palmOne doesn't accept that it's lagging on the technology curve

Colin Dunstan · 11-15-2004, 03:28 PM

We're almost stifling a yawn this time around, but there is another interview featured in ZDNET UK with palmOne president Ed Colligan where he talks about the potential future of his company.

Colligan's key points:
- Treo 650 rolls out in the US, in Asia and Europe early next year
- Treo alone makes 50% of palmOne's revenues
- estimated y-y growth for Treo is 36%
- biggest Treo rival in Asia: Samsung (not Sony or Nokia)
- HP's wireless PDAs no true competitors because they're "big devices"
- there are tradeoffs to be made when designing a smartphone
- Palm OS alternatives possible in future; would be communicated early
- written $40m-commitment with PalmSource expires in 2006; no plans for extending commitment
- China market is supposedly working well (despite rumors that P1 had quit China)

Here is one bit of the interview I found quite amusing. To the question whether palmOne is lagging on the technology curve, Colligan replies:

I probably would have accepted that a year ago. I think the category defining products in this space are at PalmOne. You read any review of any smartphone and the Treo 650 wins. So I don't accept that premise.

Well. I don't recall anyone questioning palmOne's leadership one year ago. Do you?

TadW · 11-15-2004, 03:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Morpheus

I probably would have accepted that a year ago. I think the category defining products in this space are at PalmOne. You read any review of any smartphone and the Treo 650 wins. So I don't accept that premise.

Well. I don't recall anyone questioning palmOne's leadership one year ago. Do you?

LOL, you know why he is saying that? Because it was just one year ago when Colligan joined palmOne (before he was president and COO of Handspring). And it was just 6 months ago that he was named president of palmOne. So yes, easy to "accept" what others were supposedly doing wrong on a year ago. Thing is, one year ago, at least I didn't think anything was wrong with palmOne..... it is today that we are having those discussions!

Bob Russell · 11-15-2004, 04:51 PM

Sounds like poor ole PalmOne is just carrying around PalmOS as baggage, but they don't dare complain too loud! I guess the message is that they want to escape PalmOS as fast as they can, but it will take time and OS5 will be sufficient for a while anyway.

The future direction is clearly smart phones for PalmOne.

Too bad. Like many, I wanted OS6 to be great. I wanted PalmOS to be successful. And I want the traditional PDA market to stay strong, even if it includes "big devices" like from HP!

I'm more and more glad to be in the PPC world. But I'm sadder and sadder to hear the news from the PalmOS world. Maybe Tapwave Zodiac's can save them still??

Brad · 11-15-2004, 06:15 PM

Loosing market share becomes a self-fullfilling prophecy when the CEO talks like that. It makes me ask: why should I upgrade my Palm PDA if OS 5 is going to be a deadend, or if Palm is going to phase out PDA's?

11-15-2004, 03:28 PM	#1
Colin Dunstan Is papyrophobic! Posts: 1,926 Karma: 1009999 Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: USA Device: Dell Axim	palmOne doesn't accept that it's lagging on the technology curve We're almost stifling a yawn this time around, but there is another interview featured in ZDNET UK with palmOne president Ed Colligan where he talks about the potential future of his company. Colligan's key points: - Treo 650 rolls out in the US, in Asia and Europe early next year - Treo alone makes 50% of palmOne's revenues - estimated y-y growth for Treo is 36% - biggest Treo rival in Asia: Samsung (not Sony or Nokia) - HP's wireless PDAs no true competitors because they're "big devices" - there are tradeoffs to be made when designing a smartphone - Palm OS alternatives possible in future; would be communicated early - written $40m-commitment with PalmSource expires in 2006; no plans for extending commitment - China market is supposedly working well (despite rumors that P1 had quit China) Here is one bit of the interview I found quite amusing. To the question whether palmOne is lagging on the technology curve, Colligan replies: I probably would have accepted that a year ago. I think the category defining products in this space are at PalmOne. You read any review of any smartphone and the Treo 650 wins. So I don't accept that premise. Well. I don't recall anyone questioning palmOne's leadership one year ago. Do you?

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11-15-2004, 04:51 PM	#3
Bob Russell Recovering Gadget Addict Posts: 5,381 Karma: 676161 Join Date: May 2004 Location: Pittsburgh, PA Device: iPad	Sounds like poor ole PalmOne is just carrying around PalmOS as baggage, but they don't dare complain too loud! I guess the message is that they want to escape PalmOS as fast as they can, but it will take time and OS5 will be sufficient for a while anyway. The future direction is clearly smart phones for PalmOne. Too bad. Like many, I wanted OS6 to be great. I wanted PalmOS to be successful. And I want the traditional PDA market to stay strong, even if it includes "big devices" like from HP! I'm more and more glad to be in the PPC world. But I'm sadder and sadder to hear the news from the PalmOS world. Maybe Tapwave Zodiac's can save them still??

11-15-2004, 06:15 PM	#4
Brad Zealot Posts: 107 Karma: 201 Join Date: Sep 2004 Device: Cybook Gen3 / EB1150 /iPhone	Loosing market share becomes a self-fullfilling prophecy when the CEO talks like that. It makes me ask: why should I upgrade my Palm PDA if OS 5 is going to be a deadend, or if Palm is going to phase out PDA's?

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