Pre Originally Sported Resistive Touch Screen? 13
Fortune Magazine has an article up trying to make the case for a storied history of rivalry, hatred, and bitterness between Apple and Palm. Reading through the timeline of this (somewhat trumped-up) soap opera, we were waiting for the part where Ed Colligan gets amnesia and Jonathan Ive kidnaps Palm's lead designer when we came upon a little nugget about Jon Rubinstein, who left Apple, spent some time in Mexico, then rode in on a white horse to save Palm -- so the story goes. Anyhow, get this:
Rubinstein started, in his words, "hanging out" with Palm people in late June. He didn't like what he saw. The hardware for the Pre needed to be scrapped and rebooted. For one thing, prototypes were using old "resistive" touchscreen technology that responds to a user physically pushing the screen, not the newer "capacitive" technology manipulated by the electricity in the user's body. Rubinstein tossed out the old phone's hardware and built a new one in about 15 months. "We were basically running a marathon and doing a heart transplant in the middle of it," says Rubinstein.
A resistive touchscreen is the kind that you see on PalmOS Treos and Centros and Windows Mobile phones -- the kind that usually requires a stylus for any sort of accurate touch interaction. Let's just say that if the Pre had launched with a resistive touch screen we would be slinging the word "Catastrophe" around a bit.
Our pal Rene Ritchie at TiPb reported on the day the Pre was announced that during Rubinstein's time at Apple he pressed to get a physical keyboard on the iPhone and was denied. If he truly did lead a complete redesign of the Palm Pre, then it sounds like he has gotten his wish.
Thanks to Gekko in our forums for the tip!
13 Comments
Thank you Mr. Rubenstein!
Whew! [wipes brow] That was a close one.
I think "catastrophe" would be an understatement hahahaha it's intersting to see it was originally slated for resistive....like the other comment, Thanks Mr. Rubenstein
no wonder it took so long for us to see the pre. and I'd like to say I'm pleased with the wait I've had to endure to see the pre come. my centro has filled the wait nicely. now I'm ready. bring on the pre!
Jesus a resistive would have killed it before it came out of the rumor mills.
I am kinda happy they got someone with the "who cares how much it cost or how long it takes to make it has to be finished" mentality.
Go apple?! haha I cannot wait for this phone I may even be lame and line up outside the shop =D
That is very scary to read. If it were for him, Palm would be gone. It leads me to believe that Palm still doesn't understand. I really hope in the time the Pre was redeveloped, that Palm got some sense knocked into them.
But for some reason, I'm not entirely sure that happened...
It took a lot to not make a pun on the word "catastrophe" there, btw. :)
That Fortune article is a good read; thanks for passing this along.
Actually, think about it. If they had come out with the Pre a YEAR AND A HALF ago, with a resistive screen, it would still have been a huge hit.
True, capacitive is better for these "multi-touch" devices, but today, it's become "expected". 18 months ago, only the iPhone went that route.
If the Pre had a resistive screen today, it would have been sucky. But it doesn't, so let's move on.
What was Palm doing 18 months ago...oh yea, the Foleo, are Faileo, as it is known.
Am I the only person in the world that actually doesn't mind a resistive touchscreen and likes using a stylus? With a stylus you can have far more accurate input and thus fit more into the limited screen real-estate on a mobile device than with what you can do with your finger.
But then, I have good eyesight and don't have a problem reading small fonts either - in fact I prefer them.
And then again, I actually liked using graffiti and missed it when I was forced to move to a Treo 300. Granted I learned to love the physical keyboard, but I still missed graffiti.
Oh well - one man's dream is another's catastrophe, I guess.
I have a question... if I use Office 2007 and Outlook which brings in my AOL mail - can that be on the Palm Pre and sync or must you have something else like Exchange or ????
This is so confusing to me. I really want my emails from Outlook as opposed to AOL itself AND more importantly - I would want my tasks and calendar items to sync too.
Is that possible with Office Standard 2007?
Jon Rubenstein is Palm's Steve Jobs. And wtf was Palm thinking? Making a comeback with "old" technology. Geez.
The Instinct has a resistive screen, but it is responsive enough that the included stylus is not ever used by most users.
He also might have asked for a removable battery but was similarly denied.