Innovate or get hit over the head

[Ed Hansberry]

<a href="http://news.com.com/2100-1040-928991.html?tag=fd_top">http://news.com.com/2100-1040-928991.html?tag=fd_top</a><br /><br />Wasn't it our own Andy that had a similarly titled post a few months back? Well, Foo Fighter sent us an announcement that Palm has just issued a press release that sales are not where they expected they'd be a few months ago and blamed a number of things, but I think Brian Blair, an analyst at hedge fund Bluewater Capital, summed it up perfectly.<br /><br />"They always blame everything except their own lack of innovation and mismanagement of inventory," Blair said. <br /><br />Once again Palm has released a bunch of ho-hum products. The i705, M130 and M515, nothing but rehashes of 1 to 3 year old products. What is the Palm OS device everyone talks about? Well, pretty much anything by Sony, especially the new NR-70 series.<br /><br />Pocket PC manufacturers, take heart. For two years you have been ruthlessly striving to make the products better and Microsoft has been doing its share to keep adding features and functionality to the Pocket PC operating system, which is exactly what they should do. All signs point towards even faster progress in the next 12 months too. The only thing I think we need to have is a $299 color Pocket PC in some form or fashion. What do you think?

[Ant]

Here's what I want:

$299 Toshiba e310-like but with an iPAQ like expansion sleeve option for CF, PC Cards and more battery.

$499 same thing but 400Mhz.

..and of course, Macromedia Flash Player on ROM for both.

[Foo Fighter]

"They always blame everything except their own lack of innovation and mismanagement of inventory," Blair said.

Everyone can see what's wrong with Palm, except its own management team.

The only thing I think we need to have is a $299 color Pocket PC in some form or fashion. What do you think?

Uh..I know we do. PocketPC needs a legitimate entry level category, or it will never take off. It's been stuck in the under 20% market niche since the days of WinCE 2.1. If prices don't come down to consumer levels in the near future, then all these "ho hum" Palm devices will continue to outsell PocketPC.

Innovate, or get hit over the head? True. But how about..."Make your product affordable...or get kicked in the ass!"

[normaldude]

All I want from a PocketPC:

1) Palm m500/m515 size. Toshiba e310 comes close, but it's still a little tall (4.9" vs 4.5").

2) Flip cover. Why are PocketPC manufacturers allergic to flip covers? The HP, one of the few PPCs with flip covers, is being discontinued. Ugh.

3) Decent battery life.

4) Ability for Word & Excel documents to make a round trip without getting mangled. (Palm can do this, but PocketPC can't?!?).

The Toshiba e310 was a good step in the right direction, but the lack of flip cover is very aggravating. On BrightHand.com, you can see one guy making and selling his own Toshiba e310 flip cover:
http://discussion.brighthand.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=51951
http://discussion.brighthand.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=52331

It's great some guy is doing this, but it's also ridiculous that PocketPC users have to resort to this.

The reason Palm/Sony continues to dominate market share is because people can actually safely & comfortably carry those PDAs in their pocket (small size + flip cover). All the RAM, processing speed, bells and whistles are no good if the PocketPC can't be safely and comfortably carried in one's front pants Pocket.

[G@dg3tGi]

Well, I've found the @migo 600C with built-in PCMCIA Type II slot for $299.00.

Yes, I have one and it works great.

-GG

[Timothy Rapson]

As I heard someone say about our failed public school system. The trouble with working hard to succeed is that the glow only last as long as the successes continue and build. But, a good excuse?! That can be used forever!

Palm seems to be making excuse after excuse. Their M505 took a full year of failure before they fixed the bad backlight. Sony fixed the only slightly milky screen of their T615C in 3-4 months. Of course, they also delivered the stellar NR series while the were fixing the T.

But, even with Palms lackadaisical effort, the Palm platform market share went UP in the first quarter. With OS5 stalling sales, they gained over PPC for the year.

The Toshiba e310 and an Ipaq 2200 model might, just might help, but as of now, I would not go back to PPC unless I got a model with a camera built-in. Sony is so far out front, that I don't know when PPC can get a grip. The Zaurus at $425 even without a software base, is cheaper and preferrable to any PPC model in its class. I think that Ipaqs will continue to sell to those who want something that works just like (and just as poorly) their Windows desktop, but everyone else had better go back to square one and design something really new and innovative or very reasonably priced and small (like the e310). Otherwise, PPC will continue to deliver what it has always delivered and get what it has always gotten.

[gmelfissg]

get an audiovox (toshiba e550) at compusa for $299, it has compact flahs, sd card. I can play mp3 files (with screen off) for 5 hours and still have some juice to check my calendars for another 30 minutes or so. not too shaby for the price. :lol:

[PlayAgain?]

Maybe Palm should think of taking a leaf out of Psion's book? Psion new they had a ground breaking OS, but simply couldn't compete in the market and so got the power of the bigger organisations combined in Symbian.

It does seem to me that despite the fact that I hate to see Microsoft gloat at someone else's demise, Palm are not making much of an effort and you're right, Sony does seem to be carrying the innovation on the palm front right now.

But once a corporate culture sets in, it's nigh on impossible to change it. I work for an organisation that is going through a difficult time of change, yet it insists that people will use its services simply because it is who it is, all this while the competition is catching up and threatening to overtake.

Then again, some may say that Palm is doing what it is because it is confident their users like the simplicity of their devices? I just hope they realise soon enough to make an effective change in the way it operates.

[Paragon]

I know there are lots of people out there making very good arguements for a $300.00 Pocket PC. I agree with some of them.

However I think it may be a mistake for anyone to do this. First, with my limited knowledge I would have to think it would be very difficult for a PPC manufacturer to make a good profit margin on cheap $300.00 PPCs. I can't see someone like HP ever paying off Carly's bonus with such a business model. I know you can presently buy an Audiovox for that kind of money, but they have discounted this device considerably to get there.

To produce a PPC for that kind of money I think you would have to water down the PPC to much to do it. That would then put them in a position to have to fight Palm on their turf. Wouldn't that be nonovating. PPC has seen it's sucsess because it has offered things that Palm doesn't. Why try to be more like Palm.... Aren't people saying Palm is almost dead? Not the greatest business to immitate, I don't think.

I think a $300.00 PPC that was making a decent profit margin would look a lot like a BE 300. Most would say that at best the BE 300 did ok, no better.

The whole idea to me sounds like backwards developing.

If someone can put a decent profitable Pocket PC out there for $300.00 that doesn't drop the PPC standards too much more power to them, but if I was a PPC developer I don't think I would want it to be me. I think I would rather continue selling $500.00-$600.00 PPCs that brought me to the dance to begin with.

Besides I was always taught to drag the market up not down.

My humble opinion.

Dave

[thadrool]

I'm sure a $300 PPC can be done. Once the X-Scales come out, anything StrongARM will be cheaper. Maybe slap one of the m130 screens on it. In any case, the Maestro is now $299 (by discount) and we're seeing a lot of interest in it despite the poor battery life. Hopefully PPC manufacturers pick up on this.

[Paragon]

I'm sure a $300 PPC can be done. Once the X-Scales come out, anything StrongARM will be cheaper.

That is a very temporary situation though. It would only work for as long as present inventories held out. Once Xscale is out I doubt you will see Intel putting much resourse into producing StrongArm processors. I think they will have there hands full with Xscale. Maybe AMD would since they are looking at the PPC market. I doubt it though.

Maybe if they were to do a Celeron/Duron kind of thing, but I don't think the PPC market is big enough for them to be able to do something like that.

BTW, HP has been rumored to be doing something like this :?:

Dave

[mike6024]

"They always blame everything except their own lack of innovation and mismanagement of inventory," Blair said.

I doubt that Palm actually believes the excuses they give out. Would you actually blame yourself in a press release. I know I'd be grasping at straws so I don't have to say "Well, we screwed up."

Once again Palm has released a bunch of ho-hum products. The i705, M130 and M515, nothing but rehashes of 1 to 3 year old products.

That's kinda strange, because a die-hard Palm friend of my at work was just telling me today how he plans to buy a new handheld. He likes all the hardware that Palms been putting out recently, it's just that the software doesn't allow him to do everything exactly like how he'd want to like access his SD card without a custom shell (even though he still likes the Palm OS better than WinCE). So he know plans to buy a Pocket PC. :)

[angelseye2000]

Both Foo Fighter (nice band) and Ed have some points imho. Palm need some extra kicks against......and there new OS 5.0 must be a winner or......pocket pc's are still 2 pricy......

But it's interesting to see how some people react and handle on positive or negative press releases of pda topics from where they standing.

;o)

[possmann]

Better translation of Word and Excel - I agree that Doc's to go does a far better job than Microsoft - kinda embarrasing

PocketIE = IE 5.5 (or 6.0 at least)

Option to toggle resolutions - 240x320 or... 480x640

That is about everything that would fall in the Microsoft camp - the rest is hardware...