my time loving the peace and harmony from Apple products.
I never owned a Palm product. I refused to learn “Graffiti” so I could use some little pocket device. My Newton didn’t require it — the Newton could read MY handwriting. Why should I learn a different language for a stunted little device?