How Palm Capitalized On The Blackberry Patent Uncertainty

[Ed Hansberry]

<a href="http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB114308086956305949-SPgLM3EUvfd2rBZzYpDE3qRvTzU_20070323.html?mod=blogs">http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB114308086956305949-SPgLM3EUvfd2rBZzYpDE3qRvTzU_20070323.html?mod=blogs</a><br /><br /><i>"Late last year, Joe Beery, chief information officer of US Airways Group Inc., began looking for a new wireless email device. While his company had deployed more than 300 BlackBerry gadgets to its top executives, Mr. Beery wanted to evaluate alternatives, particularly since BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd. was embroiled in a nasty lawsuit that threatened to shut down its email service. So Mr. Beery turned to Palm Inc.'s Treo smartphone, which combines a cellphone with wireless email capabilities and other applications such as word processing. Within a few weeks, Mr. Beery had given up his BlackBerry and switched over to the Palm device. And while he has no plans to eliminate the BlackBerry from US Airways, the CIO now counts the Treo as another option for the airline. "I find the Treo is more usable than the BlackBerry," Mr. Beery says. "It's really the only other option we saw on the market."</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/hansberry/2005/20051220-wmtreo700w.jpg" /><br /><br />Palm is internally projecting the Treo will match or outsell the Blackberry by the end of 2007. The company I work for officially supports the Blackberry, but I have been able to get them to at least take a look at alternatives. The Treo, both PalmOS and Windows Mobile version is so much more powerful than a Balckberry, and the Windows Mobile version is a portable office, just like all other WM5 devices. The permanent ROM storage for all data is the clincher. You just can't deploy devices that can lose everything when the battery dies, and it is a shame it took until last year for MS to release a Pocket PC Phone with this feature. Now that they have that done, as well as a reliable push system and a partner like Palm that develops killer hardware and has global name recognition, it is sure to be a banner year for Palm and all Windows Mobile devices. But do you think the Treo will outsell the Blackberry by year's end?<br /><br />I will have to say, having used a Treo 700 for a few hours, I personally find the K-Jam's keyboard much easier to use, but the convenience of having the keyboard always available has its advantages.

[wshwe]

Palm won't outsell RIM in 2007 for the simple reason that Palm still lacks true push email. Neither the Treo 650 nor the 700w currently comes with this important capability. To get it you must also buy Goodlink or Chatter Email. Blackberries don't come preinstalled with a word processor, but 3rd parties do sell such software.

Blackberries are more reliable than Treos.

One reason I recently bought a Treo 600 instead of a Blackberry is because there's no reliable way to sync Mac Entourage calendar and contacts with a Blackberry. PocketMac isn't reliable.

[Silver5]

I haven't looked at the sales figures so I really can't even take an educated guess. I certainly see some large advantages for both WM and Palm over the Blackberries, but RIM's devices are so reliable and generally easy to use that they have their own advantages as well. I guess we'll see what happens...

[Ed Hansberry]

Palm won't outsell RIM in 2007 for the simple reason that Palm still lacks true push email. Neither the Treo 650 nor the 700w currently comes with this important capability. To get it you must also buy Goodlink or Chatter Email. Blackberries don't come preinstalled with a word processor, but 3rd parties do sell such software.
As soon as AKU2/MSFP is released for the 700w by Verizon, the HTTP push is there, which is more reliable and faster than the current SMS push. And no more WM5 devices from Palm will lack this update, including when the 700w is released by GSM carriers hopefully this summer. No third party email connector required, and no third party software for Office compatibility.

I don't view this timing issue as material since the current 700w does support push, just not the best push in the world.

[wshwe]

I don't view this timing issue as material since the current 700w does support push, just not the best push in the world.SMS push isn't reliable because SMS itself isn't reliable. Fact of the matter is that AKU2/MSFP hasn't been released for the 700w. Has Verizon or Palm announced when AKU2/MSFP will be released? This still doesn't address the Treo 650. The 700w is still only available from 1 carrier. All 4 major US carriers sell multiple Blackberry models.

Blackberries crash less frequently and have longer battery life than Treos. This is what I meant by the reliability comment made in my previous post.

Treos do have better Mac support than Blackberries. RIM needs to address this.

[alese]

I'm pretty sure Windows Mobile will outsell Blackberry even before December of 2007, but I don't think Palm on it's own will do it.
I just don't think that WM Treo stands out compared to other devices and brands, well, maybe in US but not globally.

[r@dimus]

The one thing I've been hoping to see once the lawsuit was concluded is RIM releasing their Blackberry Connect client in the US for something more than a couple Nokia phones which are not available from any carriers in my area. Having the ability to download and install the BB Connect onto a PPC would be nice.

[Jon Westfall]

Blackberries are more reliable than Treos.
...PocketMac isn't reliable.

Do you mean that blackberries are more reliable in pushing email to the device, or more reliable when it comes to Macs, or more reliable in general?

If its the last point, more reliable in general, I'd have to disagree. Most of us complain about the stability problems our PPCs have, however I believe most of that is due to the third party applications and 'tweaking' we do to these things. On rare occassions that I have not installed third-party apps to my device, it has run extremely stable (Then I always get tempted and start installing apps), but as a base unit without customization, I've found Windows Mobile to be extremely stable.

However the points mentioned about SMS push not being reliable are completely true. The Push solution MS has now given us, though, is extremely robust. My device regularly gets email quicker than outlook on the desktop - with the exchange server running on the LAN! As far as Mac support goes, I doubt we'll ever see MS reaching out to develop a native Mac solution for a windows device, unless they are convinced there is some marketable need for it.

[arb]

Treos are great eye candy devices but they are no Blackberries.


With that said, Blackberries are dumb-down device geared toward non-technical users. Treos are more complicated and more support calls are put in for them to do simple things a BB can do with a jog dial.

Most of the people I know in the office environment use the BB as a viewer and nothing more. If you need to edit a document, then open it on your laptop or desktop. Besides, MS-WM destories documents including excel docs and Word docs, native applications, not third party applications.

Microsoft, doesn't seem to want to put the same gust into their portable devices like thier other products, which is a shame. Palm did improve the WM device, but it is a long shot.

Maybe with the next version of Windows Mobile, MS will make changes that are more one-handed usability, faster, and less eye candy.

I own both a Treo 700w and a Blackberry 7250 and at least the BB gets email all the time and the Treo 700w uses that wireless sync that works when ever it wants to....

[uwaku]

I agree that WM will outsell BlackBerry but that Palm itself won't. It could be said that if 60% of the workforce needs mobile access to email, then 50% will get BlackBerry, while the other 10% will get WM. The ones with WM are the first adopters who actually do things BESIDES email. My boss is an old hat at BB, but when car shopping last week, he tried browsing to Kelly Blue Book on his BB. Then he gave up &amp; called me, and I browsed using my WM MDA.

Remember, there are NO BB's that don't do email, and only some (but more &amp; more) are also phones. The ratio's about the same for WM devices. More WM devices were sold last year than BB, but MANY more BB phones than WM phones. Are you seeing the pattern here?

[wshwe]

Remember, there are NO BB's that don't do email, and only some (but more &amp; more) are also phones. The ratio's about the same for WM devices. More WM devices were sold last year than BB, but MANY more BB phones than WM phones. Are you seeing the pattern here?
Weren't there more total BB devices and phones sold than total WM handhelds and phones? For me the distinction between phone, PDA and email device is irrelevant.