Palm Foleo Live Webinar
Ok, so we’re live on the Palm Foleo Webinar getting a detailed overview of how Palm is "advancing mobile computing". Am I the only one that just doesn’t think so? After all, you have to have your Treo paired to the Foleo to use the internet while on the move. It does have WiFi built in but come on! It’s small, light, based on Linux, but I personally just don’t see how this is going to sell. It is basically an extension of your device, and for all intents and purposes you’d be better off with a full laptop, let alone a fake UMPC. The one advantage Palm has going for their new Foleo is the pricing. It starts at around $499 and will launch this summer in Palm’s retail stores. After all the hype, the crippling — not to mention what, 5 years too late? Palm is going to have to try another way to scam me; I’m done falling for their mind tricks. Anyone agree that this won’t be the device to save Palm?
What a freaking joke! I’m stunned that Palm made such a big deal about this thing. No thank you, I’ll stick to my beloved BlackBerry and compact laptop.
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C’mon BGR we went over this last week. it’s not ” for all intensive purposes” it is “for all intents and purposes.” I will take a Kaiser as compensation for grammatical crimes against humanity.
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EVDO Bluetooth Cellphone w/unlimited data plus 12″ Powerbook…I think I have one of these already and its a whole lot more capable. Didn’t Vadem/Sharp try this 5 years ago? Where’s the innovation. And whose 3rd party apps will work on it anyway?
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Wow. That raises the bar for lameness.
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Phone paired to the Foleo to use the internet while on the move…WiFi built in…small, light, based on Linux…
Hasn’t Nokia allready tried this with the 770 and N800 devices?
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I just don’t get it. It does everything a treo does now. Wow, a bigger screen and keyboard.
I’ll pass.
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what a waste, they just knocked a couple billion off their acquisition price. A couple more bad product releases and no one will want this sinking company.
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Very disappointed by Palm…all that hype for a subnotebook? No thanks.
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This is just sad. The power of insular group-think over at Palm is astounding. I have yet to find a single person on the entire internet who thinks the Foleo a good idea (including Hawkins, who just sold $250k of stock).
Is making a “revolutionary” mobile computing device really that hard? How about building a smartphone with a 500MHz processor, 10GB of built-in flash memory, a 5MP camera, media player, doc-editing capabilities, 3g, WiFi, and GPS. It could auto-sync with Windows or OSX, and it could even be touch-screen — with a slide-out keyboard for those who need to type regularly. You could sell it for $500-600 and destroy the iPhone.
But instead Palm decides to release a crappy subnotebook. Nice…
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Wonder where the geniuses who thought this up will be working next week.
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The Palm Foleo. Let me count the ways. The biggest problem I have with it is the marketing angle. A Smartphone Companion? It’s already been said many times today that no one needs or wants a smartphone companion. We want a better smartphone. They could have done a few different things to create their third device line, but my big gripe here is the marketing of the Foleo.
Here is what they should have done with this exact hardware: Market it as the first Palm Notebook. It runs Linux, which is new for Palm, and this new OS will eventually allow for lots of hacking and 3rd party apps. It’s like a cheap, subcompact notebook. It should have been noted as a FEATURE that it syncs and connects seamlessly with your Treo, but not the main course. Largely it is a unique laptop replacement that is an alternative to Windows and Mac for those who only need and want good browsing, office editing/creation, and email. It should still be smaller and sleeker for these purposes (think a large Sharp Zaurus) than it is. But the price would be about right.
I also think that for Hawkins to mention that video doesn’t work well on it, that its choppy– that’s just bad PR. Steve Jobs would NEVER say that. It’s admitting that this weird product that is completely unproven in the market is also deficient where it shouldn’t be. Awful.
The third product line from Palm should be Palm Linux Notebooks. Small, cheap, open and flash based. The category of “Smartphone Companion” smacks of “Mobile Managers” and “Mobile Accomplishers”. They have some agency doing their marketing strategies that are simply off the mark.
They would have been better off to release a compact Media Palm with linux OS and a 60GB hard drive with Wi-Fi, touchscreen, BT and widescreen. They should have realeased a LifeDrive update exactly like this exactly a year ago.
But this is just the wrong angle to take. I love my Palm OS Treo, but it’s gone soon. To be replaced by the iPhone or the Kaiser, which ever tickles my fancy more.
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This has gotta be the dumbest thing to come out of palm since the newest treos. I mean come on it’s a laptop style phone companion. If you go to palm’s site and look at it, it’s a freakin laptop that is used through your mobile phone sorry palm device sorry piece of shit. Woops did i say that? O yea i said it and im not afraid to say it over and over palm mobile devices are shit. Here’s the link to see palm’s new line of laptop style treo connected crap-
http://www.palm.com/us/products/mobilecompanion/foleo/index.html?creativeID=US_BB_foleo_announcement
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I think it’s kind of nice.
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Misguided. Behind the development curve. Another Cobalt-style misallocation of R and D resources. Pity.
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How has Palm managed not to go bankrupt yet? I mean are they still living off the treo and there old PDA’s? “Still spending money from 88′”
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I think that ptc is the only person that has had something good to say about this thing. We will see what happens when it hits the streets. There will be a few takers. It will be withdrawn very quickly I think.
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Yes they are late once again
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The Treo is already overrated and overpriced… when they couldn’t find any possible improvement to the same phone (has been out, what - 3 years now?) they decided to milk us the other way… Palm no more cows for you, sell your stock moooo
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I think that we all need to think more about this product. It’s NOT a Laptop and Not being marketed that way. Laptops are heavy, this is lite, Laptops are slow to boot, this is instant-on, Laptops are powerhogs, this sips power for 5 hours! Laptops may be able to connect to the net with a cell phone, but how easy and seamless is it?
The original Palm connected organizer worked because it did what we needed done simply and was also flexible enough to be expanded to do more. I see this as the same. I remember the original Palm as a connected organizer as a PDA that did more than it was expected to do. While the orginal Pocket PC was a small PC that could do the basics right! Mr. Hawkins, has been a master of understatement when discussing his products in the past, I’ll withhold and premature judgement on this product until I see it for real.
I think it just might be the product to bring the hugh potential benefits of being connected to the masses.
Think about the paradym shift, since eveyone keeps ther cellphone with them, and since much can be done on the cell phone itself now. Perhaps this product has a real purpose in expanding the role of “being connected”.
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CORRECTION___
I remember the original Palm as a connected organizer as a PDA that did more than it was expected to do. While the orginal Pocket PC was a small PC that COULDN’T do the basics right! Mr. Hawkins, has been a master of understatement when discussing his products in the past, I’ll withhold and premature judgement on this product until I see it for real.
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