Teaching an old Treo new tricks

 

It's funny how quickly the tide of Internet-driven geek hype can turn. Take beleaguered PDA manufacturer Palm, for example. Earlier this year, rumors of an imminent UMPC and Linux-based OS piqued the interest of more than a few open-source and hardware geeks. Upon the announcement of the not-quite UMPC Foleo, however, gadget fans quickly lost interest. That could have been the end of it but then Palm went and did something highly unorthodox: at the urging of the geek community (a group of folks that never seemed to show up on the radar of the business-focused vendor) the company canned the Foleo, deciding instead to focus their efforts on "one platform".

It has often been said that Palm is behind the curve: the clear market leader in the quickly disappearing PDA market, Palm has traditionally been seen as resistant to change. As other manufacturers started making slimmer, simpler smartphones, Palm stuck to its comparatively chubby Treo form factor. As other manufacturers moved on to Windows Mobile, Palm stuck with its own aging Palm OS. And as other manufacturers started courting the hobbyists, geeks and gadget freaks, Palm stuck with the business market that has always been its bread and butter. Are you starting to notice a pattern here?

While many in the industry have often linked Palm's stubbornness to its shrinking marketshare, such a view only acknowledges half of the picture. Yes, Palm has allowed competitors like RIM and HTC to move in on territory that it rightfully should have possessed. But in refusing to change, Palm managed to cultivate a rabid fanbase of equally stubborn Treo users. You know the kind of person I'm talking about: no matter how slim, advanced and exciting the current crop of smartphones is, there's a certain breed of businessman who loves nothing more than the reassuring feel of a stylus tapping against a Treo touchscreen.

So here's the problem that Palm faces: how do you teach an old Treo new tricks? Well, to start, give it a more attractive form factor, a modern operating system and a slew of connectivity options. That might not sound so difficult on paper but it's taken Palm a few years to figure it out. Regardless, it's encouraging to see that the company is finally on the right track: the forthcoming Palm Treo 500v (previewed in this issue) looks to have all the accouterments of a modern smartphone. It's thinner than any previous Treo (though that's not saying much), it's lighter than even the iPhone, it runs Windows Mobile adroitly and it looks surprisingly stylish. Palm may have fallen pretty far behind the curve but it looks like they're not wasting any time getting caught up--the Treo 500v could provide some serious competition for the T-Mobile Dash and the Samsung BlackJack, especially if its priced appropriately.

Palm may still be down on their luck but don't count them out quite yet: with a few more competitive smartphones and an advanced operating system (if they can manage to get it out the door) Palm could get back in the game. At the very least, a redesigned lineup of handsets would probably help them sell a new Treo to all of the Palm fanboys out there. Could that be enough to save Palm? Why not--it's kept them going for this long. -Mehan