Brothers in arms: Palm's just announced Foleo and its Treo smartphone.
Palm's bid to reinvent mobile computing looks an awful lot like the current state of mobile computing, but with less horsepower.
Company founder Jeff Hawkins unveiled the Foleo device at the D: All Things Digital conference on Wednesday. Foleo is a 1.13kg laptop PC with a 10-inch display that runs Linux. It's designed to let smart phone users read and respond to their email and documents on a full keyboard with a larger screen, Hawkins said.
The idea seems to be that users of smart phones like Palm's Treo, who don't want to carry a regular Windows or Mac laptop on business trips, could use the US$499 (AU$600) Foleo (the price comes after a US$100 mail-in rebate) as a companion device to prevent their thumbs from cramping up after a long day of dashing off email. It uses flash memory, so it turns on quickly without a long boot process and syncs up with a smart phone running Windows Mobile or Palm OS over a Bluetooth connection.
However, the Foleo uses an underpowered processor that isn't really suited for video, Hawkins admitted. It gets 5 hours of battery life. It wasn't designed to be a standalone product apart from its smart phone, although it can use its Opera browser to surf the Web over a built-in Wi-Fi connection.
It doesn't sync calendar appointments, just email and contacts. And it doesn't work yet with widely used mobile email products such as Research In Motion's BlackBerry software or Motorola's GoodLink software.
"I think it's probably the most disappointing product I've seen in several years," said Todd Kort, an analyst with Gartner. "To think that anyone would carry something with a 10-inch display at 2.5lbs (1.1kg) as an adjunct to a phone just doesn't make any sense to me."
The Foleo becomes the latest attempt at developing the "one true mobile device" -- a quest that's growing increasingly crowded as PC companies push gadgets like ultramobile PCs and smart-phone companies try to outdo each other's sleek designs. And, as you might have heard, later this month Apple's iPhone will enter the field.
Hawkins said Palm will initially target heavy users of wireless email who are looking for a portable device to ease the burden of relying on a smart phone as a primary computing device. It's hard to work with documents inside the small window afforded by a smart phone, and almost impossible to read email at a quick glance without a lot of scrolling. That's why most smart phone users still need to bring their laptops along on business trips -- because any serious typing can't be done on a Treo or a BlackBerry.
Palm thinks these people would be willing to spend the US$499 (AU$600) to get a device that could make them more productive without having to resort to lugging around a bulky laptop on short trips. But road warriors truly concerned about laptop weight can choose from dozens of 1kg to 1.5kg ultraportable laptop PCs that offer far more capabilities than the Foleo, analysts say.
This is a small category of PC user. Ultraportable laptop sales only accounted for 1.5 percent of the US retail PC market in the fourth quarter of last year -- the busiest PC shopping season, said Samir Bhavnani, an analyst with Current Analysis West. Smart phone users are also a small percentage of the overall cell phone market, which means a pretty small portion of the population might be feeling the pain described by Hawkins, Bhavnani said.
If you're a mobile user who's familiar with the limits of a smart phone and you don't want to carry a standard 5lb laptop, you've probably already bought an ultraportable laptop, Gartner's Kort said.
"If you're on a two- to three-day business trip, and if (Foleo's) almost as big and almost as heavy, why not just carry the notebook?" Kort said. Business users will still need a regular PC to handle their corporate applications, and home users aren't going to want a laptop that can't show video or play games, he said.
But the attractive price could help sway some converts. The average US retail cost of an ultraportable laptop was US$1,778 (AU$2,150) in the first quarter of this year. That compares with the US$851 (AU$1,025) it cost to buy an average laptop, and the US$499 (AU$600) Palm wants for the Foleo, according to Current Analysis West.
And while this is a first-generation product that might not wow early adopters, it could draw more interest as developers create more applications, said Tim Bajarin, an analyst with Creative Strategies.
"It could be an interesting device as a standalone low-cost Linux computer," Bajarin said. But that's one of those chicken-and-the-egg questions: You're not going to get a lot of developers interested in a product unless there's sizable demand for the product. And there isn't going to be as much demand for a product that doesn't have a lot of applications, he said.
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Moz
02/06/2007 08:01 PM
This device is plain wrong!. Palm should make a Lifedrive 2 - linux based, faster processor, mobile phone, min 256 ram, 4gb REMOVEABLE CF drive, wireless, bluetooth, wireless fold up keyboard, half as thick as it is now AND without all the bugs of the current LD.
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Richard
12/06/2007 11:21 AM
I have been waiting to buy a new Palm PDA as I have been using an E2 and have been a Palm user for over 10 years. Now that Palm has come out with Folio, I decide it was time to leave Palm. I am getting myself an Ipaq rx5910. No more palm as there is no innovation left at Palm. Goodbye and thanks for the memories.
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sandymax
04/07/2007 04:49 PM
I've also been waiting for a new Palm. I think this could be a brilliant move. I had a Tungsten W and dumped it years ago due to the size. I want a small phone that talks to devices. I now have a T|X and I love it, however I've been eying things with a bigger screen for reading and browsing. Here it may be.
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stenhet
26/07/2007 01:51 AM
Palm doesn't get it. We need a device that can actually do some work, not just play with email. Ultramobile PC's combined with aircards give us what we need on the road. How many of the home email only boxes got sold? This should give Palm a clue. Palm should probably spend a little more time getting its PDA software to work with Vista. Palm's lack of concern in this area has me looking for a Pocket PC alternative.
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ayarrell
01/08/2007 07:38 AM
If Palm had taken the T/X and expanded it to the size of a sub-notebook -- that I would buy! This isn't it.
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