Newsweek on Palm's New Reach

Palm Pre NewsweekEver since Palm's historical announcement in Las Vegas last week, the web has been abuzz with a flurry of Palm-related news articles, commentaries, and predictions. While PIC will be taking a closer look later in the week at some of the most prescient articles making the rounds online, a piece by Newsweek entitled "Palm's New Reach" deserves to be singled out for discussion.

Written by Dan Lyons, most notable for his former alias as "Fake Steve Jobs", the Newsweek piece is surprisingly thoughtful and contains a good bit of additional background information not seen in any of the articles posted on other sites since Palm's Pre and WebOS announcement last Thursday.

Lyons' piece contains a number of tantalizing items that are certain to make for interesting reading for Palm Pre fans and skeptics alike. Also, Lyons makes no bones about having been afforded ample time to contemplate the Pre's odds of success in the marketplace, as the piece specifically references receiving a sneak peak at the Pre at Palm's Sunnyvale HQ in December.

Some of the small but news-worthy items about the new Pre in the article include:

  • It states the Pre's camera is "better" than the iPhone's, though no sample images are provided and it's unsure if the article is basing these claims merely on pixel count or on an analysis of actual subjective image quality.
  • Web browsing is stated as "faster" though again this could be attributable to the capabilities of Sprint's EVDO Rev. A network, its higher-clocked TI CPU, or to the Pre's Webkit-based browser (which shares its fundamental rendering architecture with the iPhone's Safari browser).
  • The Nova codename, as first reported by PalmInfocenter, for the webOS is apparently confirmed.
  • The second page of the piece mentions "…a strong of as yet unannounced mobile devices". This frustratingly vague line could refer to complimentary handsets such as the WebOS-powered Centro 2 we received a tip about last week, or, less likely, it could be a drastically different beast, such as a more capable successor to the Foleo subnotebook announced and subsequently euthanized in mid-2007 by Palm.
  • A "thin leather carrying case" is referenced on page 2, though it is unclear if this is a bundled accessory or part of the handful of Pre accessories announced by Palm alongside the Touchstone cradle. Based on our observations from last week of the Pre's preliminary packaging, a carrying case does not appear to be part of the standard accessory bundle.

Time and time again throughout the article, sly jabs are taken at Apple while John Rubinstein's engineering savvy and visionary status is reiterated. Lyons offers the statement from Rubinstein that the downsized Mac OS X code found within the iPhone is too bloated for efficient operation given that hardware's lesser hardware capabilities compared to the Pre's cutting-edge TI chipset (covered here and here).

Lyons describes the Pre's hardware design as "wonderful…smooth and sleek, with rounded edges and a 3.1-inch (diagonal) multi-touch screen that lets you pinch and slide objects the way you do on an iPhone." Unfortunately, no additional information is given on how Palm has been able to avoid any litigation or IP violations with Apple in regards to the Multitouch gestures shared between both platforms.

And, of course, no proper Palm editorial discussing Rubinstein's influence would be complete without the standard topic of whether or not the Pre is an iPhone killer (Elevation Partners' Roger McNamee states it is not) as well as the inevitable comparisons to the early days of the fledgling Mac platform as it pioneered a revolutionary new GUI for desktop PCs but was swiftly eclipsed by the lower-cost, mass-market Wintel platform.

Only time will tell if Palm's Pre can withstand the tremendous developer and public mindshare strength enjoyed by Apple, but given the strong initial buzz and several accolades awarded to Palm in less than one week since the Pre's unveiling, the Palm faithful now have a reason to remain optimistic that the company's first breakthrough product in arguably a decade has finally arrived.

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Has to rank right up there as...

SeldomVisitor @ 1/15/2009 11:26:16 AM # Q
...one of the most successful "launches" of vaporware yet!

RE: Has to rank right up there as...
hkklife @ 1/15/2009 12:04:43 PM # Q
SV;
I assume you are defining "Vaporware" in this sense as a product that never reaches the market and/or customers' hands? As in "There are thousands in a warehouse somewhere but we're gonna cancel the launch and bury 'em in a landfill next to unsold Atari ET cartridges" ?

This is vs. the traditional meaning of "vaporware" as something that is announced but never actually seen in use and/or in the flesh like...Cobalt, Copland, ALP etc?

What exactly are you prediction/envisioning/suggesting here? Palm pulling the plug on the Pre at the 11th hour ala the Fooleo in order to tweak the hardware? Or the Pre shipping with Garnet with the Linux-based version coming "later"? Or the Pre simply never materializing?


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->?

RE: Has to rank right up there as...
mikecane @ 1/15/2009 12:41:18 PM # Q
Look, you can have a Pre in your frikkin HAND and WAVE it in front of SV's puss and he'd STILL wail "Vaporware!"

He is becoming a self-inflicted joke now.

RE: Has to rank right up there as...
hkklife @ 1/15/2009 12:55:56 PM # Q
While it's true we didn't get the hands-on fondling time we were hoping for, I did lay a wee finger on the Pre for an all-too-brief moment. It's VERY real and looks VERY finalized and ready for production.

To kill it at this stage of the game would be corporate suicide for Palm. It's far from perfect, sure, but it's got the market whipped up again over Palm in exactly the way Colligan hinted at a few months ago when he gave that nebulous comment about "starting to see some buzz".

While I don't want to speak for anyone else, I think it's definitely safe to say that I am less "sold" on the device than Ryan or Tim at this stage of the game (because I can be very curmudgeonly and set in my ways about certain things, such as being in Verizon, and having SD cards, styli, 5-way navigators, and Hotsyncs) but there's no questioning the fact that Palm has some tangibly good concepts going on amongst the smoke & mirrors and you canot question the device's sleekness and aesthetic appeal. If they just wouldn't cheap out on the hardware so much...


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->?

RE: Has to rank right up there as...
freakout @ 1/15/2009 12:56:39 PM # Q
He is becoming a self-inflicted joke now.

What do you mean, now?

RE: Has to rank right up there as...
SeldomVisitor @ 1/15/2009 1:04:25 PM # Q
The personal attacks are cute.

The Pre is vaporware.

When it actually ships, it become real.

RE: Has to rank right up there as...
freakout @ 1/15/2009 1:28:00 PM # Q
^^ Right. So the device that the tech press played with and documented at CES is imaginary, and Palm will never release it?

Wikipedia defines vaporware as:

Vaporware is a term used to describe a software or hardware product that is announced by a developer well in advance of release, but which then fails to emerge after having well exceeded the period of development time that was initially claimed or would normally be expected for the development cycle of a similar product.

So going by that, Pre becomes vaporware if, say, it doesn't come out by the end of the year (as that would be having "well exceeded" the "first half '09" release schedule).

In other words: not vaporware.


RE: Has to rank right up there as...
freakout @ 1/15/2009 1:28:54 PM # Q
^^ Right. So the device that the tech press played with and documented at CES is imaginary, and Palm will never release it?

Wikipedia defines vaporware as:

Vaporware is a term used to describe a software or hardware product that is announced by a developer well in advance of release, but which then fails to emerge after having well exceeded the period of development time that was initially claimed or would normally be expected for the development cycle of a similar product.

So going by that, Pre becomes vaporware if, say, it doesn't come out by the end of the year (as that would be having "well exceeded" the "first half '09" release schedule).

In other words: not vaporware.

RE: Has to rank right up there as...
mikecane @ 1/15/2009 4:14:11 PM # Q
Look at that. You got him so worked up, he posted TWICE!

Pre is as much vaporware as the iPhone.

RE: Has to rank right up there as...
sbono13 @ 1/15/2009 4:14:16 PM # Q
"When it actually ships, it become real."

By this strange and loose definition, all launches are for vaporware until they are not. I can't remember the last time there was a launch event for any device that was already shipping. Maybe Apple did an ipod event once where the devices were available in apple stories immediately afterwards. But definitely the exception to the rule.

RE: Has to rank right up there as...
SeldomVisitor @ 1/15/2009 4:30:56 PM # Q
> ...all launches are for vaporware until they are not...

I see nothing wrong with that POV.

RE: Has to rank right up there as...
mikecane @ 1/15/2009 4:32:12 PM # Q
It was for the iPod Shuffle. Famously, a nearby Apple Store has a cache in stock and people literally *ran* from the announcement to go buy them. Geez!

RE: Has to rank right up there as...
LiveFaith @ 1/15/2009 6:16:31 PM # Q
Wasn't the iPhone vaporware when Job's announced and the mobile world came to a screeching halt? So, nothing to really see here it seems.

Pat Horne
RE: Has to rank right up there as...
twrock @ 1/15/2009 6:47:21 PM # Q
Look, you can have a Pre in your frikkin HAND and WAVE it in front of SV's puss and he'd STILL wail "Vaporware!"

He is becoming a self-inflicted joke now.


SV's pattern is well established. You shouldn't expect anything different.

BTW, SV, what Palm device are you using right now? Do you plan to upgrade to the Pre when it becomes "real"? Is there even a slight possibility that you will use a Palm device in the future? Inquiring minds want to know!


"twrock is infamous around these parts"
(from my profile over at Brighthand due to my negative 62 rep points rating)

RE: Has to rank right up there as...
Gekko @ 1/16/2009 8:48:56 AM # Q
>BTW, SV, what Palm device are you using right now? Do you plan to upgrade to the Pre when it becomes "real"? Is there even a slight possibility that you will use a Palm device in the future? Inquiring minds want to know!

as bizarre as it sounds, i don't think he uses one.



RE: Has to rank right up there as...
hkklife @ 1/16/2009 9:37:47 AM # Q
He DID have a IIIse back in '98 or '99 or so but apparently became very upset over that device's ability to have OS upgrades (ie no flashable OS ROM space) despite being Palm's "budget" device at the time. So I think he stuck it in a drawer and has been a Palm-watcher and a Palm-pessimist but not a Palm OS-user ever since.

Again, this is a rather hazy recollection from something he posted ages ago to PIC so I may be fairly off in this story and so apologize if I'm terribly off.



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->?

RE: Has to rank right up there as...
SeldomVisitor @ 1/16/2009 9:44:47 AM # Q
> ...apologize if I'm terribly off.

Apology accepted.

RE: Has to rank right up there as...
sbono13 @ 1/16/2009 9:58:14 AM # Q
So in your usage, "vaporware" is not intended to denigrate as much as to describe a device's stage in it's launch sequence. We can all agree that the Pre is currently between announcement and shipment, ie, "vaporware" in your mind.

RE: Has to rank right up there as...
SeldomVisitor @ 1/16/2009 10:09:26 AM # Q
Correct, with a slight mod - "vaporware" is incomplete pre-actual-launch. The Pre is a beta device.

The Fooleo, of course, was the epitome of vaporware - big splashy intro, thousands of posts/articles/gushes web-wide, no launch at all.

RE: Has to rank right up there as...
TooMuch @ 1/16/2009 11:21:33 AM # Q
Based on his own standards of reality...SV is vaporware.

RE: Has to rank right up there as...
hkklife @ 1/16/2009 12:08:19 PM # Q
Ah, SV, my aging memory thought you had a III SE instead of a regular Palm III. My apologies once again:

http://www.palminfocenter.com/comments/7495/#144418

P.S. My compliments also to you for kinda-envisioning back in August at least a chunk of the fundamental Pre concept--easy to move data on/off the device (either to the cloud wirelessly or via drag'n drop via USB mass storage drive capability)

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->?

RE: Has to rank right up there as...
PacManFoo @ 1/16/2009 1:29:04 PM # Q
The Pre works AWSOME with my Foleo!

The last known classic PDA user.
RE: Has to rank right up there as...
freakout @ 1/16/2009 2:50:34 PM # Q
Based on his own standards of reality...SV is vaporware.

Lol. His posts are certainly vapid...

RE: Has to rank right up there as...
sbono13 @ 1/16/2009 2:58:03 PM # Q
"The Pre is a beta device."

Agreed, but it's a helluva lot farther along than anyone anticipated. "Vaporware" is better than "slideware," which is what I believe the skeptics expected.


RE: Has to rank right up there as...
twrock @ 1/16/2009 4:26:23 PM # Q
as bizarre as it sounds, i don't think he uses one.

Yep, that is my point in asking him. I find it quite funny that he doesn't give a simple answer. Seems strange to me to spend such a large amount of time focused on a company and its products when you don't use them and have no intention of using them. Some kind of weird obsession? Whatever it is, it seems to color all of his posts pretty heavily. "Anti-fanboy".


"twrock is infamous around these parts"
(from my profile over at Brighthand due to my negative 62 rep points rating)
RE: Has to rank right up there as...
NuShrike @ 1/18/2009 7:01:24 PM # Q
Snapdragon is vaporware. So is Duke Nukem Forever, Foleo, Copland, Tesla Roadster, Cobalt, Chevy Volt, hydrogen (battery) powered cars (Bush dropped hybrid development for hydrogen 8 years ago).

Pre has yet to qualify as vaporware.

Palm III -> Sony NR610C -> Sony NR70 -> Sony NX80 -> Palm T|X -> HTC Kaiser -> HTC Fuze

RE: Has to rank right up there as...
AdamaDBrown @ 1/18/2009 10:02:24 PM # Q
The Tesla Roadster is available on the market. They've delivered over a hundred to buyers, and are planning to hit 40 per week delivered by March.

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Some thoughts

philpalm @ 1/15/2009 11:58:25 AM # Q
With a flashbulb, the Pre camera is naturally better than an IPhone. Though having a spare (removable) battery is also a very good idea for those who are photocrazy...

I also noticed that the possibility of a Foleo type companion with the Pre may or maynot be an alternative to a PDA (that uses Web OS).

Sure there is a possibility of the Pre being vaporware but remember Palm originally came after Apple's attempt of a PDA, Newton. Being less bloated is a good thing....

RE: Some thoughts
LiveFaith @ 1/15/2009 6:20:35 PM # Q
Maybe the iPhone is bloated, but I must say that thing still runs circles around anything that I've ever seen. Makes my Treo 680 look like some sort of archeological artifact from the stone age. Not to mention we have no real assurance that Apple will not "leapfrog" the Pre before it ever ships.

Pat Horne
RE: Some thoughts
jca666us @ 1/16/2009 5:38:45 AM # Q
Aside from biased comparisons on this site, I'd say Pre/Iphone advantages fall out like this:

Pre:
Multitasking better exposed in the UI
A better camera
A physical keyboard - for those who like those things

Iphone:
Better hardware and software ecosystem
A real SDK - not just javascript/css/html web apps

The Pre is a compelling piece of hardware, as long as Palm doesn't go cheap on the hardware (like they have in the past) and doesn't release a bug-ridden device without timely updates.

Apple has consistently updated the OS on the iphone, and added new features (itunes, app store, etc.)

While I doubt Apple will leapfrog the Pre in a few months, it would be insane to assume that Apple doesn't have newer stuff in their labs.

However based on their track record, I assume they will eventually release an "iphone 3.0" - my prediction is June.

RE: Some thoughts
mikecane @ 1/16/2009 9:23:26 AM # Q
>>>it would be insane to assume that Apple doesn't have newer stuff in their labs.

Apple also owns a chipmaker now and will no doubt custom-design a killer CPU that no other cellphone can match for power-vs-battery life.

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The Pre is exciting, BUT...

CADJedi @ 1/15/2009 12:47:06 PM # Q
the Pre is exciting, but I don't understand some of the decisions Palm has made. It seems like Palm is always pushing its customers to accept some kind of compromise. Compromises that, at least on their surface, seem silly.

I really like the Pre's hardware, its design, its gui are all very exciting. I'm poised and excited to buy one... I plan on being first in line... then I start learning of what they are leaving out and now I'm either not going to buy one, or I am at least going to wait till the second version.

Now why would Palm do that? Why would they take a loyal customer (since 1997) and push me away instead of making the decision to upgrade a no brainer!

Here's what I mean...

1. I can't live with only 8GB of storage. Currently I use several SD cards with my Centro to accommodate all the databases, audio files, video files, pictures, spreadsheets, catalogs, etc. Now I have to "step down" and have less memory in order to use the new cutting edge device? This is just silly! My kids use 16GB cards in their $50 LG phones to handles all their music files. Its silly to think only a tiny minority of "power users" will want expandable memory and more that 8GB. just silly.

2. The Palm Desktop... I understand the marketing value of hyping the "cloud concept". And perhaps I may want to go that route someday, but currently I don't. Why force me into a new and underdeveloped, untested paradigm? Why not give me the choice of still syncing with one desktop/laptop computer and still leveraging the usefulness of the Palm Desktop? I like the Desktop, it does exactly what I want and in the way I want to do it. Its one of the most used applications on my laptop. It just seems sill for Palm to force me away from one of it existing products that I really like and into competitors products like Google Calender that are underpowered and inconvenient. Why? just silly.

3. Backward Compatibility. I have hundreds of dollars invested in Palm OS apps. I have been able to make my Palm Centro do all kinds of things that I need and use everyday. I can do things that make my iPhone friends jealous. I realize Palm wants to start fresh but why turn your back on a whole plethora of applications that could make your device stronger? Whay must your loyal customers not only shell out hundreds to by the new Palm device but also pay hundreds to replace all your old software? Or worse yet, the software I rely on every day may not even be available on the Pre because they have burnt their developers twice already. This is just silly, why doesn't Palm leverage the fact that there are great Palm OS database out their, robust calculators, custom widgets, Bibles, Books, dictionaries, etc. Why make your users wait years to get a shiny new slick device then poke them in the eye before they even can buy it. Just silly.


It just seems like Palm included so much good stuff in their new device and stopped just short of making it an easy decision for their existing customers. People have trash talked Palm for years, loyal customers have gutted it out and stuck with the platform and it seems like we get nothing for our loyalty.

oh well.

Eek



RE: The Pre is exciting, BUT...
Piero @ 1/15/2009 1:34:25 PM # Q
You're not alone. A lot of people have been rantin lot of people have been ranting about the lack of backward compatibility (me included and will continue to do do) It doesn't make sense to me to buy that phone now that it has no backward compatibility. I'll either wait for one that supports it or buy a cheaper one with a good camera an nice reception and continue using my palm. We had so much time since palm began until now..... that plus being one of the earliest BEST working systems that you can find almost any app and a lot for free. I can recall at least 3 of them that make other phone users jealous too.... only ported for palmos and will not release any other kind I'M SURE ABOUT this and they're apps for everyday MUST USE! to me.

RE: The Pre is exciting, BUT...
xImtc @ 1/15/2009 2:52:07 PM # Q
I have a relatively short list of must-dos. Removable storage is great, but not one of them. A stylus is even better, but also not one of them. Cool games like Edge and The Legend and Warfare Inc. are awesome, but Tetris and solitaire'll do. BUT:

* I need GSM, preferably T-Mobile, but I'll switch to AT&T if necessary. I don't think I can be talked into going Sprint.

* I need a Rhapsody compatible music player. I don't pirate music, and I can't imagine *buying* it any more when I can simply have it on-demand. If it was Rhapsody on the handset compatible, all the better!

* I need a reasonably powerful media player like CorePlayer for video.

* I need to be able to open MS Word and Excel documents, and PDFs. Editing would be even better. While I can do PowerPoint on my Nokia E71, I never have.

What are the odds that any of these features are available on a Pre-like device soon? I gave up my Treo 680 for an E71 recently, and while the phone is much nicer and can do many more things, it is totally missing the Zen of my Palm, and I miss the Zen tremendously. WebOs looks to have Zen all over the place, but can it do the things it needs to? Does anyone outside of Palm even know?

RE: The Pre is exciting, BUT...
LiveFaith @ 1/15/2009 6:38:02 PM # Q
* I need GSM, ...
Me too. EdC said it's Sprint INITIALLY. Engadget quoted Palm as saying a 60 day exclusive. That's really some good time to reduce the EAT (Early Adopters Tax) on the GSM. Europe getting a GSM in same quoted time frame as Sprint. 1st half 2009.


* I need Rhapsody compatible ...
I doubt Palm, or anybody else, is going to write clients for all the music services. Real should do it for WebOS. Surely they have a way to manually get the DRM audio over to that "cavernous" 8GB.


* I need ... like CorePlayer ...
Plenty of Youtube vids showing smooth video playing on the Pre. TI OMAP 3430 eats graphics for breakfast and has 2D / 3D accels.


* I need ... documents ...
DataViz is on the scene and will almost certainly be in ROM at launch. I wish another would do the honors, but DataViz seems to be the last man standing.


That said, I am disappointed in the lack of SD, backward compats, and lack of assurance for desktop sync. Is it me or does the phone look like cheap slick plastic. What ever happened to the glory days of the absolutely georgeous Palm V? Metal would be nice, bit I know that radios don't give it a lotta love. That said, I would probably slap the cash on ATTs table tommorrow if the Pre were market ready.

Pat Horne

RE: The Pre is exciting, BUT...
xImtc @ 1/16/2009 7:04:43 AM # Q

* I need Rhapsody compatible ...
I doubt Palm, or anybody else, is going to write clients for all the music services. Real should do it for Web.

AFAIK, there's only one standard in use for DRM music (not standard as in protocol, standard as in can work on more than one category of device unlike an iPod or Zune) and that's Microsoft's "Plays for Sure." Rhapsody, the now deceased Yahoo! Music, Napster, MTV, and all the rest of the bit players use this protocol. My 680 supported it with PocketTunes, my E71 supports it out of the box. We know the Pre supports Windows Media, but does it support encrypted Windows Media?

As for DataViz, you don't like Documents to Go? What's better?

RE: The Pre is exciting, BUT...
mikecane @ 1/16/2009 9:21:03 AM # Q
>>>DataViz is on the scene and will almost certainly be in ROM at launch.

Hell no, don't plop that crap in ROM! Throw it on the accompanying CD (if any). I want nothing to do with that crap - including having to see it's damned icon taking up space in the Launcher.

RE: The Pre is exciting, BUT...
AdamaDBrown @ 1/16/2009 11:43:50 AM # Q
60 days seems like a very unusual time period for an exclusive. Typically it's either three or six months.

RE: The Pre is exciting, BUT...
cgk @ 1/16/2009 2:12:53 PM # Q
Palm OS users are just going to have to accept that they figure absolute nowhere in this brave new world. The company is betting that the market share it can capture will far exceed pissed off Palm OSers who will not buy the product.

That's why there is no SD card, no desktop sync, no backwards app compatibility - because it's irrelevant to palm - they are playing for bigger stakes.



RE: The Pre is exciting, BUT...
mikecane @ 1/16/2009 2:49:23 PM # Q
>>>because it's irrelevant to palm - they are playing for bigger stakes.

Oh yeah?

I once lived in a small city. The race for Mayor was ferocious. I mean, we expected blood in the streets.

Two days before the election, a local paper ridiculed one of the candidates because he had a beard, somehow indicating he wasn't "one of the people" and somehow stuck-up.

The day before the election, that candidate was on a street corner - WITHOUT his beard.

Given the toilet that the economy is being flushed down, Palm could see itself out on a street corner begging for buyers - with StyleTap *included in ROM* as a very last-minute thing.

And, like the guy who took off his beard, it might actually work *against* them.

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