Barrons Key Issues Discussed:
Below are a few quotes from the Barrons article. Why do I feel like I am defending the Titanic when I read about the progress of the Palm vs. the Microsoft C/E. Palm's O/S of the future is vaporware. There is no proof that this product can do anything close to the functions of a current Microsoft C/E.
I think it is sad to see people, who either -- 1) hate Microsoft/Bill Gates, or 2) are simply long Palm stock --
can't see the progression of the PDA market. Palm is trying to incorporate a lot of functions & applications onto an antiquated device. Why would Palm be trying to do this if they simply wanted a simple device? Why not increase the power to accept applications. The answer is Palm does not have a proven O/S that can handle increased power needs.
What will wake people up (Palm shareholders and or MSFT/Bill Gates bashers) is when a Microsoft C/E product without MP3 functionality, without MS Excel or MS Word, with 32 MB, with a low unit weight, with flash memory applications, with a fantastic color screen, is offered to consumers at a very low price. This will tear into the heart of the Palm PDA market share.
1) "...The Microsoft-fueled gadgets are fun to have around, but too expensive and feature-heavy to pose a present danger to the Palm...."
Key word: "present".
2) "...Palm's sad screen..."
How true. Palm's screen pales in comparison to a color screen. Who would want to look at a non-color computer monitor, or a black & white television?
3) "...The color screens on the iPaq and Jornada also were a delight; by comparison, the black and white screen of my Palm III resembles the 1960 black and white TV in my parents' basement..."
Nobody discusses the prince being naked...
Palm's inability to innovate or be on cutting edge of technology will be its downfall. The only product that has succeeded, by remaining simple, has been toilet paper.
4) "...'The whole point of a handheld is that you're not supposed to worry about remembering the recharger,' says Palm's chief competitive officer, Michael Mace..."
Mr. Mace: It really isn't too difficult to remember the recharger. Just like it isn't too difficult to bring a couple of extra batteries if the Palm batteries run low. PDA users are not going to Vietnam. If we leave town for a vacation or a business trip, we do pack. We bring medications, clothes, and we can bring the recharger.
For those that don't know, a PDA recharger is a small, low weight device to recharge the PDA. This process usually takes up to one-hour. It is similar the process of recharging an electric razor. It really isn't too burdensome or complicated! Other than from Palm's point of view.
5) "'The Palm operating system is lame. It can't play MP3,' brags Phil Holden, marketing director of Microsoft's Mobile Devices division."
I have never used the MP3 functions. I probably won't use it. It's nice that it is there. However, it is far more difficult for a PDA manufacturer to develop a complicated product than a PDA manufacturer to develop a simple device from the foundations of a complicated device. In other words, the Microsoft C/E is in the driver seat.
This is the very reason why Palm's continued success as an industry leader is in question. Palm has not exhibited the ability to improve upon the current Palm Operating System.
6) "'Microsoft is 100% correct that the base configuration of its platform has more features than our base configuration,'" he says. "'That is a deliberate choice we made.'"
7) "Similarly, the iPaq is "a technology enthusiast's device," says Mace. "'It's just not a mainstream handheld.'"
Good news: Palm's Chief Competitive Officer thinks the iPaq is a "technology enthusiast's device". Mr. Mace, just focus upon simplicity. Consumers don't demand product enhancements!
8) "...Yet, the Palm's spartan applications..."
9) "...Palm has only a modest server product for enterprise e-mail, but the company's chief competitive officer isn't sweating about Microsoft's ambitious network software plans..."
10) "...That's because the current powers in network software -- Sun Microsystems and Oracle -- are firmly in Palm's camp..."
This is a key factor in favor of Palm's. This is the only pro-Palm comment that I can interpret, based upon my own PDA usage and article interpretation, for the future of Palm.
11) "...To make it in this business, both need to woo even more crucial allies: the wireless carriers...."
Mr. Mace: Ignore this issue. It's too complicated for the development of a simple product.
12) "...The software behemoth says it's working with AT&T Wireless, British Telecom, Spain's Telefonica Moviles and Britain's Vodafone, among others. Microsoft predicts that 600-800 million Internet-enabled mobile phones will be in use throughout the world by 2002. For some reason the carriers think we have more experience with data, such as streaming media,' Phil Holden says with a smile...."
...For some reason the carriers think we have more experience with data..."
13) "...Yet, Pocket PC products such as the Casio EM-500 are ahead of their time in this regard..."
14) "...Microsoft will get a lot farther this time around than it did with the ill-fated Windows CE. Experience is bound to breed improvement. But for our money Palm-based systems remain the better bargains for toting around personal information. Devices such as the Compaq iPaq and Hewlett-Packard's Jornada are just too heavy and too expensive to wrest a significant piece of the market away from Palm in their current incarnations...."
15) "...To count Microsoft out this early in the game would be the height of folly..."
It's ironic to read or hear individuals comment on how Palm is the ultimate victor and Microsoft C/E an also-ran.
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