While waiting with Cherie to get her iPhone 3G today, I struck up conversation with the people around us in line.
The person in front of us was trading up from a five year old Palm OS powered Samsung i500.
“I love Palm OS, I’ve just gotten tired of waiting for something better than this…”
The i500 was a PalmOS 4.1 powered small and stylish clamshell. There has not been a smartphone like it on the market since.
Samsung had an amazing followup device that ran Palm OS 5.0 in a similar clamshell form factor, but they never shipped it. And for the customers who were drawn to this style of device, the the Treo line have been a poor and clunky substitute.
“When is Palm ever going to do anything new?”
The person in front of us waiting for an iPhone 3G was also a long time Palm OS user. He had upgraded to a Treo 680, but he was not happy with it.
“I’m a pharmacist and I need my Palm OS medical applications. I guess for now I will have to buy a Palm PDA, and I will carry around two devices until there are versions of those apps for the iPhone. I’ve given up hope of Palm coming out with anything new…”
It boggles my mind how much momentum and mindshare Palm has squandered over the past several years. While Palm’s been polishing up the same ancient operating system and device form factors, the installed base of fans have been giving up and moving on in droves.
I wonder how many tens or even hundreds of thousands of Palm OS devices around the world are being replaced this week, stuffed into drawers to be forgotten?
*sigh*
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