[From Colin] I read about the comment on the Brighthand editorial predicting no more PDAs from Palm. It makes perfectly good sense—if PDA = handheld electronic device without cellular connectivity. It seems to me that the Centro is a harbinger of Palm’s strategy. It’s small and inexpensive, yet has lots of capabilities. On the other hand, its small size takes away some of the functionality that we have with standard PDAs—mainly a larger screen. This is where the Foleo comes in and why Palm is still talking about a next generation Foleo device that can fill in (and then some) PDA functionality that is lost with a diminutive smart phone. I’ve often imagined that the perfect Palm smart phone companion would be a small laptop-like device with a slot that the phone would actually slip into, and thus provide the brains for the larger form factor without physically juggling two devices. When you don’t want to carry around your Foleo, just pop out the cell phone and take it with you. You still have your whole “PDA world” with you at all times. A Treo would have been too big for this, but the Centro seems about right.
In any case, if Palm manages to stay viable (i.e., not become another Psion), I believe we will eventually see what many of us would consider to be another PDA, that is a handheld with a tablet form-factor. It will, however, also operate as a phone if so desired. It may also be larger than the Palm PDAs we see today—or at least have larger screens. Why do I think so? First of all, because I personally believe it’s a very practical form factor for many people/uses. But mainly I believe we’ll see it because Apple seems to be heading in that direction with its iPhone and iPod Touch. The rumors that have flying around for years about a successor to the Newton suddenly seem to be more substantial
