Here's something you might be interested in (I will try the link but just in case here's the article...the first sentence says it all as far I'm concerned.
interactive.wsj.com
May 26, 1999
Dow Jones Newswires
SMARTMONEY.COM: Praise For The
Palm VII
By TIERNAN RAY
Dow Jones Newswires
Smartmoney.com
NEW YORK -- I'll make this brief, because I'm filing this column
wirelessly from my Palm VII at the local bar. By now you've probably
heard that 3Com's (COMS) new handheld computer, the Palm VII, is a
big dud, perhaps as big a dud as The Phantom Menace. And it may turn
out to be a big flop, too. But there are people who'll go to see Star Wars
despite the reviews, just as there are people, including myself, who rushed
to buy the new Palm when it went on sale Monday despite its apparent
deficiencies. Generally, I found the Palm VII to be excellent.
The critics have hammered the VII on three counts, namely that it's pricey,
it doesn't really let you browse the Web, and you can't get your e-mail in
the normal fashion. The second of these charges is basically moot, as the
limited Web access the device affords is in fact valuable, while the value of
full Web browsing on the device is questionable. On the third point, the
reviewers are both unreasonable and in error, owing to a poor
understanding, it seems, of the Internet and of e-mail. Sadly, on the first
count, price, the critics may very well be right when they say that this thing
is too rich.
As far as Web browsing, the Palm VII's wireless connection is a slow
19.2 kilobits per second modem that sends tiny bits of data. So rather than
let you really browse, the Palm comes with a few forms, called clippings,
that allow you to do simple things, such as fetch delayed stock quotes and
check the major markets from E*Trade's Web site, or get Dow Jones
Newswire clippings through the day. Yes, it would be fabbo if you could
browse to your heart's content, wirelessly, while standing on a street
corner. Nonetheless, I found that the ability to submit a request to U.S.
West's Web site for the telephone number of a company I was trying to
reach was invaluable when I was out and about trying to make a phone
call. You can't go to 411 and tell the operator the name of a company and
the state you think it's in, but you can with th e U.S. West program.
At the same time, there are thousands of Palm developers out there and
already there are several excellent Web browsers for the Palm, which can
be modified to work over the VII's wireless connection.
Palm can be rather lax in taking care of developers, sometimes failing to
give them the proper tools to develop for a new version of the device, and
that's certainly troubling. But as one developer I spoke with commented,
3Com usually will come through in the end with a patch or bug fix that will
let existing programs use the Palm VII's new capabilities.
Meantime, if you really want to wirelessly browse using the Palm, you can
point the device's infrared port at the IR port on an Ericsson (ERICY) cell
phone and do full wireless browsing that way.
When it comes to sending and receiving e-mail, the critics cavil that you
can't access your regular e-mail server directly, and so you cannot
download the 3,000 or so messages already sitting in your inbox from
three months ago that you have yet to answer. Well, yes, but it's not clear
you'd want to when standing in traffic or walking down the street.
What the Palm does allow you to do is to get all new e-mail on the Palm
just as if you were sitting at your desk, using your normal e-mail address.
There is something called a ".forward" file that can be set up on any
Internet email account. It allows one to forward one's e-mail to as many
other accounts as one needs. If you're really slow, this takes two minutes
to set up.
Your ISP should be able to show you how to do this; if they can't, fire
them and get another ISP. I set up a .forward file and was able to get
e-mail at a restaurant, in the back of a taxicab speeding through midtown,
even in the movie theatre during the many dull parts of The Phantom
Menace. Even in the office, it can be much easier to check e-mail from the
Palm then to have to boot up one's PC. The wireless modem worked
perfectly through it all, I might add, fetching stuff at lightning speed even on
an overcast New York day. It's even more useful to be able to e-mail this
column to my editor at SmartMoney.com while sitting in a restaurant where
he can't hound me.
If you still really want access to all of your e-mail, once you're back at the
hotel room you can jack into the wall with the Palm's regular landline
modem. Then you can get all of your email using one of the many good
mail programs for the Palm, such as Multimail Pro from Actual Software
of Andover, Mass.
The point is, Palm's helpful little Web clippings, and the ability to send and
receive new messages have their place alongside full Web browsing and
all-you-can-eat e-mail. They complement each other quite nicely on the
Palm.
So why are the reviews so negative? The people who review the Palm
VII are a bunch of trade journalist hacks who've been cheated, lied to and
exploited their entire professional lives.
They've been covering the rollout of mobile, handheld computers since the
dawn of time, and every time a new wireless doo-dad was introduced and
they stepped up to the pulpit to sing its praises, they found out in the end
that said device was in fact a total dud that didn't at all do what they
expected and that once again they had been taken in by the marketing
flunkies who hyped the thing.
As a consequence of being lied to so consistently for so many years, these
reviewers have ironically raised, not lowered their expectations, retreating
into the kinds of opulent fantasies not seen since the 1939 World's Fair.
Among other things, these reviewers believe in mag-lev automobiles, the
voice-activated kitchen, colonies on Mars, and a full-color, full-scale Web
browser in a machine the size of a deck of playing cards that goes six
months on one AAA battery. When it comes to wireless, these people will
never be satisfied. Which is funny, seeing as they're the same lot that got all
hot and bothered when the first Palm came out and they saw that you
could make your datebook synchronize with your PC, a trick I always
though t was rather tiresome.
Nor can I agree with these reviewers when they write that some kind of
next generation phone or beeper will do wireless better than the Palm VII
once "convergence" happens. A telephone, wired or unwired, does one
thing well, it lets you call people and talk to them. A fully Internet-enabled
phone will be a great thing, when it arrives, if it lets you do that one thing a
little better - if, for example, it would automatically update its database of
phone numbers by fetching them from a database located centrally on the
Internet. However, I have received e-mail on my Nokia (NOKA) 6160
cell phone, and I cannot imagine reading a Dow Jones news story on the
thing. Nor can I imagine writing this column on a cell phone as being
anything less than excruciating.
In contrast, a Palm will not let you call anyone - not yet, anyway - but it
does excel at letting you manage your appointments and compose short
notes. The new Web clipping and email features of the VII enhance these
capabilities. If the reviewers would focus on how the little things enhance
these devices, rather than continually praying for convergence, there would
be far fewer stupid wireless gadgets in the world.
Unfortunately, the reviewers, cynical as they are, are right on one score,
and that's price. Not for the unit itself - even at $600, the Palm VII is not
too expensive. I would have paid more for it.
But at $24.99 per month for a measly 150 kilobytes of data, it may prove
seriously uneconomical for many. That works out to 90 e-mail messages
per month, but I can easily go through 90 messages in a single day. At this
rate, I'll never be able to afford to use the Palm the way I'd like to.
Palm, and BellSouth (BLS), the provider of the wireless network that the
Palm employs, had better lower their rates if they want this thing to find
broad appeal. Otherwise, price could kill it. Which would be a shame,
because technologically, the Palm is a breakthrough. To be able to
effortlessly send email on a street corner, or pull down a stock clip
wirelessly, or find a company's phone number and address in a pinch, all
from a device that is elegant, lightweight and that fits in your pocket, is
nothing short of a miracle. Oh, well.
Standard disclaimer: Tiernan Ray does not own stock in 3Com or
BellSouth. The Palm VII he tested to prepare this article was not a press
review unit on loan from the PR department of 3Com.
For more information and analysis of companies and mutual funds, visit
SmartMoney.com at smartmoney.com.
Briefing Book for: BLS | COMS |
