Non-Favorable Article:
In my opinion, the article is very negative for Palm. The indication is that the PocketPC units are taking off in sales - taking sales away from Palm. The component shortage will eventually end for the PocketPC, and then what happens?
Carl had an interesting comments at the very end of his conference call: he said in summary that consumers don't care if the product is 16 mb or 32 mb, what the consumers want is simplicity and a product that works. Palm has delivered on both counts.
I differ strongly with Carl on this issue. Consumers will end up switching products if the competition continues to offer a superior product. Microsoft isn't going away, and the Palm's product line needs to come somewhat close in quality of offerings, and PDA feature offerings (i.e., memory size, screen clarity, multi-media offerings).
I've been completely wrong, at this point in my time, in my analysis of the PDA market - so my comments are probably without merit. I do, however, believe the PocketPC is a far superior product line than the Palm product line. The reviews, however, have all favored Palm. Consumers want a simple product that works without problems. I strongly believe the reviews will begin to favor the PocketPC unless significant Palm feature changes are offered to the consumer.
It will be interesting to see what the 8/7/2000 product offerings show in feature improvement (other than the $150 basic model).
Like I said earlier, I've been completely wrong so far. So my thoughts should be discounted as much. |
