Palm Confirms New Treo Announcement

Posted By: Ryan Tuesday, October 10, 2006 10:00:20 AM

Confirming our article last week, Palm has issued a press release for a press conference at DigitalLife on Thursday, Oct. 12, to announce a new Treo product. At the show, Palm also will feature hands-on demonstrations of its latest Treo smartphone as part of the DigitalLife Cosmo Lounge, booth No. 1061.

While there is still no official word on what exact model will be announced Rumors have pointed at an October release of a new lower priced Palm OS Treo. An image of the unannounced Treo 680 was spotted on Palm servers last month, that were quickly removed once made public. The product is expected to have worldwide distribution and be offered by over 20 carriers by the end of this year.

Check back Thursday for coverage of the event from PalmInfocenter.

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Yes, all well and good, but what about handhelds!?!?!?

medevilenemy @ 10/10/2006 2:51:42 PM #

Is there any word (or rumor) about a new handheld unit?

RE: Yes, all well and good, but what about handhelds!?!?!?

Rhauer @ 10/10/2006 3:05:43 PM #

Please - we need handhelds

RE: Yes, all well and good, but what about handhelds!?!?!?

hkklife @ 10/10/2006 3:19:56 PM #

There goes Brighthand, yet again blowing smoke up our collective arses. They've only been predicting an 8gb LifeDrive since, oh, shortly after the first one came out last year.

Pilot 1000-->Pilot 5000-->PalmPilot Pro-->IIIe-->Vx-->m505-->T|T-->T|T2-->T|C-->T|T3-->T|T5-->TX-->Treo 700P

RE: Yes, all well and good, but what about handhelds!?!?!?

palmdoc88 @ 10/10/2006 7:17:45 PM #

Palm PDAs are dead. Long Live Palm PDAs!!

http://palmdoc.net

RE: Yes, all well and good, but what about handhelds!?!?!?

craigdts @ 10/11/2006 9:02:39 AM #

Gartner says NO handhelds - I suspect they have inside info-

http://palminfocenter.com/news/9024/gartner-report-highlights-growing-smartphone-market/

said Roberta Cozza, principal research analyst in Gartner’s computing platforms worldwide group. “Japan now accounts for 33 percent of the worldwide smartphone market. North America was the only region where sales of PDAs continued to outsell smartphones. Consumer taste and fashion, advances in personal information manager (PIM) software and messaging, and rapidly declining prices all combined to drive the strong growth in smartphone sales. On the other hand, consumer demand for PDAs is dwindling, especially with no new models from Palm in 2006.”

So much for new handhelds

Surur @ 10/10/2006 2:52:09 PM #

SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 10, 2006--Palm, Inc. (Nasdaq:PALM) President and Chief Executive Officer Ed Colligan today invites media to join him for a press conference at DigitalLife on Thursday, Oct. 12, to announce a new Treo(TM) product.

A new product - singular. No sign of anything besides the 680.

Surur

They said I only argued for the sake of arguing, but after an hour I convinced them they were wrong...
Hey!! I made associate writer at PDA247. Come see my nattering over there!!
www.clieuk.co.uk/wm.shtml

RE: So much for new handhelds

medevilenemy @ 10/10/2006 3:09:53 PM #

bah.

Will there be a handheld?

VampireLestat @ 10/10/2006 4:01:51 PM #

My estimation is 75% probability they will only announce the Treo 680.

Can anyone remember Palm announcing more than 1 device in a day? Would that not take away thunder from the Treo 680?

RE: Will there be a handheld?

hkklife @ 10/10/2006 4:37:22 PM #

In October 2004 Palm announced the the T5 and the Treo 650 within three weeks of each other.

In April 2004 Palm announced the Zire 72 and the Zire 31 on the same day.

http://palminfocenter.com/news/6778/palmone-releases-the-zire-31/

Pilot 1000-->Pilot 5000-->PalmPilot Pro-->IIIe-->Vx-->m505-->T|T-->T|T2-->T|C-->T|T3-->T|T5-->TX-->Treo 700P

RE: Will there be a handheld?

Ryan @ 10/10/2006 5:30:07 PM #

The TX and Z22 were released the same day.

Back in the PDA glory days the T3, Tungsten E and Z21 were released the same day as well.

http://www.palminfocenter.com/view_story.asp?ID=6071

RE: Will there be a handheld?

Gekko @ 10/10/2006 8:52:44 PM #

Palm is exiting the low-margin, low-growth PDA market and is focusing on exclusively on smartphones.

RE: Will there be a handheld?

VampireLestat @ 10/11/2006 12:19:18 AM #

To exit any level of growth market is dumb.

RE: Will there be a handheld?

Haber @ 10/13/2006 9:23:06 PM #

It's not at all clear PDAs are a growth market, and Intel left memory chips in the early 80s. That was a growth market, but you don't see Intel it all that bad shape now. If Palm can dump PDAs and focus and retain the smartphone growth market, it might turn out better for the company.

Strong evidence no PDA.

VampireLestat @ 10/10/2006 5:45:25 PM #

Let's face it, if there was a new PDA, we would have already seen leaked photos; like we saw for the 680.

Everyone should just be ready to be backstabbed again by Palm.

That is why Colligan said at the last new conference something like "... we don't expect a bump in PDA sales for Christmas".

It's over.

RE: Strong evidence no PDA.

LiveFaith @ 10/10/2006 9:25:23 PM #

Put a Fang In It. It's over.

Pat Horne

RE: Strong evidence no PDA.

Gekko @ 10/10/2006 10:13:04 PM #

http://tinyurl.com/d7qzv

RE: Strong evidence no PDA.

Gekko @ 10/10/2006 10:24:12 PM #

Vampire Boy, Christmas 2006

http://tinyurl.com/dtmqr

RE: Strong evidence no PDA.

VampireLestat @ 10/11/2006 12:15:29 AM #

LOL both of those were very funny.

Elvis' Blue Christmas without any new handhelds.

Sweet

freakout @ 10/11/2006 5:16:00 AM #

About time they officially announced the next GSM PalmOS model. I was starting to despair... Now for 3G, Palm. How're all those new Linux hires doing?

Tim
I apologise for any and all emoticons that appear in my posts. You may shoot them on sight.
Treo 270 ---> Treo 650

Treo 750v most popular smartphone ever?

freakout @ 10/11/2006 5:18:50 AM #

Well, not quite yet, but it seems it's doing quite well. From Treonauts:

a Vodafone representative unofficially provided me with some interesting pieces of information. For starters it appears that the Treo 750v has in one short week already become the #1 bestselling “Vodafone Business Smartphone” – a category which includes competitors such as BlackBerry, SonyEricsson and Nokia – and that the current biggest issue facing stores is actually finding enough Treo 750v units to meet demand even though Vodafone had placed a ‘significant’ order with Palm for the Treo 750v...

It seems WinMob was a good bet for Palm after all.

Tim
I apologise for any and all emoticons that appear in my posts. You may shoot them on sight.
Treo 270 ---> Treo 650

Palm's 'new' Treo: cheap but boring

Gekko @ 10/11/2006 9:24:28 PM #

Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Palm's "new" Treo: cheap but boring
Die-hard Palm fans are slavering over the new Treo that CEO Ed Colligan, who's in New York for the DigitalLife confab, is due to announce tomorrow. What this new Treo will look like is anybody's guess. The rumors point to two different models, says Engadget: The Treo 680 - a low-end, ultracheap version of the smartphone - or else a new version of the already-released Treo 750.

Mobilewhack is putting its money on the 680, though it's disappointed with low-end features like the digital camera, which only has VGA resolution. RIM's BlackBerry Pearl, by contrast, has a 1.3-megapixel camera built in. That said, the Treo 680 could be cheap: Analysts think it will sell for $199, says EverythingTreo. That will help Palm better compete with RIM's Pearl and Nokia's new E62.

Pardon The Browser for a second while we rant: How does a slightly cheaper version of an existing phone count as a new product? Palm is expert at this sleight of hand, having rolled out versions of the Treo that run a different operating system, work on a different carrier's network, use an upgraded network technology, or just have slightly more memory. Try to distinguish the 750 from the 700. It's not easy. Sure, Palm would argue that they reached form-factor perfection with the Treo 600, but is that an excuse for not continuing to innovate?

Palm, take a lesson from Apple. Steve Jobs killed the extremely successful iPod Mini to make way for the even more successful iPod Nano. When you promise a new product, give the market something genuinely new. We're bored with the familiar candy-bar Treo. How about a slider? A flip phone? A spinner? There hasn't been a genuine surprise out of the company since Palm bought Handspring - and that's a shame.

Posted by Owen Thomas 7:52 AM

http://money.cnn.com/blogs/browser/2006/10/palms-new-treo-cheap-but-boring.html