Say what you want about Palm, but the bottom line is this. They have survived and thrived. We in the tech community ( including me ) consistently criticize Palm about it’s thick bulky phones running on an ancient OS. But like Jay-Z said, “Men Lie, Women Lie, but the numbers don’t lie”.
So while everyone is hailing super thin devices like the Q which are actually total Busts, the fat and bulky Treo is selling at record highs.
Sure Palm is facing a horde of competitors and many half retarded analysts continue boasting these devices will take a large market share from Palm. However, the last time I checked, the Q was still a bust, the blackjack’s battery life was so awful they are giving away free additional batteries, the nokia e-61 and 62 are not making a dent in the U.S. market, and as for the iPhone; who the hell is going to pay $600 for a phone that will not appeal to a majority of current smartphone users and too expensive for your regular mobile phone user.
Here is a quick question for you. The last time you walked though the airport, just what phone were damn near all business travelers using? When you watch hit tv shows like 24 and major Hollywood movies, you see guys like Jack Bauer and Russell Crowe using Treos . I just came back from the NSBE conference, and the Treo, to my pleasant surprise is a huge hit among Young Black Engineering students.
Sorry if this makes you all mad, but those ugly Treos have the most brand appeal in when it comes to SmartPhones.
One thing that also caught my attention during the Investor Day meeting was the emphasis Ed Colligan placed on patents.
As noted from Treocentral
“Palm also emphasized their strong patent position, noting that they currently have been issued over 270 patents and also have 370 pending patents.”
So the question is, did Palm patent threaded SMS? And if so, you should already know who their first target will be. For some of you, it might sound like a trivial patent, but just ask Apple how trivial it was coughing up $100 million to Creative Zen for infringing on the menu system design the ipod uses, which if am correct Apple utilized the help of Paul Mercer to build, who is now working at Palm. Small world aint it!
Also, with the acquisition of Chattermail, they get Marc Blank, who now will have access to resources to take the Chattermail vision to the next level . Now only if they would come to their senses and acquire pocket tunes, maybe we can one day see a killa multimedia Treo.
Finally, I don’t watch many investor day meetings but there was an emphasis placed on “Palm's Strong Management Team”. Sounds like a group of guys and gals getting all defensive from constant lambasting. But what the heck, lets give credit where credit is due. With an all but dead OS, having to transition to windows mobiles, reclaiming the dead OS, all while having record sales. Big round of applause.
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