Palm Foleo flop or future?

Stan Beer
Friday, 01 June 2007 07:16

Opinion and Analysis

There are just too many minuses associated with the recently unveiled Palm Foleo "smartphone companion" to make this product a success. However, there are just enough pluses to have some analysts scratching their heads and wondering "is there something just a little bit innovative here that may point to the future of mobile computing?"

Anyone who has had to lug an overweight, overpriced, feature bloated, power hungry notebook computer around and continually unbag them for airport security would agree that convenient mobile computing is a problem crying out for a solution. The under-powered, overpriced and still overweight Palm Foleo doesn't even come close to providing a solution but it is on the right track.

As Bill Gates has pointed out, smartphones like the Palm Treo, the RIM Blackberry, the Nokia N95 and the Apple iPhone are the future of mobile computing. They have all the power, connectivity, battery longevity and portablility that anyone on the road could possibly want. What they don't provide is convenient input and viewing or acceptable local storage.

That's the problem that the Foleo installed with a Linux operating system tries to solve. However, the Foleo fails because when it comes down to it, at more than 1Kg and roughly the same form factor as an ultra portable computer, it really is just another notebook with much less functionality.

What's more, the Foleo really has been designed with one specific product in mind - the Palm Treo. This really does not make sense. Does Palm really believe that bringing a "smartphone companion" to market that ignores the Blackberry, Nokia N95, other popular smartphones and, at best, will get a subset of the Treo market is a viable business model?

Despite all of its negatives, however, what the Foleo does do is highlight the issue that smartphones do need companions if they are to become the portable computers of the future.

The power possessed by today's smartphones eclipses the notebooks of the past - they really are computers. With gigabytes of USB flash RAM now available for peanuts and Bluetooth connectivity, all that's needed for a total solution are truly portable compatible keyboards and displays. These are the real companions that smartphones need, not an underpowered notebook.