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Palm Foleo Mobile Companion paired with a Treo  (Source: Palm)
R.I.P. Palm Foleo, we hardly knew ye

Palm today axed its soon-to-be-shipping Foleo mobile companion device, according to CEO Ed Colligan on the official company blog. Colligan attributes the cancellation of the Foleo to Palm’s two-platform strategy that would cost more money in the long run.

Instead, Palm decided to focus on a single next-generation platform for its Smartphones. Despite the company focusing on one official software platform, the company will continue to develop Windows Mobile powered devices.

The Palm Foleo, in its current state, still required a number of improvements to make it a “world-class product,” Colligan said. Colligan also goes on to say the company cannot afford to add the improvements needed, as it is not the company’s primary focus.

Palm will take a less than $10 million hit to its earnings due to the cancellation of the Foleo, but it’s a small cost compared to what supporting two platforms would cost the company, Colligan said.

For those that were looking forward to the Palm Foleo, not all is lost. Colligan believes the Foleo has potential and plans to develop a Foleo II on Palm’s next-generation platform. However, the company does not have any solid plans for the Foleo II yet, as the company wants to work on its platforms and Smartphones first.

Nevertheless, Palm isn’t the only company offering a miniature PC or mobile companion device. ASUS plans to ship its Eee PC UMPC later this month. The ASUS Eee PC offers a 7-inch display with Ethernet, 802.11b/g wireless and an Intel processor.



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Smart move...
By killerroach on 9/4/2007 8:47:27 PM , Rating: 3
...but why couldn't they have figured out earlier that this was going to be doomed to be the Edsel of portable computing? It's not cheap (smartphone), not powerful (laptop), not flexible (tablet), not "cool" (iPhone)...

Hopefully they can actually focus on making a product that people want rather than trying to shoehorn something they've been kicking around the office into a market niche.




RE: Smart move...
By retrospooty on 9/4/2007 10:12:52 PM , Rating: 2
".but why couldn't they have figured out earlier"

The answer is simple... They are Palm. Not the innovaative Palm of its first 5 years, but the inept Palm of the past 5 years. Nothing new here.


RE: Smart move...
By Gul Westfale on 9/4/2007 11:37:35 PM , Rating: 3
as the owner of a tungsten E i fully agree with you there. palm hasn't done anything exciting in at least five years, and they are now a company that has to search for market niches. they have been reduced to using windows on some of their products because they neglected multimedia support for too long on their own OS, they haven't introduced any real enhancements to pocket computing in years, and blackberries are the professional's choice in smartphones.

it's kinda sad, it once seemed like they were on to something.


I dunno...
By Inkjammer on 9/4/2007 9:00:34 PM , Rating: 1
It seems like a useless product when compared to just using a laptop and a Treo together. Anybody who has a Treo no doubt already has a laptop, and while there are benefits to this... it's hard to out-do the proven combination of laptop+treo. Sync software, e-mail, more portable power and a bigger keyboard on the laptop.

I'm a proud owner of a Treo 650 myself, don't get me wrong -- but I see absolutely no need or market drive for this. A few years ago, maybe.

Besides, any exec who would be interested in this, I'm willing to bet, already has a Blackberry.




RE: I dunno...
By VooDooAddict on 9/4/2007 9:43:09 PM , Rating: 2
Actually, you'd be suprised. There are quite a few execs that prefer Treo (some other Windows mobile to the blackberry).

When the Execs want specific toys IT ussualy responds.


RE: I dunno...
By iFX on 9/5/2007 10:07:49 AM , Rating: 2
Yep. Been there, done that.

Most execs choose the Treo over the blackberry just because of all the software that can run on a Pal OS model Treo. Most of these guys have had Palm PDAs for years and years and they like being able to bring the apps they have gotten acustome to with them.


RE: I dunno...
By Inkjammer on 9/5/2007 1:22:37 PM , Rating: 2
I can't live without my Treo myself, so I know exactly how it feels. Besides, the software cost for Treo apps is quite high, so beign able to port them on down is a benefit.


I had one
By mydogfarted on 9/5/2007 11:06:32 AM , Rating: 3
I was one of the lucky beta testers for the Foleo. Actually was a nice little portable web device. Definitely lacked a little bit of maturity, but it was a nice toy. Had some basic Office apps built in, solid web browser, WiFi and could connect to the internet through a Treo via Bluetooth, plus it was very lightweight. I'd have given it a 7/10 as it was.




RE: I had one
By Oregonian2 on 9/5/2007 1:30:17 PM , Rating: 3
Yes, I'm bummed. It looks to be EXACTLY what I've been looking for. Small, very lightweight, full touch-type style keyboard (important!), and cheap (compared to ultralight laptops which look to be much heavier despite the name).


Engadget
By dagamer34 on 9/4/2007 10:58:03 PM , Rating: 2
Engadget killed the Foleo!




RE: Engadget
By retrospooty on 9/5/2007 9:29:02 AM , Rating: 2
Palm killed the Foleo... Engadget just called it like it is, and reported their opinions.


Is it me
By zsouthboy on 9/4/2007 11:39:34 PM , Rating: 2
or did it kinda seem like they were going to do this all along?

Axe the foleo, I mean.




RE: Is it me
By jconan on 9/5/2007 1:42:04 AM , Rating: 2
Palm sure did the right thing. Once they get their market share back up then working on Foleo should be okay. However with the list of problems on the their current Palm Treos its probably better that they fix stability problems and host of customer use complaints first or risk alienating their customer base to other platforms. They should have picked up ALP and tweaked their interface befitting to theirs. ALP interface looks decent but the user interface could be better ie ambidexterous thumbs and resizable, adjustable scroll bars, etc...


We don't know how to make a $500 computer that's not a piece of junk." -- Apple CEO Steve Jobs














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