Palm Chooses Head of Hardware Development

Palm, Inc. has just named Todd Bradley as president of its Palm Solutions Group. This means Mr. Bradley is in charge of the company's handheld computer hardware; software, such as enterprise email software; and add-ons, such as keyboards and SD Card and MultiMediaCard expansion cards. Once the company splits off PalmSource, its subsidiary that makes the Palm OS, the Palm Solutions Group will basically be Palm, Inc.

Mr. Bradley has been the group's chief operating officer since June of last year, and will remain so. Essentially, he's been in charge of the Solutions Group since his appointment. He now has the title to go with the responsibility.

"This appointment reflects the board's confidence in Todd's leadership and recognizes him for his team's operational contributions over the last three quarters," said Eric Benhamou, Palm chairman of the board and chief executive officer.

Mr. Bradley was brought on board at a low point for Palm. The recession, the mishandling of the m500 series roll-out, and other mistakes had left the company with a huge glut of handhelds it couldn't sell. But much worse, Palm was getting a reputation for resting on its laurels. It hadn't released a truly innovative handheld in years. Mr. Bradley was brought in to help fix both of these problems.

From a financial standpoint, the company has had an almost complete turn around. Palm announced a slight net profit for its most recent financial quarter and expects to make a larger one this quarter.

Mr. Bradley's team appears to be making progress on its second task as well. It has committed to having a wireless handheld running Palm OS 5 out before this fall. The feature set for this device hasn't been announced but it seems likely that it will be a GSM/GPRS smartphone and could include new multimedia capabilities. Palm has also committed to start building Bluetooth into some of its models.

Mr. Bradley was formerly executive vice president of global operations at Gateway Inc.

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Nothing new

Beavis @ 5/2/2002 10:02:03 AM #
"Palm was getting a reputation for resting on its laurels. It hadn't released a truly innovative handheld in years. Mr. Bradley was brought in to help fix both of these problems."

In keeping with the tradition of the first post being negative, here we go.

They still haven't produced anything innovative, and they still seem to resting on their larels, whatever a laurel is.

The m515 is what the m505 should have been, and the m705 hasn't exactly been their savior either.

RE: Nothing new
nategall @ 5/2/2002 10:09:23 AM #
no, the first negative comment has to be the "Palm sucks, sony RuleZ".

In defense of lack of innovation. Nobody knows what the market wants, because the market doesn't want one thing. The product must span a wide range of users, and it must fit each of these perfectly. While Palm Hardware has not been leading the pack in terms of coolest features, they have made solid products which are excellent PDAs and are perfect for a great many users. I have a M505, and it has had problems, but it does an excellent job did it have an mp3 player - no, high res screen - no. did it need these to be an excellent PDA? - no

the problem is that as soon as you are not "leading the pack" with features, you no longer have the spark. People think that all your products have fallen off. Palm has always focused on usability as the most important aspect of a PDA. After that comes features. This is why PalmOS is so damned good, even on the crappy PalmIII, it was still amazingly useful. A color screen does not help you look up a phone number, or plan a meeting.

I don't know if Palm will be able to beat sony at packing in a bunch of flashy extras, sony is huge and they are churning out products left and right. But i do know that Palm trying to make better and more dynamic products will only make my world a better place. Thank god for choices.

ps. i am a sucker for flashy extras, and i do have a NR70V on order.

nategall says "blah!"

RE: Nothing new
I.M. Anonymous @ 5/2/2002 10:25:35 AM #
And keeping with the tradition that the first poster obviously didn't read the article they are commenting on..

No one argues your points about the m515 or i705 .. and Mr. Bradley wasn't brought in to make excuses for that. "Palm was getting a reputation for resting on its laurels. It hadn't released a truly innovative handheld in years. Mr. Bradley was brought in to help fix both of these problems."

Your post sounds like you are expecting a new hand held that solves these problems to happen in conjunction with Mr. Bradley's selection. The real question is "can he do it?" Time will tell .. if he's smart, he'll take a peek at the PalmOS devices that have been gaining market share while Palm branded devices have lost ground.. and perhaps apply some of that original thinking to the Palm line.

RE: Nothing new
Beavis @ 5/2/2002 10:43:05 AM #
"Mr. Bradley has been the group's chief operating officer since June of last year, and will remain so. Essentially, he's been in charge of the Solutions Group since his appointment. He now has the title to go with the responsibility"

He has been doing the job for almost a year. We now have the m705 and m515 to show for it. No innovation, nothing new. The perception that they are not innovative is still there. I stand by my original post, except for the typo.

RE: Nothing new
montyburns @ 5/2/2002 10:54:46 AM #
Idiom:
rest on (one's) laurels
To rely on one's past achievements instead of working to maintain or advance one's status or reputation.

lau·rel Pronunciation Key (lôrl, lr-)
n.
A Mediterranean evergreen tree (Laurus nobilis) having aromatic, simple leaves and small blackish berries

One year ago, people were waiting for Palm to go out of business. Well, that did not happen, and the company is turning around. Just wait for the fall when the ARM based Palm devices come out!!!

RE: Nothing new
Ed @ 5/2/2002 11:06:38 AM #
As I said in the article, I don't think Palm under Mr. Bradley has released any models that break the mold, but I do think they are close. You have to remember that the development cycle for a a whole handheld is at least a year from conception to shipping product. What Mr. Bradley's team has done so far is release models that fix the obvious problems in the models that were shipping when he started with Palm. As for ground-breaking new handhelds, they have concentrated their efforts on the ARM-based ones running OS 5, expected to be released this summer.

And let's not forget, he's had to spend a lot of time taking a company that lost $392,074,000 the quarter before he was hired and making it into one that earned $2,948,000 last quarter.

---
News Editor

RE: Nothing new
I.M. Anonymous @ 5/2/2002 11:13:19 AM #
Palm should just exit the hardware market and focus on software....wait a minute, they're incredibly behind in that arena too....I guess Sony should just wrestle the whole market from them and run with it. Palm is going the way of Zeos, if you know what I mean
RE: Nothing new
Scott R @ 5/2/2002 12:15:59 PM #
I see Palm as the Honda of the PDA hardware manufacturers. Their handhelds may not be as feature-laden as Sony's or rival PPC makers, but they (by and large) are reliable and well built. The m505 suffered from a major flaw (low brightness) which has been corrected. If they're smart, they'll continue to let their licensees try out unproven technologies and incorporate them once they've matured. I think their financial problems had less to do with lacking hardware innovation and more to do with:
1) Poor planning (expecting the PDA market to continue to grow exponentially while not factoring in the division of the Palm OS market by their licensees as well as added competition by PPCs)
2) The recession which hit tech companies especially hard (whose employees were probably the biggest customers of PDAs).
3) Inventory glut (brought on by #1 and #2 combined with releasing details of the m5xx series too soon).
4) Fatal flaw of their highest end unit. People still bought it and loved it, but how many more would have bought it if the m505 was what the m515 eventually became?

I think it's interesting to note that Palm did a good job of forseeing that during this past holiday season, people would not be scooping up high-end PDAs en masse and instead focused their efforts on lower end (and older Vx) devices. To me, this proves to some degree, that Palm's recent financial improvements (and the financial viability of the PDA market in general) is not dependent on introducing extremely advanced technology.

Scott

RE: Nothing new
I.M. Anonymous @ 5/2/2002 12:32:09 PM #
Of course Palm is not out of business. We have to remember that if you are reading this post you are most likely: A) Heavy user of a PDA AND very knowledgable about the PDA market and features(regardless of whether you're pro-Sony, Pro-palm or even pro-PPC), and B)you are most likely whats referred to as an "early adapter". The thing to remember is that we are still the minority even though handhelds are wildly popular.

A good example, a woman in my office is seriously wanting to get a Palm for her birthday (several of us in the office own one). Do you think she is considering Sony? No. Why, because she doesn't even realize it exists. I would bet she doesn't have the slightest clue that Palm licenses its OS.
The second thing is that she doesn't care if the PDA she gets has an MP3 player. Wants a business tool.

And this is why Palm is not going out of business. Because their product still does a phenomenal job at the basics. And when the general public think about a handheld, one word comes to mind, "Palm". This is the exact reason why M$ hasn't been able to touch Palm. People don't necessarily want their address book to play music and movies.
Remember Zoomer?

RE: Nothing new
I.M. Anonymous @ 5/2/2002 12:33:28 PM #
>You have to remember that the development cycle for a a whole handheld is at least a year from conception to shipping product.

Well, for Sony it just isn't...

RE: Nothing new ??
I.M. Anonymous @ 5/2/2002 12:45:09 PM #
1. I disagree: the m130 and the Bluetooth SD card are two new items which both are firsts and from Palm. The m130 is a promise that Palm still knows to combine simplicity, sophistication AND a low price.

2. Sony always has more jokers in its hand: just consider that SonyEricsson is just introducing a smartphone with Symbian 7.0 as OS, the P 800. And yes, it is a pen based device which offers handwriting recognition, as well as GSM/GPRS and bluetooth...

A Treo killer ? Most likely.

Sony does not need Palm at all, Palm - as a competitor as well as OS license provider - needs Sony dearly. But Palm users only need Sony to maintain the hot breath in the neck of Palm -)

RE: Nothing new
I.M. Anonymous @ 5/2/2002 12:45:18 PM #
Despite all critics the m505 sold quite well considering the recession. And the m130 is an excellent color handheld for the price.
RE: Nothing new
zigzago @ 5/2/2002 1:07:41 PM #
About 18 months ago there were plenty of "analysts" saying that Handspring was the innovative leader that was going to take away all of Palm's hardware sales. Didn't exactly happen.

RE: Nothing new
I.M. Anonymous @ 5/2/2002 1:13:29 PM #
>> He has been doing the job for almost a year. We now have the m705 and m515 to show for it. No innovation, nothing new. The perception that they are not innovative is still there. I stand by my original post, except for the typo.


Two items:
1) The m505 needed fixing, and the m515 did that. And the i705 was essentially what the Palm VII probably should have been.
2) If you expect Palm to move as fast as Sony, you need to get over that notion. Sony is far bigger and can do more R&D. What's more, Sony is a Japanese company, where R&D is almost a religion.

Admit it, Palm is getting back on track. They haven't yet really shown it in terms of new products, but the company is clearly moving in the right direction again.

RE: Nothing new
big_raji @ 5/2/2002 1:13:34 PM #
With all these comments about lack of innovation on Palm's part, as well as comments about Palm's reliability and dependability, I keep thinking back to that Palm trademark lawsuit.

I admit that I heavily criticized Palm for suing Microsoft for the name "PalmPC" on their devices. (I think that's what happened, don't know for sure) But in hindsight, it was probably the best thing they ever did. Not trying to change the topic here, but Palm really is sitting in a good position with the marketplace. When most people I know think of PDA's, they either think of "Palm" or "Those Microsoft Ones". Think of how much trouble Palm could've been in if Microsoft had better market recognition with the "PalmPC" name.

I personally WANT to be on the bleeding edge. I bought handspring, I own a sony now, and I probably won't buy a Palm in the future. I'm of a small percentage. Palm doesn't need to be TOO innovative at this point, they just have to make sure they don't lag behind too far. They almost did with Handspring's expandability, and I doubt if they'll let it happen again.

---
What's Wrong With This Picture?
http://raj.phangureh.com/picture.html

RE: Nothing new
I.M. Anonymous @ 5/2/2002 1:29:01 PM #
whatever Palm is right now, I think it's for historian to decide.

The real question is what sort of machine would once again bring back the image of "innovator"

1. beat the best out there.
-It has to have better spec than the fastest PPC available around the time of release. That would be 400mHz Xscale with 128Mb, etc etc

2.Good design sells.
-Observe the initial rave on V, Sony's T/NR, iPOD, iPAQ.

3.Put the biggest screen in smallest package. No compromise here.
-fixed 160*160 is dead.
-grafitti area is DEAD. go virtual.

4.Multimedia capabilities sells.
-Develop the hardware and OS features for it to run exciting game and interesting multimedia package.

5. all range of model/price.
right now Palm is the low cost, ho-hum company. It doesn't have anything attractive to offer above $350.

6. wireless.
be it telephone or Wi-Fi/BT. with the application to back it up of course.

7. Standardize peripherals.
Ever wonder why Palm has such a stunted peripheral support? (keyboard doesn't count)
It's because a GPS designe for HS won't work on M505, and CF in Handera won't work in Sony, etc etc.....

8. Listen to consumer, instead of teling them what they need. (cheap, color, thin, fast, big memory, softwares that matters)

RE: Nothing new
I.M. Anonymous @ 5/2/2002 1:56:58 PM #
I have an Intel Pentium 3 500mhz Computer, but I find that it's too slow. The Pentium 4 1.4 ghz is faster, The Pentium 4 is what the Pentium 3 should have been. Why did Intel even release a Pentium 3 when the Pentium 4 is what I really wanted. Oh, Intel sucks... AMD is the best, they are making faster processors and they must be taking huge market share away from Intel...It's only a matter of time boys before Intel files chapter 11 and AMD ruls the world, yes you heard it here first!


FOR THE SLOW READERS, THIS IS A SARCHASTIC MESSAGE WHICH GOES PARALLEL TO THE M505-M515 POSTS AND THE Sony-Palm posts.


RE: Nothing new
I.M. Anonymous @ 5/2/2002 3:29:32 PM #
Current Palm processor is ALREADY inadequate. Not enough power to do multimedia, strong encryption, big database, real file system, etc etc.....

The day organizer on steroid pretending to be more is over. Observe the deperate and failed move by Palm in enterprise application.

RE: Nothing new
Ed @ 5/2/2002 3:58:58 PM #
> Observe the deperate and failed move by Palm in enterprise application.

Palm and the Palm OS actually dominate the enterprise in the same way they dominate consumer sales. IDC recently questioned more than 1,100 IT managers from all sizes of businesses and found that Palm handhelds outstrip all others overwhelmingly, with 60% of the companies currently purchasing Palm branded handhelds. Handspring and Compaq were in a tie for number two with less than 30%. The Palm OS platform is likewise supported by more than 60% of the companies -- which is nearly double that of any other handheld operating system.

What Palm has is a perception problem. Some people, like you I'm afraid, keep saying over and over that Palm sells only to consumers and not to the enterprise and not enough other people know that this isn't true.

---
News Editor

RE: Nothing new
I.M. Anonymous @ 5/2/2002 4:34:59 PM #
>>Remember Zoomer?

Well, the Zoomer _was_ way ahead of its time. And at least it had a damned D-PAD on it---which to this day, no Palm OS device has managed to integrate into the controls!! So cheap and so easy to do, yet no one's thought to do this in the ten years since Zoomer! Even rearranging the up and down buttons to the left side of the unit, and placing the address book and calendar as the "left & right" buttons would be an easy fix!

Release a few reasonably priced SD/MMC Gamecards with multiple games per card (such as Rayman, Serious Sam, Jetfighter, Zap or any other selection of other first-tier releases--not just rehashed board games and Tetris clones) and you'd have the naysayers falling over themselves to proclaim Palm as having hit the nail squarely on the head. A handheld for work AND play! What a revelation!

Palm's new commercials show M130s playing side-scrolling arcade games but no one ever stops to wonder how this is possible with the buttons which become lousier with each new licensee/generation of handheld.

RE: Nothing new
I.M. Anonymous @ 5/2/2002 6:28:58 PM #
"recently"?

That would be November 2001.

http://www.palminfocenter.com/
view_Story.asp?ID=2628&MODE=FLAT#28426


RE: Nothing new
I.M. Anonymous @ 5/2/2002 8:06:21 PM #
The i705 was in the pipeline way before Bradley came in. He and his team are responsible for the m130 and the m515, they are also responsible for fixing Palm's suply chain management problems and the new marketing campaigns. Now that they have gotten the house in order, it will be interesting to see if they can be innovative over the coming year.
RE: Nothing new
I.M. Anonymous @ 5/2/2002 10:19:22 PM #
IMHO, Palm should thank the uninformed buyers for making them no.1 in sales. I mean how many would-be buyers know about the existence of CLIE, Visor, HE330, etc.?

For example, a Palm handheld owner shows off his device to a friend. Whats that? Oh, this is a Palm device. OK.

The friend later on decides he wants one and goes to a store, asks the sales clerk if they have Palm devices on sale. The sales clerk then gets a Palm device alongside a CLIE, Visor, etc. The uninformed buyer settles for a Palm device not knowing that the other ones are also Palm OS devices. And there you go--score one for Palm.

RE: Nothing new
I.M. Anonymous @ 5/3/2002 7:42:47 AM #
> IMHO, Palm should thank the uninformed buyers for making them no.1 in sales. I mean how many would-be buyers know about the existence of CLIE, Visor, HE330, etc.?

Well, you are entitled to your opinion, not matter how wrong it is.

I think that I'm an informed buyer. But, after reading about the failed CLIE models (if you want to talk cases let's start with the T415), I'd never take the chance with them. Palm, on the other hand, are known for their sold workmanship, high standards and consistency. That's why their retail distribution channels are so strong - the big chains know that they are not taking a risk with Palm. With CLIE, however, you never know whether or not half the units sold in a particular line may be returned.

RE: Nothing new
I.M. Anonymous @ 5/3/2002 10:26:13 AM #
> Palm, on the other hand, are known for their sold workmanship, high standards and consistency. That's why their retail distribution channels are so strong - the big chains know that they are not taking a risk with Palm. With CLIE, however, you never know whether or not half the units sold in a particular line may be returned.

And Palm never made design mistakes? Even Palm made booboos on their m505 and the USB synching problems (SUDS) to name a few. If Palm is the standard when it comes to consistency, where would you put HandEra? Heck, they've designed great devices and really did a great job of making their periphs consistent all throughout--from CF to their connector. And what about Palm? They just changed to their UC (Us Connector) that put my old periphs virtually useless for their new devices.

RE: Nothing new
I.M. Anonymous @ 5/3/2002 10:58:47 AM #
> changed to their UC (Us Connector) that put my old periphs virtually useless for their new devices

Palm has done that in order to eliminate the need to buy new accessories for future Palms. The III series connector can't sync fastly with USB, and most of the peripheals either fall off the device or damage the edges. They can't continue with it forever. You'd be right if they continued to change the connectors with every new model, but they are trying to do the opposite in fact.

I think it's a good thing

I.M. Anonymous @ 5/2/2002 9:19:16 PM #
Despite what the naysayers are babbling I think it is a good thing Palm brought Bradley onboard. Going forward it is obvious that Palmsource is going to split away. This leaves Palm a purely hardware company. For THAT you need an execution guy who knows his supply chain and manufacturing.

bojangles

RE: I think it's a good thing
I.M. Anonymous @ 5/2/2002 9:47:35 PM #
So the fact that the share price tanked by over 11% means what? Take a guess people...

In my experience he is a tyrant who knows nothng about the handheld industry (nor do his friends that came on board at the same time). All he knows about is "moving boxes". If Bradley is in charge of innovation at Palm, Inc look out...

RE: I think it's a good thing
I.M. Anonymous @ 5/3/2002 1:05:26 AM #
Fact that the stock tanked 11% today means nothing.
Just a knee jerk reaction. It can jump back 20% in the morning.

Wait a couple years and the and then pass your judgement on whether Bradley has performed or not.

Emma

RE: I think it's a good thing
I.M. Anonymous @ 5/3/2002 1:19:17 AM #
Palm is going to jump 20% tomorrow morning? well I wanna see that for sure.

Wisdom From The Past

I.M. Anonymous @ 5/3/2002 10:23:38 AM #
Some of these discussions reminded me of a quote I found more than 10 years ago from Richard Dalton of The Whole Earth Software Catalog...

If you have trouble figuring the future of this business, take heart. It tends to be just as confusing to "experts," who predicted events like the sale of 500,000 PCjr's.

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