Telstra has revealed the addition of almost one million new mobile services in the six months to December 2011, but Sensis revenues plummeted 24 percent in 12 months.
The company has decided that its way ahead is to concentrate on the next-generation software platform it is developing for smartphones, and that means avoiding sideshows such as the Foleo.
"Because we were nearly at the point for shipping Foleo, this was a very tough decision. Yet I am convinced this is the right thing to do," said Palm CEO Ed Colligan, describing the Foleo as "a one-off solution".
While Colligan thanked Palm's customers and developers for their interest in Foleo, he did not go as far as apologising to the latter group for wasting their efforts.
Palm will write off $US10 million as a result of the decision, "a small price relative to the costs that would be required to support two platforms going forward", according to Colligan.
The Foleo concept, unveiled last May, was for a lightweight, Linux-based device with a full-sized keyboard and display that could be used with a smartphone to view and edit documents. The two devices would be synchronised via Bluetooth, but the Foleo also included Wi-Fi for broader connectivity.
While the Foleo was designed to work with Palm's Treo smartphones, the company expected most Windows Mobile based smartphones to work with little or no modification, and other smartphones (including the iPhone) could be supported "with a modest software effort." The Foleo was also capable of working as a standalone device.
Palm has not given up completely on the Foleo. "[Palm founder] Jeff Hawkins and I still believe that the market category defined by Foleo has enormous potential," said Colligan. "When we do Foleo II it will be based on our new platform, and we think it will deliver on the promise of this new category."
David Bass
| For the fourth year in a row, IDC has placed content security provider Websense (NASDAQ: WBSN) at the top of the IDC Worldwide Web Security 2011 –…
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