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To: Wolff who wrote (3996)	4/23/2000 1:38:00 AM
From: Wolff	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 6847

PALM announced that more than 50,000 developers are registered to create third-party solutions for the Palm OS© platform - a significant milestone that highlights Palm's ongoing leadership as the platform of choice in the handheld computing market. From Internet stock trading and package tracking to medication dispensing and travel guides, Palm OS developers all over the world are already shipping thousands of mobile applications and hundreds of snap-on hardware products, spawning an entire new industry. In addition, Palm has alliances with many of the leading corporate software providers and is licensing the Palm OS platform to some of the world's most innovative enterprise and consumer electronics leaders, including Nokia and Sony. "Palm recognizes that our success is based not only on building groundbreaking products with a premier handheld operating system, but also on the powerful, creative and enthusiastic support of our developer community," said Mark Bercow, vice president of strategic alliances and platform development for Palm. "The incredible growth in the number of Palm OS developers, increased by more than 500 percent in the last year alone, is another testament to the vitality of the Palm Economy." Since 1996, developers around the world have benefited from opportunities to build leading-edge custom and commercial software applications for consumers, small businesses and large-scale enterprises -- all on the Palm OS platform. Applications span mobile, wireless and web applications in financial, transportation, government, retail, automotive, healthcare and education, as well as specific solutions for key corporate tasks such as customer relationship management and sales force automation. There are also a growing number developers producing games and entertainment applications for the Palm OS platform. The more than 500 available hardware snap-ons include such products as wireless modems, mobile printers, audio recorders, as well as vertical industry devices such as a fingerprint ID security device and a blood sugar monitor. A primary component of Palm's platform strategy includes building relationships with some of the world's leading solution providers and electronics manufacturers. Computer Associates, IBM, Oracle Corp., PeopleSoft, SAP, Siebel Systems, Sun Microsystems and Tivoli are among the leading enterprise software vendors who have announced that their applications will support the Palm OS platform. Manufacturers licensing the Palm OS platform to create products under their own brand names include Handspring, Nokia, QUALCOMM, Sony, Symbol Technologies, and TRG. Palm also has OEM relationships with Franklin Covey and IBM. "We encouraged virtually any developer, from small projects to global licensees with an idea for taking information and making it mobile, to choose the Palm OS platform," added Bercow. "It has the reputation for being the most easily customized, low cost development platform for handheld computing, generating easy-to-use applications that require minimal training."

To: Wolff who wrote (3996)	4/23/2000 3:40:00 PM
From: Scott C. Lemon	Respond to of 6847

Hello Wolff, This is an interesting set of opinions ... I noticed that you provided little "fact" to back up the claims. I figured that I would provide some of my opinions, and numerous questions so that we can really explore the "truth" in what IBM is doing ... > IBM embraces Palm Technology and products within its own > WORKPAD line of corporate scale system solutiond. Interesting way to state this ... although I have done some investigation and found no indication of much more than OEMing and reselling the Palm ... along with thousands of other products. What I see is that IBM, as a solutions provider, is starting to act with tactics towards a long-term strategy. That strategy involves IBM being a key solutions provider in the "mobile computing" marketplace. One of the "tactics" to address this strategy is to become involved in all aspects of mobile computing, including supporting all sorts of mobile computing platforms. I guess that equal to your statement (an opinion such as yours) I could post the following link: commerce.www.ibm.com And state that IBM is now demonstrating that they are committed to Windows2000 as the defacto mobile computing operating system above all others. (But of course we both realize that if I did this, I would be greatly inflating the actual value of this web page ...) > IBM continues on it path of providing the best integrated > solution to business that need the best IT infrasture in > a mission critical computing environment. Through its > integration of the existing Palm-OS --IBM Workpad line, > IBM offers solutions to IT managers in a fully tested > wide scale deployed environment. So in reality, I like your first sentence ... I agree with it completely! IBM is becoming quite a powerful solutions provider and is smart-enough to understand the required tactics of working towards a long term strategy. As for your second sentence, you appear to try and indicate that IBM has a bias towards the Palm-OS ... where I think that there is ample proof that this is not true. Sure, they resell the OEM versions ... but are you trying to state that their investment of hundreds of millions (over a billion?) in Websphere and Java are going to be flushed? No, instead I was say that Java and Websphere are becoming their strategic platforms for business software development - almost more than Sun! - and that they will "embrace" any old product that comes along that helps them make inroads in the strategy market of ubiquitous mobile computing. Since this is the case, I would suggest that Symbian again will see a lot of activity from IBM since it supports Java today ... and I will also suggest that IBM makes far more money on Windows, and Linux, then they will on Palm-OS. I can understand your desire to twist the perception towards the Palm, but you were unable to provide the supporting facts ... > With this endorsement of of the Palm OS and Palm Hardware > (OEMed to IBM for relabeling), IBM is making a clear path > towards delivering the best hardware standard available. But they resell tons of products ... and the fact that IBM is only OEMing is proof that they are not investing valuable resources or time into this "platform" ... they are simply using it as a stepping stone to upgrade customers later to the coming wearable platforms. > Then making its money in both support and integration of > that technology within the needs of corporate IT > purchasing. Yes ... this we agree on. Their primary goal is support, customization, etc. > Customized software solutions written for deployed Palm > computing enviroments, are being programmed by and ever > increasing number of Palm OS programming specialists. The > numbers of new Palm Programmers is simular to the land > rush that was seen with Java programers a few years back. Hmmmm ... I looked throughout the IBM site, but I was unable to find any facts which support your opinion in this area. I'm curious if you could provide some comparitive numbers of Windows developers (VB, C, C++) with Java Developers, and Palm-OS developers? I'll look around also ... Obviously Palm is behind in a major way due to their late entry into this market, and so comparisons by "percentage" growth would be a joke! The only real comparisons which would be viable are the number of "commercial applications" that have been developed for each platform ... and bought. ;-) > Combined with features such as mobile computing for all > Palm users, including those of Voice recently announced > and only 90 days away. So I think that by your definition these are still "vaporware" since they are not available? > The number of consumer or corporate desired applications > for the mobile enviroment that do not have the best > solution based within the Palm environment are rapidly > decreasing. Hmmm ... again, I understand that this is purely your opinion but I was hoping that you would provide some facts or references which back up this claim. I have looked all over the web and can't seem to find any credible sources which support your opinion ... > Palm has gained is advantage by a simple system that is > cost effective and with both the sub 250 and sub 500 > price points. What is the factual and measurable advantage that Palm has gained? I am completely open to your opinion on this, but I think that it is only fair if people reading the thread are provided with the URLs and references to the supporting evidence ... > The adoption of the standards are closing in, by the end > of 2000 the mobile OS of choice should be finished, I > expect to see the number 1 mobile OS, have greater than > 70% of the market share. I always think that these types of statements are quite amusing. You state that "by the end of 2000 the mobile OS of choice should be finished" ... are you really serious about this statement? You mean that all technological evolution will simply come to a halt and the Palm will be the platform for eternity? Wow ... what a statement! I, on the other hand, have a completely different opinion, and see the market as a very dynamic environment where no particular solution is going to "win" for more than a short period of time, and where the evolution is never "finished" ... I believe that you only limit your understanding of this dynamic market if you fixate on a single solution and think that it will "win" and that the competition will be "finished" ... it just keep going. Also, I'll post a link later today which I think has an article that will interest you and help you to compare the market sizes, and maybe see why my opinions are more oriented towards the inevitable wearable market. > The IBM of today is not making the mistakes of the IBM in > the early 90's. The adoption of the Palm-OS and Hardware > is a serious endorsement. I can understand your opinion, however I will still argue that this is simply a very logical tactic. I would bet that IBM invests little in the Palm, other than the simple OEMing and resale of hardware. Any software development will be done in a way that does not tie them to this platform. I believe that it will be years before Palm is able to provide a solid applications development platform compared to other vendors. As always ... you present some interesting personal opinions ... Scott C. Lemon