I Never Thought I'd Write This

I've been a Palm loyalist for many years, using different PDAs, smartphones, and the new Centro. I ripped Apple for many of the drawbacks I saw with their release of the iPhone (cell provider, no 3G, no SDK) this past summer. And yet, I had to check it out, I had to "prove" that I didn't like it, want it. And I failed miserably. So let me share for a few moments my thoughts on the iPhoneTouch (hereafter the iPT for ease) and what I humbly suggest Palm do moving forward.

For starters, the sheer size and ease-of-use for the iPT is probably second to none. The touch screen scrolling, zooming, flipping through albums and the like makes you want to find reasons to use it, even if you have none. In regards to browsing, several friends have reported moving away from RSS readers to full iPT browsing, simply because it is so much fun. Easily zoom, or a quick flip to landscape mode and bam, you don't even need your glasses. Email is great, web apps are okay, and the SDK could turn it into a full blown WiFi PIM. Which begs the question: why do any of you PA readers care?

Simply put. I think that the iPT is a good thing for Palm.

If you think about it, Palm has been trying to do this for years. For all of its failures, the Life Drive was in part the same idea as the iPodTouch. Hard-drive based PIM, no phone, familiar interface. The Treo shares several features with the iPhone that we're all familiar with, yet it lacks the "wow" factor that Apple has put forward. In essense, Palm has put out products which are half of the new Apple line, but not quite, so here's what we need going forward.

1. Find the wow factor.

For many consumers, Apple itself is the wow factor of the iPT. Palm has lost that credibility over the past few years and cannot continue to coast on name and reputation. Something long overdue like WiFi isn't going to blow our socks off. Suggested  partnerships with companies like Google or Opera could be a start.

2. Memory is a must.

The iPodTouch is essentially a PDA with significant capacity (32 gbs). The iPhone doesn't have the capacity of the iPT, yet it still outperforms any Palm product with memory card. No excuse for a memory capacity of 64 mbs.

3. Better Software for the Computer

We've long discussed the problems with Garnet, but I'd like to propose a new, innovative sync/management software for computer. Better yet, tap the services of the Palm Backup software and create a web access management service similar to Plaxo that allows users to sync to Outlook, etc. via the web.

4. More Excitement, More Updates.

There are many things to love about Palm devices. There are many companies that make great, exciting software for Palm. Yet we have to come to private websites like this to find out about a lot of them. Palm updates are slow and often nothing more than a few bug fixes and a minor application update. Why not make the videos and campaigns you see on a website like Apple.com? What about an exciting, captivating Palm guy to promote these products instead of leaving it to cell phone sales people to market them?

To wrap this up.

It may sound like I'm begging Palm to copy Apple, but I'm not. Palm is (or was) an innovator and does things Apple doesn't. But as Apple has shown, Palm needs to move forward, step up and show us new products that we need to have, months before it releases. And we need to have people to tell us why we need it. And yeah, we need a new OS too, but we all knew that.