Of course no one at Palm is going to hear me but I have the cure for the problems at Palm. This week Palm Inc. announced record sales for the Treo Smartphone but they also announced terrible earnings.
At least once quarter there is a rumor that someone is going to acquire Palm in one way or another. The problem is that Palm has the best product of its kind on the market.
The Palm Treo is a near perfect device. Whether you use the Palm OS version or the Windows version, the Treo does exactly what it is supposed to do and it does it well. If you are a Treo user, it would take an awful lot to persuade you to upgrade. When it all comes down to it, the Treo offers 10 times the features of the RAZR by Motorola and it is 10 times as easy to figure out, the real problem is that it is almost 5 times the price at full retail.
So, here's the solution – Palm needs to introduce a non-phone Treo for under $100. The general market opinion is that the non-phone PDA is dead, but in reality there is still a market for it in schools and with anyone else who doesn't want to pay $300+ for a smartphone.
If Palm would aim at the $49-$75 price with a non-phone Treo they would hit a sweet spot that would put them on top. It wouldn't need to feature a Windows version at all, the Palm OS would work just fine for what this little device would do.
Palm based devices shine in their ability to keep track of contacts, appointments, To Do lists, and Memos. The ability to add alarms to all of the above items makes it perfect for forgetful people.
Once students, soccer moms and other Palm users get used to the ease of the operating system and become dependent on their Palm device they will naturally seek out a smartphone that can do it all. This will put the Treo smartphone ahead in the market.
The Palm operating system is what makes the device so great. Just as the marriage of iPods and iTunes have created a solid device that no other company can topple, the Treo and Palm OS are a similar match.
Palm devices have been near perfect since they were originally introduced. They do what people need them to do, they are simple to use and they make life easier. If Palm would just focus on its strengths and stop trying to compete with Microsoft they will succeed in the end.
