Missteps forced Palm's hand

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Cobalt and wireless email

It is amazing that an article like this can be written in a respectable publication without mentioning some of the most important factors that led to Palm's decline.

The failure of PalmSource to deliver a significant OS upgrade since 2002 was a huge problem for Palm and this also was a factor in Sony exiting the PDA market. Cobalt (Palm OS 6) was supposed to be that upgrade, but PalmSource fumbled and this contributed greatly to the loss of Palm OS market share.

Cobalt was supposed to offer features that enterprise customers were demanding, and without these Palm OS was relegated to the dwindling consumer PDA market, which as was pointed out, has dwindled as cellphones with PDA functions grow in popularity.

Palm was well aware of RIM in 2001, before BlackBerries became the most popular PDAs. Palm CEO Carl Yankowski predicted in 2001 that Palm would crush the BlackBerry.

http://www.rimroad.com/articles/2001/2/2001-2-14-Palm-Takes-on.html

But Palm never came close to delivering a competitive wireless PDA. The VII, VIIx, i705 and Tungsten W were all glaring failures. Palm had to buy Handspring to get into the smartphone market, and even so, they are just a small player in that market today.

Palm was always too focused on the US market and never got a strong foothold in Europe.

Palm is still a major player in the US consumer PDA and smartphone markets, but elsewhere they have declined and struggled.

Smartphones have overtaken PDAs as Palm's primary business and we have to give them some credit for making that transition successfully.

Consider where Palm would be today if Dell or HP had outbid Palm to acquire Handspring and the Treo.

Posted by: makulu   Posted on: 12/30/05 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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