msmobiles.com - Palm rocks: Treo 500v officially announced today on Vodafone

Mobile Windows News |

Podcasts |

Videos |

Store | Search | Forums | Site News

Palm rocks: Treo 500v officially announced today on Vodafone
September 12, 2007 [MS Smartphone] | By Tadd Rosenfeld.

Palm released the Treo 500v on Vodafone in Europe today. What's our take?

The Good

In almost every respect, the Treo 500 has the best hardware specifications of any Palm device ever developed. While it's designed to work with a scroll wheel and no touchscreen, it's the first Treo launched with Windows Mobile 6 Standard Edition, super high speed 3G / UMTS data connectivity, 150 megahertz processing power, 150 MB of built-in memory, a 2 megapixel camera, and high resolution screen. These major steps forward, combined with the new absolutely tiny form factor, are applause-worthy.

The Bad

As Palm seems to be openly admitting by using the "500" model number, which is lower than any other Palm model number in the past five years (despite it's substantial enhancements), the Treo 500 is an evolutionary rather than revolutionary improvement to existing lines. Critics like Engadget, CNET, and MotleyFool are partly right: it's time for Palm to wow us again.

(Palm took some pretty big body blows from these critics. Engadget wrote what they called, "an intervention." CNET asked, "Has Palm reached rock bottom?" Motley Fool earned its name by calling for CEO Ed Colligan's resignation.)

Our Perspective

We believe this device is best understood in context of a little history:

Palm's CEO Ed Colligan and Founder Jeff Hawkins are undisputed technology and business visionaries. They gave us the first widely adopted PDA in the 1990s, almost single-handedly innovating the handheld computing market. Later, they also gave us the first fabulous smartphone, educated us about convergence and essentially created another important market. Their products have won countless praise and awards, such as GOLD in the "Design of the Decade" Businessweek Magazine article.

Roughly ten years ago, Colligan and Hawkins left Palm to found Handspring, which became a direct competitor of Palm. Under their leadership, Handspring became a multi-hundred million dollar success. Palm, on the other hand, floundered without them. Palm became owned by 3COM, and made egregious mistakes, the most serious of which was spinning off its software division, thereby turning over responsibility for the company's highly innovative Palm OS to outsiders. Palm also continued headlong into the PDA market at a time when PDAs were on the decline and smartphones the ascent.

When in our view the writing was almost on the wall for Palm, the company made what we believe was a "save the company" decision, and bought Handspring. Colligan and Hawkins rejoined the firm, and entered Palm into the smartphone race. Handspring's Treo was renamed the Palm Treo. With Colligan and Hawkins involved, Palm bloodied incumbent companies Research In Motion and Nokia, becoming the front-running manufacturer of smartphones for the USA.

Unfortunately, Colligan and Hawkins are somewhat haunted by bad decisions made by Palm of yesteryear. Unlike Palm's newest competitor, Apple, it has not controlled its operating system. As a result, Apple has been able to steel some thunder by producing a less powerful device that in some ways is more elegant. Apple's iPhone has a large screen and on-screen keyboard, and is designed for "one finger" navigation. Also, Palm's Taiwanese factory owner HTC, learned from Palm's strategies and entered the retail mobile phone market themselves. HTC's new Kaiser is not as as "usable" as Treo smartphones because it cannot be operated single-handedly. But HTC is competing aggressively by incorporating things like WiFi, GPS and larger screens for better web surfing.

So where does this leave Palm today, and how do we feel about the Treo 500? We believe Ed Colligan and Jeff Hawkins are doing exactly what they should be doing. They released today a fabulous device that will no doubt have broad commercial appeal because of the small form factor, great reliability and low price. Palm took responsibility for the company's missteps. Ed Colligan wrote an open letter on Palm's blog thanking critics (Engadget) for feedback. Then he named what could have been considered a new flagship product something suggesting it's outdated, "500v" instead of "900v" or "9000v." We know from past Palm conference calls that they are creating an entirely new device coming out next year, which will be their own creation from the ground up. PalmSource and HTC will not be hampering Palm's product development for 2008.

Our conclusion

We think the Treo 500v is a very slick little device, and believe Palm management is about to shock and awe everyone with their 2008 smartphone releases.

Press Release

LONDON, Sep 12, 2007 (Press Release) --Palm Europe Ltd today announced the Palm Treo 500v smartphone which combines multiple forms of communication and multimedia capabilities with high speed 3G/UMTS mobile internet access, allowing users access to popular websites such as MySpace, YouTube and eBay whilst on the move. The new Palm Treo 500v smartphone will initially be available exclusively to Vodafone customers from October.

The Palm Treo 500v smartphone runs on a Windows Mobile 6 standard platform and has a full keyboard, large screen, video streaming capability and a comprehensive multi-messaging functionality covering Instant Messaging, SMS, email and phone and personal information management software in a new design. The compact form factor is available in two colours: glacier white and charcoal grey.

It will initially be available to Vodafone customers in Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, the UK and Vodacom customers in South Africa.

John Hartnett, Senior Vice President, Global Markets and Windows Business Unit, Palm Inc, said, "We are pleased to be one of the first partners to provide an internet ready Vodafone live! smartphone. The Treo 500v is priced to enable a broader audience to experience the internet and email on the go. Today's generation has really embraced the internet as a way of keeping in touch with friends and family, seeking out entertainment and managing their day to day lives. We can offer users the choice to do what they want, how they want, when they want."

"The new Treo 500v adds a third internet ready Vodafone live! and Microsoft(R) Windows Mobile(R) device to our recently announced Global Handset range," said Jens Schulte-Bockum, Global Terminals Director, Vodafone Group. "When combined with our high-speed 3G/UMTS network and fast access to the internet, along with great browsing and messaging support, we are confident the Palm Treo 500v will appeal to the growing group of consumers looking for the same functionality and ease of use our business customers continue to enjoy from this type of premium device."

With the Palm Treo 500v smartphone customers can also manage documents using mobile versions of familiar Microsoft applications like Outlook, Office, and Windows Live(TM) for Windows Mobile. In addition users can share the Treo 500v smartphone's data access with a laptop, so they can stay connected anywhere within wireless coverage.

"With the launch of the Treo 500v smartphone, Palm is delivering the benefits of Windows Mobile 6 to an increasingly broad range of users across Europe, providing them with access to important information and personal applications, such as Windows Live, to help them manage work and life on the move," said Tony Mestres, General Manager, Microsoft Mobile Communications Business. "This latest phone is another example of our joint commitment to extend the range and choice of Windows Mobile phones on the market for users."

Treo 500v Features and Benefits