Comments on: Palm CEO Claims to Have Never Used an iPhone

Palm's Jon Rubinstein Dives Into The Stupid Pool
http://ebooktest.wordpress.com/2010/01/09/palms-jon-rubinstein-dives-into-the-stupid-pool/

It seems obvious to me that WebOS has never had much to do with the Apple model. And you certainly can't compare the companies themselves, since Apple has several orders of magnitude more resources than Palm does.

About the only thing that Palm should be looking at Apple for guidance on is marketing. The Pre ad campaign with the creepy woman was more harmful to them than they realized.

abosco wrote:
It seems obvious to me that WebOS has never had much to do with the Apple model.

Multi-touch, flick gestures, iTunes integration, centralized app store, and onboard storage with no expansion. Those are distinct characteristics that the iPhone brought to the smartphone market that Palm currently mimics. To deny that they follow the Apple model is laughable.

1) Palm is moving away from a centralized app store. There are multiple ways to get an app on your WebOS phone right now.

2) Onboard storage with no expansion is a) not necessarily a good thing, and b) not a part of any "Apple model". It's simply the exclusion of a feature that many vendors before Apple (and after) have also excluded. To say that Palm is specifically emulating Apple in this as part of an overall strategy is a little bit silly.

3) iTunes integration was dropped. Personally, I don't think it should've been, for reasons we've discussed ad nauseum, but the fact of the matter is, Palm's adapted their strategy in that respect.

4) WebOS's flick gestures aren't anything like gestures you do on an iPhone. Not to mention the fact that touchscreen gestures are something Palm products had well before the iPhone or iPod Touch were gleams in Steve Jobs' eye. (You might remember a little thing called Graffiti.) When you're dealing with a touchscreen, there are only so many ways you can interact with it, so there are going to be some inevitable areas of similarity (e.g., multitouch), but that doesn't mean that Apple is being copied. It simply means that there are only so many ways you can do certain tasks. Pinching and zooming falls into that category, which is why you haven't heard much lately about Apple trying to sue Palm into oblivion (which they have the pockets to do).

I've used both, and frankly, using an iPhone is nothing at all like using a WebOS device, aside from the fact that they both have icons, use touchscreens, and have multitouch. Aside from the multitouch, those are all things that the Palm II had. And multitouch existed before the iPhone or iPod Touch. If you use an iPhone, for example, and then use a Pre, there's a learning curve involved in going from one to the other. Neither interface takes a rocket scientist to understand, but they're about as different as two touch-based interfaces could be.

They are currently all trying to follow the Apple model because it has proven to be wildly successful.

While the iPhone and iPod Touch have obviously proven to be successful, that in no way means that other companies are going to follow in lockstep with whatever they do and watch them like hawks. In the first place, doing what someone else has already done isn't the way to distinguish yourself (especially since the company you're emulating has a head start). Secondly, it's better to not follow exactly what another company does, because it blinds you to potential mistakes they've made.

The other thing I'd like to add is that I'm sure someone (or even multiple people) working at Palm have used the iPhone before, and studied it. What Rubenstein was asked is if he had. Palm may be a small company, but it's not a one-man show. The fact that the CEO hasn't used a product doesn't mean that the company as a whole is oblivious to it.

All warfare is based on deception. Hence, when able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must seem inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near. Hold out baits to entice the enemy. Feign disorder, and crush him.
- Sun Tzu, the Art of War

"If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a
hundred battles. ..."

知彼知己，百戰不殆；不知彼而知己，一勝一負；不知彼，不知己，每戰必殆

But note, the quote is "know (the) other (enemy).."
NOT "use your enemy's spear".
The two things are very different.

Gekko wrote:

"What if an opponent is more skilled or is stronger than myself?" "Find a way to defeat him." "If I can not?" "Then, my son, you must learn to die well." - E.M. Garcia

Dietrich: I've always admired the Japanese outlook on death. The calm acceptance, the treating it as a part of life...
Yemana: [to Wojo] I dunno what he's talking about - personally, I'm going kicking and screaming all the way.
Wojo: Well, why don't you tell him that?
Yemana: I like my image.
Palm Apologist
Shouting down the PIC Faithful Since 2009
Screw convergence
Palm III->Visor Deluxe->Visor Platinum->Visor Prism->Tungsten E->Palm LifeDrive->Palm TX->Palm Pre
Visor Pro+VisorPhone->Treo 180g->Treo 270->Treo 600->Treo 680->T-Mobile G1->Palm Pre
http://mind-grapes.blogspot.com/

http://www.slashgear.com/only-220-palm-pre-sold-in-ireland-since-launch-0869182/

He dumped it with a dead end answer.

If the CEO of Toyota was asked about the new Honda hybrid they would dump the question the same way.

In addition, Ruby leaving Apple and going to work for Palm on a competing product left Palm vulnerable to violation of laws and regulations of illegal transfer of protected Apple intellectual data. I'm sure the lawyers blessed everything off, but he was probably told to never, ever talk about Apple unless it is old war stories.

And I think Jim's right. It was a question designed to get him talking about Apple, so he rightly punted it. He obviously punted it in a way that makes Apple fanboys apoplectic, which just makes it more amusing. :)

I wonder--if Ruby was NOT CEO, would that free up more time to use an iPhone and therefore make WebOS/Pre/Pixi a more compelling triumverate of offerings? Hmmmm....

Pilot 1000->Pilot 5000->PalmPilot Pro->IIIe->Vx->m505->T|T->T|T2->T|C->T|T3->T|T5->Zodiac 2->TX->Verizon Treo 700P->Verizon Treo 755p->Verizon Moto Droid

Not that I am an expert on all things Rubinstein, but I was honestly surprised when he so (relatively) swiftly was kicked into the CEO throne and Colligan sent packing.

I think dumping Colligan was a no-brainer once the Foleo debacle happened. Aside from the Pre's TV ad campaign, I think Rubenstein's done pretty well so far. Palm's at least got one foot out of the grave now.

As far as what the timeline for the Pre & Pixi was, I think you have to give most of the credit to the leadership that brings it to a conclusion. Isn't it enough to note that the Centro and Foleo came out under Colligan, and the Pre and Pixi came out under Rubenstein's tenure? Look at it this way: The decision to actually go to market with something itself is a big decision. So compare Foleo to the Pre. Under Colligan's leadership, the Foleo went just far enough to be really embarrassing when it didn't get to market. Under Rubenstein's tenure, Palm swept CES with the Pre and is Palm is on everyone's radar again (even if people are uncertain of its future).

It's certainly not all sunshine and roses, but things are looking a lot better right now than they did a year and a half ago.

lol!