VoIP Now: What's Up With the Palm Treo PDA/ Smartphone Series?

September 08, 2006

What's Up With the Palm Treo PDA/ Smartphone Series?

Om Malik thinks Palm's Treo line may be in trouble. While I keep repeatedly writing how much I love my Treo 650, reading what Om has written makes me realize that I have some of the same issues, and then some. Apparently the company is aware of this and already says their sales for this new fiscal quarter will be lower than expected.

Now I got a good deal on my Treo, either $149 or $199 - I don't remember exactly, because I think I got an extra $50 rebate from an already unexpectedly low price. And for my purposes, it's quite sufficient. I owned a Palm V from late 1999 and I loved it. But after dropping it way too many times - even inside a Rhino aluminum case - it ceased to work altogether. Back then, the damn thing cost me around $650 including sales taxes, and they didn't have any connectivity whatsover.

However, I love Palm's OS and interface, and the opportunities to develop software for it (my own projects) seemed more worthwile, since Palm OS PDAs rule the market. Or did. That's probably changing. And now with RIM's slick new Blackberry Pearl mobile phone/ music player, leaked news of Palm's not-yet-shipping Treo 750 phone may not make a difference. Throw in the fact that a prototype Apple iPod Phone (iPhone?) has now been confirmed ready for manufacture, the hybrid phone/ MP3 player war is going to likely be furious. Ultimately, the player/ PDA/ cell phone I'll settle on has to have simple to use mobile VoIP.

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September 8, 2006 in Phones | Permalink