Palm is dead. Long live Palm 94
Tomorrow, Palm will cease to be an independent company and become a division of HP. Many have said that this is a failure of their new strategy surrounding webOS and their attempt to signal a rebirth of a company. I tend to disagree, to my eyes for the past few years Palm was essentially a startup company and achieved one of the two possible good outcomes for any startup: getting acquired by a larger company who sees tremendous value in your product and your people.
So Palm is dead, but Palm will live on within HP and I hope that the idea behind Palm will live on both inside HP. (Warning: bombast ahead.)
I have been a Palm user for ten years now, having purchased my first Palm III secondhand in 2000. A year later I joined VisorCentral and became a part of one of the most enriching and supportive communities of people I have ever encountered: the Palm user community.
Handspring, the creators of the Visor and eventually the Treo, were to my eyes the heart and soul of Palm even though they didn't have the company name. From the get-go, the entire idea behind Handspring's Visor was that it was eventually meant to be a smartphone - the modular expansion behind the Visor called out for the VisorPhone and the first Treos were, in fact, nothing more than VisorPhones compressed down into smaller packages.
Since then we've seen various iterations of the Treo, seen Palm buy Handspring, seen them spin off their software division into irrelevance, seen them partner with Microsoft, seen them try to think big about the cloud with Foleo, seen them fall nearly as far as a company can, seen them bounce back with an even bigger idea in webOS.
That's me at right, over eight years ago when I won the first Treo 180 from VisorCentral / TreoCentral. Yes, I was excited (and young) there - but it wasn't just the fun of getting a new gadget. I was (and am) excited by the possibilities of smartphones - the connections they can create and foster, the information they are a gateway to, and how they are a part of who we are becoming.
When I say that I have been a "Palm user" for 10 years, I don't just mean specifically a user of Palm's products, but somebody who has been trying to live a new kind of life, somebody who is trying to be a new kind of person. There's a real problem in describing this new kind of identity because it's wrapped up on the one hand with often-overblown ideas of the pending post-human singularity and on the other with marketing terms that are denuded of their power by repetition and commerce. Connected. Cloud. Social. Synergy. Heck, this is why I begin every PalmCast with "Greetings Mobile Accomplishers," it's a term from the launch of Palm's Centro that is mostly empty, but buried in there is a truth: we are what we do, and what we do is increasingly mobile and interconnected.
Smartphones have changed us.
Our sense of what it means to talk to our loved ones is different now - they are both further away but more present, in a faraway places but in our pockets.
Our sense of what it means to live in a community is different now - we have never met our next door neighbors but have close friends on Facebook, we chat on Twitter instead of at the watercooler.
Our sense of what it means to be present in a place is different now - we have digital maps instead of asking directions, we have crowdsourced advice on the best restaurants.
Our sense of what it means to conduct business is different now - we know our messages are going to a device on that person's body and not to an office somewhere, we alternately demand instant response and accept long delays due to information overload.
Our sense of what it means to know and remember is different now - we put our pictures online, we fire up Google for random facts, we can store essentially infinite amounts of information in our pockets, we archive our thoughts on blogs.
I could go on, but I hope the point is clear - the aggregate of all this possibility in the Palm of our hand changes us. The effect is multiplied, exponentially, by combining it with the web. Who are we if we have a version of the summed experiences and knowledge and loves and battles and identities of humanity (or the connected part of it, anyway) with us at all times, available with a gesture?
Smartphones have changed us.
We live in a world whose contours are increasingly defined by corporations. That's just the way it is - we are using devices that are changing who we are and these devices are made by companies looking to make a buck. Still, if these companies can think big about what they're selling, it opens up possibilities.
Whatever we are becoming, it's different and new. We need to reorient ourselves to it and it is going to require new thinking. That's what I mean by being a "Palm user." It's not about Palm the company, it's about what they've attempted (with limited success) to do: think big about mobility (RIP KIN).
It's the immediacy of communication made possible by the BlackBerry. It's the natural human interaction the iPhone pioneered. It's the ability to get simple banking done on a Nokia in a place where there isn't even a landline. It's the power to have your digital life up in the cloud synced to an Android phone.
Palm got it right early with the Pilot - they knew that entering this new digital world required a radical simplicity in the interface.
Handspring got it right with the Treo - they knew that our personal digital archives/extensions/assistants needed to be wireless and be able to do multiple things.
(Palm was thinking right with the Foleo, even, but while they understood the importance of the smartphone they overstated the importance of the actual phone instead of the connected cloud.)
Finally, Palm got it right with webOS. They knew that the combination of a connected device and the web is precisely what's empowering this new kind of identity, so they baked it right into the OS. A smartphone without the web is just a PDA with a phone attached; the web is integral to what makes smartphones matter. Palm also made it easier to switch between the different ways that we interact with the new digital world we are making. They left it open for us to hack on without having to work around arbitrary restrictions.
Since we're clearly past bombastic and well into corny territory here, I'll straight up admit that I have two ways of looking at phones: there are features that are neat and there are new ways of being. Apple's FaceTime is a good example: it's a feature that is neat, but it's implemented to so well it has the potential to redefine how people interact with each other, how they are.
That's why I love webOS, it has higher ambitions. Its openness, web-centric design, and even its visual interface are not just a collection of features. HP acquired more than just a nice mobile OS when they bought Palm, they got the platform whose form most closely follows the function of what it means to be a person in an interconnected, web-connected world. The implementation isn't there yet, but it has potential, as much or more than any other smartphone platform.
So tonight is Palm's last night on earth, tomorrow they become a part of HP. When I say "Palm is dead, long live Palm," I am expressing a genuine sadness that they couldn't survive on their own as a scrappy little fighter in the suddenly gargantuan world of smartphones. I hope the spirit of Palm lives on at HP, even if the independent company does not. We have precious few people thinking big about what smartphones are and how they are changing us. Here's to hoping that HP/Palm keeps doing it.
94 Comments
Wow.. Long and interesting article. Let's hope that HP can make Palm the #1 smartphone company again.
Well said. Here is hoping for the best!! I've been using Palm products since 2000/2001. I've always loved their products and continue to try to spread the good news of their, as I feel, overlooked product. People truley don't know what their missing out on!! Don't dissapoint me HPalm!!
HP & PALM Have to learn from the other companies out there. They will never be number 1 until they stop this insane greedy approach to their products. As an owner of a HP computer, I will warn you that their support SUCKS. If they could invent a way to charge you for just looking them up online, they will. The apps catalog has become useless to me. I refuse to be bled dry with purchasing apps. Face it people, someone out there is making millions off of these programs, and it will be HP.
R.I.P lets hope HP does us some good
Palm abandoned their fundamental principles when they they released Pre/WebOS. They became the anti-Palm and found themselves without their loyal customers, trying to find new customers in a saturated marketplace dominated by larger competitors.
Oh, sure. they innovated with some ground breaking technology, hard work on a shoe string budget to try and save their company, who without the above, would have closed their doors a year and a half ago. But, you are correct. they should have kept making ordinary phones on OS's that they did not have an interest in, because those Win mobile phones are selling like hotcakes.
They could have introduced the innovation (which was well overdue), while continuing to embrace their strengths. We have a solid year of bitching about stuff that was never an issue with the Treo and I'd like to say more, but I have to recharge and swap data off my strictly limited flash storage.
if webOS bothers you so much, why don't you just use a Treo?
I do, I carry both devices. All but one of my former Treo comerades went in other directions. The professionals went off to iphone or Blackberry. The young'uns went off to droids and winmo's.
I love WebOS, but the limited battery, weak radios, capped flash, lack of productivy apps, lack of local hot synch and abandonment of the vaunted PIMs makes the Treo a professional grade work tool, and the Pre a very pleasant entertainment toy. For the Palm loyal, the lack of a bridge between products (a Palm strength) was a deal breaker and never gave Pre/WebOS a chance.
RIP Palm. Long live webOS!
I'm going to cry.
Very nicely put. Corny? Yeah. Like running through a corn field backwards.
I am a Palm User.
Well done, D!
Very, very, very, very good article! I love it. Thank you for spending the time to come up with this.
Also, I'm guessing that you are around... 17 years old in that pic?
23, but you're a sweetheart :)
I thought that little kid looked like you. I feel like an old dud now.
dudde I'm wondering that.. How old are you dog?
Well he said that was 8 years ago... and he was 23 then. You do the math.
dude,very very nice read,and very well put.
This is just amazing.... Well Done Mr. Bohn.
Great writeup. While it is sad to see Palm as an independent company disappear, most of us know this is for the better. Palm has had such a tumultuous history. Brilliant innovation throughtout, but if you look at it's history in 5 year chunks, they were all over the place.
This last chapter was a remarkable journey of a company, left for dead, clawing it's way back up while coming out with some of the most innovative products in its history. As you mentioned, it absolutely has seemed like a startup the last few years, and this acquisition is a nice conclusion.
So, what's next? Hopefully a bullseye pointed right at Cupertino.
Viva la Palm!
Viva la open web!
- Derek
Thank you, Dieter. I'll take your brand of bombast and corny any day. I am a Palm User.
I received a notificaions via text "Palm is dead". It's almost 1am in the morning-eastern time. I almost jumped up being half asleep thinking OMG what happened to Palm!. :) I'm up now.
Yep, long and sometimes bumpy ride. But I agree with you that this is a turning point and brighter times are ahead. And also like you I have spent this evening looking back at the good times (ordering my Pilot 1000 back in '97, the highs of the first few years after that) and the bad (Palm/Palmsource, the debacle... 'nuff said).
RIP Palm, Long live Palm, whatever you'll be called in the morn...
my Pre is my ONLY connection to my friends and my family. On the road and at the truck stops. I wouldn't want any other phone.
very well said and I fully agree, this community is easily one of the best in terms of respect, quickness to help, and a love for their phones.
I've been there since the beginning too. Palm 5000 to my Pre on June 6. Sad to see the company go, but hopeful HP will do it some good. Just announce a new WebOS Sprint phone already!!!
Thanks Palm I will still loving you and to you Dieter you wrote a great article and went deep to my heart.I started with a Palm Zire 21. I sincerely wish the best to all the Palm staff who has made a wonderful webos, although I couldn
Well said Dieter.
I can remember the first time I ever saw a Palm PDA, it was on a flight from Maui to LA, the Palm V, I thought I have to get one of these, then came the Visor Deluxe from Handspring, my first PDA.
I'm still blown away by what we can do with these devices and hope that HP grows Web OS and creates awesome hardware to match it.
Nice read... fellow Palm User.
Great article. As a VisorPhone owner (I have it but dont use it :-)), I feel like I have traveled the same path with Dieter. If you remember initiatives like Palm.net seen on the Palm VII and Palm i705, you can see how far Palm has pushed the curve and conversation on mobile connectivity all through the decade. Web Clipping apps essentially did the same thing as a modern iPhone web-connected app - making secure connections to a web service for banking and other services. These apps were light due to bandwidth but they worked and showed the way forward for Apple and other 'imagineers'.
I picked up an iPhone 4 in a store last weekend and chuckled when I saw the ringer switch mechanism was flawed on this new phone - the switch is poorly seated and sits diagonally in its groove. My chuckle was about how cavalierly Apple stole this idea from Palm. No phone before Visorphone ever had a muting switch - this function was always software driven (read... time consuming and embarrassing) before this.
No smartphone ever parsed web pages for phone numbers and made them dialable as if they were a link before the Treo.
No smartphone autoconfigured itself for any global SIM before Treo. Go to any country and pop in a SIM - bada boom, you're on the network for voice, data etc.
No smartphone made one-handed operation a reality before Treo.
No one used to send and receive SMS while on a phone call until Treo. In fact most phones still cannot do this but it's a fantastic feature.
No mobile software market was as big as Palm OS but history may show this as a squandered opportunity. However the ability to downloads from the device was the limiting factor. Wifi and WWANs made this possible and pleasurable in the 3G era.
I was driving to work streaming radio stations 3G networks like Sprint years before an iPhone was dreamt of.
I could go on but you know where my allegiances lie :-)
Update webOS to iPhone usability levels, use HP market forces to reduce costs, add HP software and service platform prowess and add a big sales engine. Then I believe you have a platform to rival Android and iOS and a great prospect for developers to make money and innovate.
oh I totally should have included PQAs, the widgets of their time.
Dieter...thank you for describing Palms historic accomplishments and failures with class. It must be difficult for users like yourself that have been Palm users since back in the day. Its tough for me to say goodbye.. and I have only been infected with the culture, innovativeness, openness , scrapiness and promise that Palm delivered for little over a year. The Palm Pre... as little as it is, is the most elegant/ powerful / amazing phone i have ever set my ear on. I never once looked at it as weak or lacking... I have always appreciated the power that webOS provides. The Pre is like a 1987 Buick GNX. All Black, No threat luxury coupe that ran the 1/4 mile in 13 seconds... stock. If you tweaked and tuned it... watch out... that sucka could really haul. The classic sleeper. Most people didnt know much about the Power of the GNX... and if it pulled up next to mustang, they would put their money on the mustang... and lose.
I see Palms failure to go it alone as a blessing. webOS with the scale of HP will be phenomenal. As we have read already.. The execs at HP are already falling in love with webOS. Its understandable, It is an infectious little OS. RIP Palm... HPalm... Its time to show the world what webOS is capable of!
I love Palm. Even if HP changes the name, I'll still keep my bumper sticker :)
I got the original Palm Pilot and just noticed from Wikipedia they used to be a subsidiary of US Robotics whose modems I used to use.
Thanks for the brief history. Long live webOS.
Cheers, Ray
Beautiful article, Dieter. They hooked me 10 years ago with a Visor Deluxe and I've been a Palm User ever since! I do hope that HP will keep the Palm brand. It means something powerful, as evidenced by the moniker you've coined.
That's great and all Dieter but when are we getting Flash?
just kidding
Lets hope the combination of resources and vision combine to take webOS to new heights and places. It's in your hands now HP, make it happen.
Well done. well done indeed. What a perfect way to send off something that really revolutionized the smartphone industry. Everyone knows my first palm phone/item was a Treo 300. But thats a lie...it was a handspring visor. I have climbed the walls waiting for something new to be presented, a carrot if you will; something to compete with the iPhone and Androids. They are doing the right thing by waiting, tweaking, and perfecting it, then sending out when its right.
We want a good phone NOW, but they want us to have the BEST phone when its time. With HP's resources and marketing, we can't go wrong. And I'm very excited to see what they have come up with. Adieu old friend..I will see you again
Ahh, the days of Palm when they started out. I remember my first Handspring Visor. I got one with my dad and we both loved them. My dad used his for years till it finally crapped out on him. I also had mine for quite sometime. I never really got the Treo phones, but a lot of my friends had them and they were pretty amazing in the amount of synergy they had with your life and business. I will miss Palm as an independent company, but i am very excited about HP taking over Palm. In the sense of having more R&D funding, better marketing (lets pray, i mean seriously...i'm still having knight mares of that freaky chic), more business contacts via HP's massive business client list, and of course the wonderful ever expanding webOS! Great Job Deiter on your farewell thoughts on Palm. Great write-up on a company that started everybody in this multitasking world we now live in.
Goodbye Palm!, HP-Palm: Lets do Amazing! Long Live webOS!
P.S. I am with you fed5. I second the motion! Please Sprint! I need a new webOS phone! I love my Palm Pre, but this ridiculous 256MB of RAM and card errors gets annoying after 1 year. I mean, we should at least get the Palm Pre Plus!
Ah it's like Deja Vu. I recall a time when people were flocking to the Palm Treo 600 and raving about how great Palm's "new" device was. Meanwhile I was still using (and still own actually) my Handspring Treo 600. Before we know it this new WebOS thing that HP suddenly came up with will catch on and we'll all have our Palm branded WebOS devices to remind us where it all started. See you all at C40Central ;)
- Phil -
It is bitter sweet, we upgraded our one Palm Pre account to a new EVO and at the end of the month we be canceling the other. I really hoped that Palm would make it, now I hope HP will let Palm make it. I really like WebOS. My wife and I now have iPhone 4's and we have an EVO. I am hoping that by next year when it is upgrade time I can have a shinny new Palm/HP phone. I had two Palm PDA's and one Handspring. Loved them all. Until we meet again old Palm, may you receive strong signal and powerful processors.
I feel like raising a glass myself...I couldn't afford a treo 180, but bought one of the first 600's and carried it till the centro came out....liked it, but it was lacking compared to that newfangled iphone 2g....but the pre's potential blew me away even in the beginning, when I had to carry my centro and the pre cause it did things the pre couldn't! Correcting that with ota updates is something palm doesn't get credit for. If they had waited for the phone to be more polished we never would have seen it. I like the new iphone, but wouldn't dare pull it out of my pocket on the job, and their 'multitasking' is creaky at best....android is better, but webos grew more in a year with less funds than android did in 3....goodbye palm, and welcome back!
hear hear! wonderfully put. It always fealt special to be a palm owner. Something that I don't think I could have fealt if I was an apple or blackberry owner. Thank you palm, for making my phone smart, and fun for me. H|Palm, it's time to show the mass public what's special about what we have here with WeBos. I truly believe that WeBos can leverage hp as a whole. Don't go mediocre with this. WeBos can be the platform that let's you look apple in the face and be confident that your brand and products can be as streamlined and seamless. Let WeBos power your "Premium", "Signature" or whatever catchy name you're gonna name these new line of products. Of course that would require some quality build and cutting edge hardware. You have the dough, so make it so. And without a doubt, allow this awesome tech community, to innovate off of what you have built. These developers and homebrewers make the smartphone experience exciting and unique. Don't limit them or shut them out. Its exciting to imagine the new products you have planned for us. Long live H|Palm! Palm, thanks for the good times.
I have hope....that hp won't screw palm up! I hope they just give em funding and resources and advertise!!!! Webos rocks!
Here's to a new tomorrow.
Thank you Dieter, beautifully done!
May HP give Palm the resources and the freedom to allow them to do what they do best.
I am a Palm User.
Thanks Dieter. This is a beautiful read.
Very well written Dieter.
I for one am new to Palm, got my Pre right before Christmas last year.
I'm a Preek at heart though. (:
Although it's sad to see Palm go, it's a great new beginning for HPalm.
About 34 minutes until midnight here in California, so it's not technically official yet.
But RIP Palm.
sorry but good that palm got bought but they didn't get bought cause they were successful they got bought cause they still have value that is salvageable. The premise that getting bought means you where successfully run business is just factually wrong. Businesses get bought for several reasons, one of which is, they have good ideas and they are run like shit.
Here's hoping the new management will do a better job.
yes. you are sorry.
Black Magic... The only thing Magical about you is your ability to find something to disagree with... you fail by missing the point. Palm was successful in creating webOS
This is a funeral and a birth ... all in one. have some respect and magically disappear.
Palm is Dead... Long Live Palm!
Palm was successful. They created an O/S that is superior to the rest of the market. The fact that they lacked the financial resources and marketing prowess to grow independently in a saturated market place, does not diminish the fact that with virtually no money, they did create the "best" out of "nothing", such that HP saw a synergistic relationship that made HP a better company for Palm's success. This wasn't a simple firesale where HP picked up a couple of logos and a few dozen patents for a song. HP is continuing the Palm business plan, while expounding on their own.
This eulogy, for want of a better term, was perfect. As I made my way through the historic bombast and corn, the Beatles crept into my head with While My Guitar Gently Weeps. A sad but fitting summary of where Palm as been as an entity, and where we have been a Palm users.
The king is dead. Long live the King!
I've had a Palm PDA and/or phone at all times since my first Palm Pilot - which I think I bought in 1996 through an employee purchase program at work. I bought it to replace my HP 200LX, which I believe to be the first palmtop/PDA on the market. It actually had a genuine copy of Lotus 1-2-3 in ROM.
But the Palm Pilot had a touch screen and a cradle to hotsync to my PC, and that made the 200LX look like a toy in my eyes.
I have had a Palm device at all times since then. When I didn't have a Palm phone, I carried a Palm PDA. Today is a big day for me. I hope HP pays attention and goes all out to make up lost time to make Palm the major player that it should be.
Palm and webOS FTW
So ends an era...
This was a fun trip down memory lane. I first was exposed to Palm by a youth pastor when I was in high school. I remember drooling over his Palm III and marveling over the ease with which the Graffiti pad converted his quick stylus flicks into text on his screen. I begged and pleaded with my mom to buy me a PDA. I was finally able to convince her that is would be a useful "educational tool". Imagine my surprise when it turned out to really be useful for my school work! It was the Palm VIIx. One of the first PDA's to have wireless internet access. One of my proudest moments with that PDA was when I used my Mapquest app to help my Forensics coach find our hotel while on a weekend tournament trip. Mind you, this was years before GPS was a household term and long before Google Maps was even thought of. I got a Sony Clie in college and (since I couldn't afford a laptop) I used my folding keyboard to type more than a few school papers. Had that Clie until it literally wouldn't turn on anymore. Got a Z22 a few years ago and used it until I got my Pre in July last year. It quickly became an extension of myself, almost a part of my body. It's hard to imagine how I lived without it.
When I heard Palm was being sold, my heart sunk. As I read about the possible buyers, I winced and cringed at the thought of what they would do to my old friend, Palm. I thought about who I wished would buy Palm. Before I even came to it, HP's plans to purchase Palm were announced. I could have weighed the options for days and not come up with a better choice.
I am sad to see Palm lose it's independence, but I am genuinely excited about the possibilities this new partnership presents. I look anxiously to the horizon with only a brief nostalgic glance over my shoulder at what has come to an end. I can think of no other device or company which holds such a strong emotional place in my memory. Owning a Palm device definitely changes how you use and view all other electronics. I hope the spirit of Palm won't fade away in the enormous machine that is HP.
It is with great pride that I type these words....
I am a Palm user.
I am new to the smartphone world. I've had my pre since February and so far, I love it. This is my first smartphone and I am very impressed with the ease of use and just plain everything about this phone. I actually spend 2 months before my upgrade eligibility date trying to decide which smarthphone I wanted to get without switching carriers. So far, I am very happy with my decision to get the pre. At this point, I don't think I'd trade my phone for any other phone on the market, except maybe the iphone 4. I love the idea of being able to do almost everything on my phone that I can do on a computer. I just hope that HP can continue the trend that palm has started.
Great article, Dieter. You captured both the excitement and concerns that all of us who are long-time Palm-watchers have. We've seen Palm devices revolutionize mobile computing (and with it, our lives) and hope that HP will be a faithful steward of that legacy.
After the reset that Elevation Partners and Jon Rubinstein engineered, Palm again has great potential but lacked the resources to complete the journey on their own. Though we're sad to see Palm cease to be independent, we're all glad to see Palm gain the resources that their parent brings to bear but are also wary of the shifting focus that is often associated with those larger parent companies (just witness how the successful iPaq PDA line and brand was ultimately neglected under HP).
Although many in the industry have questioned Palm's relevance lately, those of us who are long-time Palm developers, users, fans, and watchers know just what a loss it would be if Palm ceased to exist and be a factor in the industry. Palm gave us the original PDA, smartphone, and are now poised with webOS to lead us forward in a landscape now full of mobile connected devices. Ed Colligan and Jon Rubinstein had it right when they said that webOS would be the platform of innovation for the next 10 years. Here's to seeing that dream and vision continue to unfold and be realized.
Palm is dead. Long live Palm!
Wonderful article, Dieter. Thanks for all that you've invested in helping to make this community great.
I am a Palm user.
-Dave C
Palm III, IIIc, m515, Tungsten T3, Lifedrive, TX, Treo 680, Pre.
I feel like I've been on an epic journey. I have one thing to ask:
"Daddy (Dieter) are we there yet?"
great article well done.
I am a Palm user.
First device was a Palm PDA in '99 when I started med school. We called them our "peripheral brain" and it was amazing how much info you could have @ the tips of your fingers. Thank you Dieter, and all pre|central staff. I found you after getting my Pre last summer and I have been addicted ever since. Anytime I have down time, and even many times that I am actually doing something, I check precentral. RIP Palm. Viva la WebOS!
Wow - I think the comment section got maxxed out (I only had the reply option)!
Thanks Dieter - great article. Thanks Palm also (for completely changing how I organize my life & for the better).
I see this as a bit of a bittersweet crossroad: not unlike when I gave up my Clie T615C for my TX, or my TX for my Pre. I hope HP+Palm will keep this great thing going.
Lol wow, Dieter as a young kid. Hard to see that, always imagines him as being forever the guy he is right now lol.
WOW. Most of the funerals for people that I've been to don't have eulogies that good.
I still feel a twinge of sadness over Palm's split into hardware & software divisions, because it was an event that demonstrably admitted the failure of Palm to continue to control the PDA market. WebOS has held forth the hope of another return to greatness for the Palm name. Now that hope for the Palm name is smashed against the rockpile of capitalism.
So now it's time to raise a toast to a new hope rising from that rockpile. To WebOS under HP.
This is going to be AWESOME, long live Palm / HP !!
I'm kinda scared to see what happens to my extension of self. I've had Palm pda's since forever. Actually floored to find I've been a member of Epocrates (a medical ref tool about all medicines) for 10yrs? And I was using Palm WAY before that. I still have my 1st one, Palm iii and the port keyboard n cradles. Had 6 or 7 Palm models n Treo 650 n 755p plus centros for kids.
gawd I hope HP hears our pain and doesn't lock us in the dungeon.
ps....dieter you are adorable. Can I keep you?
Great piece, Dieter.
I have been a dedicated Palm user since the first Pilot. I think that was 15 years ago.
I bought my Pre the first day that Verizon offered it because it was from Palm. We understood each other.
Let's hope that HP builds on a great tradition.
i am palm user since launch day of the pre with no desire to turn back. i am a palm user. viva palm, viva webos. don't screw it up hp. palm.
Once again, Dieter does a great job at nailing the broad-brush to the wall. I like seeing the bombastic every few months. Thanks.
I'm just proud that I'm not one who entered this mobile future via iPhone like I feel so many future webOS users will have. Thanks to my Dad, I've been privileged to understand the brilliance of Palm roots.
III, Palm V, IIIc, M505, T, T2, T3, LD(why?), T|X, Centro. Holding of for HPs iteration of webOS.
Hi my name is Jose.
I am a Palm User.
Very nicely done! Thank you for insight on the bigger picture & for putting into words why this company & concept means so much to many of us!
A Palm user.
A division of Sabre
Hey,dieter... you scare the crop outta me a few mins ago reading the headline of this article.
Lmao! You rock dude.
palm user since 2009 and loving it.
Palm user since the beginning of June, and I intend to be as long as WebOS exists. Thanks Deiter, as far as tech articles go, it's hard to get deeper and more thoughtful than that. Awesome!
Goodbye Palm. I've been a Palm user since launch day of the Pre. Good luck to HPalm! May you quickly release a new phone with WebOS ASAP. My Pre isn't holding up very well. Cheers!!!
I owned an palm pda(forgot what model) a treo 755p, and now the pre. I am a truckdriver and use the pre for damn near everything, and what it can't do (edit docs) I still use my treo for. I can't lie, my upgrade is soon and I've been eyeing the evo and now the epic. But it is 7/1/10 and I sure do hope there is an anouncment soon givin webos users a hook to hang their hat on. If I have to go a year with a different platform so HPalm can get things going, I will. But I'd rather only have to wait a month or so, I love palm I love webos, but I also have things to do......please HPalm give us something so we can stay...thanks
Thank you for such a passionate, sincere article Dieter!
Very nice editorial. While I don't think history will repeat itself Palm was once a unit of 3Com. They were eventually spun off when 3Com wanted to simplify things but Palm did survive and thrive. I see things looking betterfrom here on out as long as the innovation that has been Palm over the years is allowed to flourish.
I too have been a user of Palm products since the original Palm Pilot (in '98 or '99). I later upgraded to the sleeker and sexier Palm V which still has a position of honor on a shelf in my office. I've had a few other Palm devices over the years and have loved using each one, including fighting the flaws in them. I look forward to many more years of Palm authored devices.
I have been a Palm guy since the PalmPilot Professional although I have had brief flirtations elsewhere notably involving Psion. After going from the highs of that CES showing to the lows that followed in terms of launch, implementation and finances I have opted to adopt a wait and see approach to HP. I can only hope Palm can continue to exist within HP instead of being swallowed up and fundamentally changed. This acquisition can potentially be very good or very bad. My next upgrade is in October so hopefully the future roadmap of webOS is slightly more clear by that stage. If not I think I will be embarking on another flirtation elsewhere for the time being.
Excellent eulogy Dieter! I too have been pro Palm for 10 years and what you wrote hit home! Here's the the NEW Palm under HP!
Hey Dieter,
Check your memory banks again for me real quick. I'm pretty sure the Treo that your fawning over is a Treo 180 not a 180g. That was a long time ago and my memory also skips, but I seem to remember the 180g being the version that still used graffiti and did not have a hardware keyboard.
good point! fixing.
I'm sure Palm will live a long time...it was just moved in right next to the iPAQ Glisten on the HP "Smartphones and PDAs" page. It's like the handheld zombie-brand hall of fame in there.
http://bit.ly/aY4GId
Great article ! Though isn't that a Treo 180 in Deiter's hand, not a 180g?
I love my GSM Pre Plus. I have had a Palm Pilot Personal, which I upgraded with the 1MB memory card to Professional. I even had the modem attachment. My first was a US robotics brand (1996). I replaced this with a Handspring Prism. I got the VisorPhone Springboard approximately 3 mos later. My friends thought it was so cool that I could view real web pages on a mobile device, but it are through cell minutes and was extremely slow. I replaced that with my first Treo, the 270 which had GPRS, no more using cell minutes for data YEAH!! I replaced that with a Treo 600 for 2.5 years, then a 680 which I had for 3.5 years until the Pre in May. I love this phone, especially the physical keyboard. That's why I never jumped to most Android devices or the iPhone, even though I could've run PalmOS apps with StyleTap. Thanks Deiter for the trips down memory lane :-).
It is very sad for me to see this day come. I like Dieter and most people on here fell in love with Palm back when they were doing their thinga thing. Back when PDA (my first one was an m100) was synonym with Palm devices, back when whipping out a stylus made you look madd cool. Then even as others attempted to catch up, the Treo line came and blew me out of the water (my favorite Treos are still the 300 and 755p). I even converted my wife into a Palm user thanks to the Zen of Palm and its ease of use.
I still have my Centro, Treo 300 and I'm going to keep them as monuments to a time where simpler was better. (I miss my 755p!)
Here's to HP and Rubi making my Pre and future webOS devices shine.
I am a Palm user!
Dieter-
You summed it up nicely, my man!
It is more than Palm, but has changed who we are and how we relate to each other.
We may have been hassled by those who don't want us to plant ourselves in front of the computer, those who say we do not relate to those around us. However, is that any different than when my dad planted himself in front of the newspaper and tuned us out? At least now we can be in the same room with our family & friends while multi-tasking on-line, not holed-up in the "computer room". Yes, there are times when we need to put the tech down, but if one family member is watching TV, another is reading a book, how is me doing both (or more) on my Pre considered "rude"? At least I can look up from my smartphone, and talk to my family. When I do, having a wealth of information at my fingertips means I may just have something worthwhile to say when contributing to the family conversation.
The tech can definitely enhance our relationships as well, keeping us more connected. If technology is so in-human, why do social sites flourish, and why do cell companies have things like "friends and family" plans? They know it is the "people" we care about, and the tech is just a (really neat) way of enabling that connection among us.
Though it sounds like a 12-step addiction program (some would say I need one)...
I'm Duane, and I'm a Palm user!
Amen, brother!
Dieter: Your missive is referenced in another online article -- long live WebOS!!!
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/cell-phones/another-ending-and-beginning-for-p...
Oh, and I See What You Did There, linking to an article on the technological post-human singularity that quotes Palm Founder Jeff Hawkins. He doesn't see it as a problem.
Remember, the Borg are all interconnected technologically, but they are very boring without the Social Personhood of humanity. It is only when they develop real personality do they get interesting "Hugh", yes... the "Borg Queen" (see what I did there?), not so much.
Collective = Cloud.
Be afraid, be very afraid!
LOL
My name is Rafael and I am a Palm user:
Handspring Visor with Sprint Springboard expansion module
Handspring Visor Platinum with Sprint Springboard expansion module
Palm Tungsten E
Palm Centro
Palm Pre
HPalm c40/Pre2 (ASAP)
Great article Dieter B.
1. Great read, thank you for all of the postings and articles.
2. All of you at Precentral and Trecentral have all of our undying thanks.
3. I look at the pic and thought, gee I was that young once too. However, when I was that age, PC had not yet been invented.
I am 54, which means during the 64-65 World's Fair, which was walking distance from my home, the HUGE tech issue was pushbutton phones and fiber optics, both invented by what was then called Bell Labs a division of AT & T. We went to the fair very often, I had an uncle who was a electrician at the fair, so we got passes and went weekly!
4. We have come along way from & first Commodore 64 and my my first Palm Treo.
5. By they way, I did build a crystal radio when I was a kid, I highly doubt you can even buy kits for that anymore...G-D did I make myself feel old, LOL
Once again, thank you to Everyone who works so hard to keep this site running. I could not manage without all of you!
Take care all,
Jay
Thanks for the trip down memory lane. I've been with Palm since the III around 1995. I've still got my III, V, TX, 270, 600, 700, and now Pre.
PalmOS and WebOS got it right for me as an easy to use product for my daily life. There are a few things I miss from my Treo, but I'm sure that future apps and patches will address these.
yup sure is...lets see wut hp does...
yup sure is...lets see wut hp does...
Dieter: I have not been back here in years, and when I logged in I was shocked to see I've been a member 10 years 41 weeks - that is an eternity in tech time. Your article, on the eve of the "disappearance" of Palm was an excellent turn; my congratulations.
Being a year older than Jay, I too marvel at the advance of technology during my lifetime. Palm was truly the pioneer not only of mobile (handheld) computing, but Hawkins and Dubinsky saw how we "could be" not just how we were. I remember buckling that Motorola pager module to my Palm Pilot and thinking what a marvel to have text connectivity away from phones and faxes. You are right, Handspring was clearly destined for mobile communication, and the world wide shockwave caused by Hawkins flashing a Treo at a news conference was like a modern day Apple event. And despite the fact that the hardware was just not there yet, his vision of the Foleo as an always connected companion device foretold current developments even before we knew we had a problem searching a solution.
I know we had our political differences in the open forum years, but I wanted to stop by and congratulate you on blazing the trail for modern tech bloggers - and your ever expanding blogs into other platforms...genius. Keep up the good work, and here's to hoping HP will keep the "Palm" badge alive in some way as they too morph into a communications-mobility powerhouse.
I've been using Palm devices since 2001 myself, and as a realist Palm is dying. I would love to see Palm products forever but they have one more shot. One more opportunity to take a chunk of the market or it is over forever.
HP is clearly going to put money in the pot, but as a company I'm sure they have realized what I have realized, "WE've got one chance, and if this doesn't work we're going to just make printers with webOS on it.
I hope they stay around, but come May 2011 when my 1 year contract with Verizon runs up on my Palm Pre Plus, and there isn't an amazing awesome life changing Palm smartphone on the market that is newer than 2009...I'm jumping on the Verizon iphone 4.
Bottom line.