Monday, January 04, 2010

Palm Wake Up But Has The Coffee Gone Cold?

Palm Pre was launched with much fanfare and was to be the next iPhone killer with its new smart webOS platform but has failed to capture the market envisaged.

Is that down to the device which although a bit small and clunky seems to work fine, or being restricted to slug it out with Apple on the O2 network, or is it down to the fact that the apps just didn’t make it? We thin the later is the reason and even though there has been a surge in applications in the US since its launch they still haven’t launched their webOS developer programme to Europe. Palm has just over 1,000 applications available in its App Catalogue, which caters to webOS-enabled devices such as the Pre and the Pixi.

Finally in March this is about to change with the launch of their developer initiative to Europe – starting with the UK, Ireland, Spain and Germany.

Somehow one has a picture of a cart being put in front of the horse!

1 comment:

BVan said...

I think it is unfortunate that the WebOS platform never took off, and I believe that much of that is attributed to Palm not striking up the right deals at the right time. They had their opportunity to capture their stake in the market when they first released the Palm Pre because of it responded to many of the issues that some iPhone users were having. Their mistakes were the following:

1) They signed with Sprint. While this may have been ideal move for them operationally, Verizon would have been a better move.

2) While they are now coming to Verizon, it is too late. They had a lead on Android that could have given them a stake, but they missd their moment.

3) They should have gone after some of the App markets that Apple has. While since CES they are now making some moves to revise their mistakes, it is too little too late.

It is a shame. The WebOS is actually not a bad system to use. As an iPhone user, I am still jealous of the fast app switching.