- Posts tagged Pre
- Explore Pre on posterous
Dear HP: I took the liberty of rewriting your new ad
(See the ad here.)
Everybody tap
Everybody touch
We got a fake Lou Reed
The real one cost too much
Everybody Digg
Everybody Skype
Here's our hip commercial
To build a lot of hype
Everybody dream
Everybody sprint
Though everybody knows it
Let's mention that we print
Everybody Tweet
Everybody move
They say our thinking's old
Which this ad tends to prove
Everybody mobile
Everybody cloud
We’re hittin’ every buzzword
We’re followin’ the crowd
Everybody nimble
Everybody bond
If this is our new image
Our client base is… Gone
Is Palm's Last Hope To Build A Tablet? Um, No.
Perhaps, Palm could reverse its fortunes and regain its former glory if it went back to its PDA roots and developed a tablet PC to compete with the iPad?
via pcworld.com
Palm is bleeding. Last quarter's results were a disaster, and even more recently an analyst cut the price target to $0, leading to a pummeling of the stock, down nearly 30%.
Add to that the fact Palm couldn't even get the hardware of the original Pre right at a time when they had good press and solid financial backing. Yet now it's being suggested their "last hope" is to design and bring to market a completely new product? That's not going to happen.
Palm's real "last hope" is almost certainly to sell. If not the entire company, than at least the webOS and their patent portfolio.
Microsoft Phones to Have Physical Keyboards. They're Doomed.
Images of the Microsoft’s upcoming phones has leaked. I guess Microsoft feels “old school” about this; that people really want “real” keyboards, but that tide is rapidly turning.RIM knows it, hence the Storm and now Storm 2. Google knows it, which is why Android has a software keyboard. I believe even Palm knows it, but they couldn’t get a software keyboard ready in time for the Pre/Pixie. (They also couldn’t get desktop software or a decent API developed, but I digress.)I’ve outlined the differences and advantages between hardware/software keyboards before, and since th
at time have become even more convinced they’re the only way to go. They simply make too much sense for the user and the manufacturer.For example, with the 3.0 OS upgrade Apple was able to add a landscape keyboard option to every iPhone owner. Just like that. They’ve also added new keys and shortcuts. Even the Japanese Emoji symbols are available via the App Store. All because of the tremendous flexibility of a software keyboard.Meanwhile, not having a physical keyboard means the device can be thinner and lighter. It also means it doesn’t change shape when using the keyboard (like the Pre), or sacrifice screen size (like Blackberrys).The only advantages to physical keyboards are:
The former is a matter of being late to the party, and in Palm’s case hurt them because the keyboard they’re using is cheap. The latter is a perception that will change as people find a software keyboard is even more usable.Here’s my prediction: In about three years time the physical keyboard holdouts will be complaining about their lack of choice in the marketplace. All the “cool” phones will be using software keyboards.
- Getting a “touch” phone to market sooner because you don’t write one,
- Satisfying the people used to them who think they can’t switch.
USB Standards Group to Palm: Knock it off, hacks.
Usage of any other company’s Vendor ID is specifically precluded. Palm’s expressed intent to use Apple’s VID appears to violate the attached policy.
This is exactly what Palm should have expected, and what others had predicted. It was a silly tack all along, and the USB standards body was right to slam them for it.
When reached for comment, Palm said "We hoped the standards group would cover our ass; we haven't the expertise to write software as good as iTunes, and even if we did we haven't the time until we go bankrupt. We slung around words like "freedom" and "open" and "choice", hoping for some kind of Apple-basher backlash to support our hack, but the Pre is just too sucky and we didn't get it. Now I don't now what we're gonna do." The spokesperson then sobbed uncontrollably.
NOTE: The above paragraph is fiction. To my knowledge no Palm spokesperson actually said that (I bet more than a few were thinking it, though).
Google Voice Über Alles: You Left the iPhone For This?
Palm's Mojo SDK is Now Available!
- Better hardware. The build quality is unimpressive and the keyboard cheap.
- Apps, apps, and more apps. Only about 30 or so available.
Apple (Rightly) Stops Palm Pre iTunes Syncing
it has everything to do with denying Palm a seat at the table to which they’re not entitled. Let the Pre use the old iTunes API, if possible, as others have, but not appear as an iPod. I don’t see why Apple should stand idly by while a third party walks in and acts as an equal member of the iPod/iTunes system.In the second article I mentioned another reason for which I felt Apple should take action:
In other words, forget the Pre, or even Palm. There’s an exposure for iTunes here that could have BlackBerrys, LGs, Nokias, etc. all passing themselves off as iPods. Again, the obvious question to me is that, having learned there’s this hole in iTunes, Apple should take steps to close it.In both articles I said there would be many who complain about it if Apple put an end to this, and that's already begun. But the reality is Apple didn't build the iPod/iTunes environment for others to trick their way into using. Apple isn't putting a stop to seamless syncing, Palm and other manufacturers are free to write that functionality for their own devices, just as Apple wrote it for their own. Or Palm could team up with a third-party to distribute something "official" (current Pre users may want to consider these solutions). Just because Apple has a huge head start (it's called foresight and vision) doesn't mean potential competitiors get to use their work for free. The whole point of competition is to build something better, not trick your way into offering someone else's work.
TAB - The Truth About Software Keyboards
Harry McCracken at Technologizer wrote a nice piece about the virtues of hardware keyboards on smartphones.
I think one reason a keyboard argument even exists is because when competing in a given market you have to tag a competitor’s hot product with a “missing feature,” and then provide that feature. (How many manufacturers claimed FM radio and replaceable batteries were glaring omissions from the iPod, only to find adding it to their devices made no difference?)...
Read the rest of this article on theAppleBlog >>
