Palm axes Foleo - for now

Stephen Withers
Wednesday, 05 September 2007 07:02

Your IT - Home IT

Palm has elected to cancel its Foleo 'mobile companion' shortly before it was due to ship.

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.
 
At the time Foleo was announced, iTWire's Stan Beer observed "There are just too many minuses associated with the recently unveiled Palm Foleo 'smartphone companion' to make this product a success."

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."