"With the success of the iPod and Apple's bulging bank balance, the time has never been better for Apple to grow itself through acquisition. The thought that Apple might be interested in purchasing the struggling PDA manufacturer Palm has been floating around for a while. Steve Jobs even tried to purchase the company in the late 90s, according to the San Jose Mercury News. However, the rumor has recently gained some traction with the call by multiple investors for Palm to sell itself. Also, some key Palm employees, such as co-founder and former company president Donna Dubinsky, have previously worked with Apple."
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With all the cell phone integration, is there still a real market for PDAs? I still have my Palm IIIxe which is used occasionally but I cannot see myself buying another PDA anytime soon. I know many of my co-workers and associates are the same way.
I think it'd be a bad idea for Apple to attempt to re-enter this market, especially with a dog like Palm.
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Either way, isn't the market for PDAs shrinking due to smartphones? Sony got out, for example. The PDA has seen it's day. It'd be stupid for Apple to put money there right now.
That doesn't mean there isn't interesting research, technology, and expertise available at Palm. People need to realize buying a company doesn't always have to mean they're doing it for the current products.
Member since:2005-11-10
Well, current smartphones have naff to non-existant Internet support, Windows Mobile is overcomplicated and a joke, media support is mediocre and syncing is not entirely seemless.
I think it would take Apple to enter the market with an iTunes enabled, easy to sync, bluetooth that doesn't give you a hernia trying to configure, stylish PDA to make the other market leaders rethink their devices.
The advantage Palm and Windows Mobile have at the moment is pocket office support and the wealth of applications (like satnav), That would be a big issue for Apple.
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I think there is a market that pda's could fill thats being neglected. Smartphones dont come close to matching the abilities to pdas im most cases, and due to the nature of being tied to the provider, I gave up on using smartphones because the big guys fiddle with the OS to much tryuin to keep you from doing things they dont approve of. I recently bought a palm TX..can you say 802.11b + bluetooth, and syncing however I want...try browsing the web on your home wireless with a smartphone, not gonna happen...What I WOULD liek to see more pda makers doing is bumping up a class of devie. There is a void right now between smartphones and laptops thats not being filled. Something along the lines of a hybrid about the size of the Nokia 770. Whatever happed to the "palmtops" and "handheld pcs". I think these devices shoudl be re-evaluted my manufactureres and designers...give me a device thats alot smaller than any subnotebook but about 2x the size of a pda. I'm talking about deviced like the old Compaqs and HP Jornda, and NECs that where clamshell and had a decent sized keyboard, not much bigger that a checkbook when opened. Thats what I want to see someone make. Bring back the good ol days. That would also really increase the usability of pdas in daily use. The wide screen and keyboard makes it a true HPC. I still have a old COmpaq c120 with windows ce 2.0 i believe. The keyboard was just big enough to actually type on, I used to type up papers and stuff back in college with it on a regular basis. Now you have to carry a pda + soem form of external keybaord which i guess works, but just isnt the same thing...
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Why would Apple need Palm?
Palm *no longer* owns PalmSource
Palm is now banking on Windows Mobile for the smartphones and less on PalmOS, which they no longer own.
Apple *can* make the hardware on their own (even though the life drive looks very apple-designed)
So it begs the question, what does Apple hope to gain? Legions of Palm devotees? Or do they hope that they will kill off the brand so that people will get funnelled into their brand?
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How about "Incorrect Information" as an option?
BeOS isn't owned by Palm any more. Once such incorrect information is modded up there should be an option to mod it down other than "Off-topic."
What-if scenario brainstorming needs to be reviewed on reasons for modding up or down.
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There is exactly one device the treo 700 running windows mobile. It has a low resolution 240. (t650 has 320x320) every treo 650 owner told me that he/she would never switch. Still it is a nice device, but palm is NOT switching to ms just because of it. Sure they have to be prepared if the palmos dies with palmsource, so they are trying things out, maybe they will switch in the future who knows. However they made considerable investments into palmos (nvfs, etc), to be in hury. After all most of the people working for palm are software developers. So don't hold your breath.
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Why would Apple want to buy Palm? I understand the whole "Make iPod a PDA" agenda, but why choose Palm? Palm's OS is fine and dandy to look at, but it has its problems and limitations. Apple could build their own OS quickly, with their own goals in mind...
...but then again, why would Apple want to get into the PDA business (a very small market), when they are in a market that they practically dominate (mp3 players). Lots of other companies went to the PDA business, and within a few years exited. Sony quit making their Clie brand in America, and there are rumors that Dell might cut the cord on their PDA line. It just doesn't make sense for Apple to plunge into the PDA market.
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2006-02-09
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... but then you never really know with Steve. If Apple wanted to do a PDA, which I don't think they want to, they could do it on their own. More likely to me is that they continue push the iPod with video and I hope they put some more PDA functionality into it. I would probably carry an iPod (nano most likely) with me more if it had some fundamental text input. It could be done with the click-wheel. It already syncs contacts and calendars but without being able to add stuff, it is only half the functionality.
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2005-07-13
First there was Palm the company producing both the hardware: Palm V, Palm 505, Palm 515, etc. Then the company was split into: PalmSource and PalmOne.
- PalmSource owned the PalmOS operating system, but also the "Palm" trademark. (And maybe some off the BEOS devs too:)
- PalmOne was the hardware part of the old company, producing new PDAs.
- Then recently PalmOne, bought the rights for the "Palm" trademark back from PalmSource, renaming itself to Palm again, and releasing all new PDAs and smartphones branded as "Palm".
- Palmsource was later bought by Access.
