Palm Announces Ultralight Treo Bluetooth Headset

http://tinyurl.com/9vmyv
(Plantronics' site)

In case anyone was thinking this new Palm headset looks familar, it's a rebadged and slightly restyled version of this Plantronics Discovery headset.

I'm not sure if the Palm version supports the vibrating case or the add-on AAA charging module.

At any rate, it'll make for a nice combo with the 700P, especially with the ability to carry one charger on a trip to power both devices.

Pilot 1000-->Pilot 5000-->PalmPilot Pro-->IIIe-->Vx-->m505-->T|T-->T|T2-->T|C-->T|T3-->T|T5-->TX

PALM'S C.E.O. DISCUSSES THE COMPANY'S NEW TREO EMAIL PHONE, THAT'S UP NEXT. ON MONDAY, PALM INTRODUCED A NEW MOBILE PHONE EMAIL DEVICE. THE TREO 700-P. IT USES THE PALM OPERATING SYSTEM AND IS SIMILAR TO THE 700-W, WHICH RUNS ON MICROSOFT SOFTWARE. NEITHER MODEL HAS WI-FI TECHNOLOGY FOR WIRELESS INTERNET CONNECTIONS WITHOUT FEES. BLOOMBERG'S BOB BOWDEN ASKED THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER WHY.

>>> PALM HAS HAD A LONG HISTORY OF DOING PRODUCTS WHEN THEY'RE THE RIGHT TIME. SO FAR THE WI-FI PRODUCTS THAT HAVE COME OUT TEND TO HAVE SOME REAL BATTERY LIFE ISSUES AND R.F. PERFORMANCE ISSUES, A LOT INTERFERENCE IN THOSE. SO WE LIKE TO DO PRODUCTS IN THEIR TIME, KIND OF LIKE A FINE WINE. SO KEEP WORKING ON THAT. WE DO BELIEVE THAT WI-FI IS AN IMPORTANT TECHNOLOGY FOR THESE TYPES OF PRODUCTS OVER TIME. SO THERE'S NO QUESTION THAT WE'LL ULTIMATELY PUT IT INTO OUR PRODUCTS. BUT REALLY WANT TO DO IT RIGHT.

> ONE OF THE LATER TREOS THIS YEAR, WILL THEY HAVE WI-FI?

>>> I CAN'T COMMENT ON FUTURE PRODUCTS. WE TRY TO STAY FOCUSED. WE'RE GOING TO DO FOUR NEW PRODUCTS THIS YEAR. THIS IS ONE OF THOSE. SO WE'VE NOW CROSSED TWO OF THOSE OFF OUR LIST. AND WE HAVE SOME EXCITING NEW THINGS COMING FORWARD, BUT YOU CAN'T COMMENT ON SPECIFICS.

> YOU HAVE IN THE PAST SAID THAT ONE OF THOSE OTHER TREOS OR MAYBE BOTH WILL BE TARGETING EUROPE, WHICH WE ASSUME MEANS A G.S.M. DEVICE?

>>> THAT WOULD BE FAIR TO CONCLUDE. WE CERTAINLY DO WANT TO GO TO MAKE A BIGGER IMPACT IN THE EUROPEAN MARKETPLACE, WE'VE BEEN WORKING HARD TO MAKE THAT HAPPEN. ONE OF THE PRODUCTS HAS BEEN MORE FOCUSED ON THE DESIGN THAT WILL BE WINNING DESIGN IN THAT MARKETPLACE.

> ONE OTHER INTERNET POSTER WRITES ABOUT HOW THE PALM GARNET O.S. WHICH RUNS THE 700-P DOESN'T ALLOW HANDS-FREE DIALING OVER BLUE TOOTH, THE FEATURE THAT MUCH OLDER PALM BASED PHONES DID OFFER. HE WROTE, I HOPE SOMEONE GETS A CHANCE TO ASK PALM'S C.E.O. ABOUT THIS IN THE NEAR FUTURE, I'D LOVE TO HEAR THEIR ANSWER. SO, FOR HIM, ASKING, CAN YOU TELL ME ABOUT VOICE DIALING ON BLUE TOOTH.

>>> YEAH. THERE'S A MILLION FEATURES IN FUNCTIONALITY YOU COULD PUT INTO ANY DEVICE, AND ONE OF THE KEY THINGS IS MAKING THOSE TRADEOFFS BETWEEN EVERY FEATURE AND TIME TO MARKET. SO WE WANT TO BE SURE TO BE THOUGHTFUL WITH REGARD TO THAT. THE THINGS THAT ARE IN HERE IS OBVIOUSLY A FULL PALM O.S. ORGANIZER, BROAD CAPABILITIES ON EMAIL, SUPPORT FOR THIRD PARTY APPLICATIONS LIKE GOOD. AMAZING NEW SUPPORT FOR STREAMING AUDIO AND VIDEO. AS I'VE SAID, VERY FAST WEB ACCESS. THE PRODUCT DOES AN ENORMOUS NUMBER OF THINGS FOR A PACKAGE OF ITS SIZE.

> SPEAKING OF STREAMING VIDEO OF SPRINT ANNOUNCING THEY WOULD SUPPORT YOUR PRODUCT, YOU SAID VERIZON WILL ALSO ANNOUNCE LATER THAT THEY WILL SUPPORT THE 700-P. WHAT KINDS OF VIDEO STREAMS WILL BE AVAILABLE, SINCE SPRINT'S ANNOUNCEMENT IS OUT, ON SRINT, WHAT CAN YOU WATCH?

>>> WELL, IT'S AMAZING, THEY HAVE AN APPLICATION CALLED SPRINT TV, AND THERE'S MORE THAN 50 CHANNELS AVAILABLE, VARIOUS THINGS LIKE ESPN, MOVIE CLIPS, VARIOUS NETWORK PROGRAMMING THAT'S AVAILABLE THROUGH SPRINT. SO IT'S REALLY A SPRINT SERVICE THAT THEY'RE OFFERING. SOME OF IT IS FREE, MOST OF IT IS PAID. THAT YOU WOULD VIEW STREAMING VIDEO STRAIGHT OVER THE INTERNET TO THE DEVICE.

> RESEARCH IN MOTION'S CO-C.E.O. SAID IN A WEB CAST SPEECH YESTERDAY THAT MULTIMEDIA FUNCTIONS AND EMERGING MARKETS WILL DRIVE ITS GROWTH. WHERE IN THE PAST PALM SEEMED TO TARGET A DIFFERENT CUSTOMER, CONSUMER VERSUS BUSINESS. SOUNDS LIKE NOW YOU'RE IN EXACTLY THE SAME BUSINESS.

>>> WELL, THEY'RE CERTAINLY TRYING TO CREATE SOME FUNCTIONALITY THAT IS SIMILAR TO OURS. IN THE AREA OF MULTIMEDIA FUNCTIONALITY. WE'VE HAD AN MP-3 PLAYER, A CAMERA, PICTURE SHARING, A LOT OF VIDEO CAPABILITIES, A LOT OF MULTIMEDIA CAPABILITIES ON OUR TREO DEVICES FROM THE BEGINNING. WE CONTINUE TO PERFECT AND EXPAND THAT CAPABILITY, LIKE THE SPRINT TV FUNCTIONALITY. SO WE FEEL LIKE WE'RE IN A VERY STRONG POSITION THERE. AND IN ADDITION TO THAT WE'VE EXTENDED OUR ENTERPRISE REACH, AND NOW MAKE UP MORE THAN 30% OF THE ENTERPRISE SALES OF MOBILE EMAIL DEVICES IN THE UNITED STATES. SO WE FEEL LIKE WE'VE EXECUTED WELL ON BOTH SIDES OF THE EQUATION, BOTH CONSUMER AND ENTERPRISE.

- PALM C.E.O. ED COLLIGAN.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

As a Palm user who has been around since the platform's infancy, it's sad to see what has happened to Palm/PalmOS. It's time to make a few formal announcements for those of you who are still clueless about what has transpired:

1) PalmOS is dead. Palm is in the process of abandoning the platform. Access has gutted PalmOS and will be coming to a phone nowhere near you any time soon.

2) Palm's current home made "PalmLinux" is an embarassing testament to their lack of talent.

3) Palm's upcoming hardware is a disaster in the making. A BASIC semi-smartphone would have made a lot more sense than wasting time on Hawkins' internet tablet.

4) The strategy of incremental upgrades is about to take the Treo franchaise down. Treo = poor value + low quality.

5) The 3 year old Samsung i500 (PalmOS 4!) was the last good PalmOS smartphone sold: Superb voice quality (sounds like a good land line), good battery life, rugged, jewel-like construction, stable. If you're on Sprint and like PalmOS do whatever it takes to find a new i500 if you can. (Avoid the refurbs from eBay.)

6) Palm will formally give up on Access' version of PalmOS this year.

It was a good 10 year run on PalmOS and with the (limited) availability of solid hardware like the i500, CLIE UX50/TH55/VZ90 hardcore PalmOS fans will be able to soldier on for another decade. I predict there will soon be a cottage industry designed to keep old PalmOS devices running now that the end is near. For those of you looking for the bargain of the decade, for only $125 you can get a brand new 128 MB Tapwave Zodiac 2 PDA along with a free non-functional Zodiac 2 (for parts) direct from the company that sold off Tapwave's equipment after they went bankrupt. They started out with 500 or so packages in January - I can't believe they still have these available as of mid-May. Smart shoppers would buy 2 and put one away as a back-up unit.

http://tapland.com/news_arc/?id=653

Load up on discontinued hardware, download and register all the apps you think you'll ever need and burn backup disks of EVERYTHING. PalmOS is under seige and we won't be winning this particular battle. Adios, Kiddies.

TVoR

P.S. Hugs and kisses to my biotch just_little_me. I should have outed your a$$ here, but I decided to have mercy on your tragic little soul. At least you could have been hones enough to say who your employer was as you continually insulted me here...

P.P.S Where's Waldo (Mike Cane)?

P.P.P.S. I see Foo Fighter (Kent Pribbernow) has given up on the PalmOS platform. Why didn't Palm seek advice from people like him, Larry "Sweet Cheeks" Garfield and Adama Brown when it mattered?

The tell-all book explaining what went wrong at Palm will be a GREAT read. Yesindeeedilydoodily.