While many disbelieve that the Foleo could be successful there is good reason that the category (Mobile Companion) could be very successful. One reason that is often sited for the Foleo’s impending doom is that it is just an underpowered laptop. Underpowered it might be but let’s not kid ourselves; computers easily surpassed the power requirements to run the primary programs we all use quite a while back. How much power do you really need to run that spreadsheet and word processor?
A Subaru Wagon might be a whole lot less powerful than a Dodge Viper, but to cart the kids to school and go shopping the Subaru wins hands down as better suited for both jobs and better fuel economy also.
Laptops are changing, the focus of the chip manufacturers is as much or more so on lower power consumption as it is for speed. Also there is a move towards SSD’s or Solid State Discs which are going to cost $300 plus for some time. The Foleo is about to break onto the market at $500 with very low power consumption and for all intents and purpose an SSD. So, while I think the Foleo could be a great success, not just for the execs but the run of the mill non tech geek computer user I do think this could pose a very big problem for Palm.
Palm has been an innovator, the PDA has been a great success and lives on with built in radio as a Smart Phone. The Treo being the best of the bunch for a while, but this market is exploding with innovation and competition. Palm enjoyed many years of PDA dominance but would IMHO has been eclipsed by the windows PDA’s if they had not moved to the Treo and led innovation with the Treo. Now Palm is opening up the Mobile Companion market to hopefully be a market leader. Here is where I see trouble. The Foleo is a LAPTOP, I will not argue this just look in a dictionary or show a picture of the Foleo to your three year old or grandma, they will back me up. It IS a laptop.
If the Foleo is successful then Nokia, Blackberry, HP and anyone else who wants to will have little trouble delivering comparable products to the market, probably better. Laptops are a field that Palm might not fare so well in.
For Palm to be a market leader in the Mobile Companion field I believe they will have to nail two things:
1. Software – Basically Palm is about to go head to head with Windows and Apple for operating systems. We have seen little of the Foleo’s OS but reports are that it is pretty slick. Will it be slick enough and will third party developers be attracted to deliver for it?...
2. Form factor – This I believe is the one we (the Palm experts – yes WE are experts, we are the geek user squad, I proclaim it!) are REALLY all scratching our heads about and why we are crying foul. The Foleo is not even close to what a Mobile Companion should be like from a company like Palm. Sure if Microsoft came up with the idea I could see them introducing this product but Palm??? Palm has a terrific history of touch screen simplicity that has been forgotten in the Foleo. If Palm had made the Foleo different to incorporate some of the features that have made PDA’s a success (button push screen rotate, voice recorder, graffiti!) then this could have been a superb device with almost limitless usage and buzz, not JUST a laptop.
Imaging a device not much bigger than a pad of paper (perhaps smaller with an 8” screen but 10” would work). Like the Foleo we have but also a tablet. It can be used as a laptop, it can be used as a tablet, a form factor Palm users would accept, it could be propped up on a desk as a picture frame for presentations, it could even be hung on the wall like a clipboard for christ sake!……. SUDDENLY the Foleo is unchallenged in what it stands for; it is not JUST a laptop that will have to compete with LOTS of other laptops it is a device that has the power to inspire.
I know Palm will say, no, no it’s not a laptop, but like so often is the case, companies (even Palm) forget just who is in charge! The customer. The customer is going to see this as a laptop and competition will be fierce. The better the Foleo does the more trouble Palm could ultimately be in. The best chance I can see is for Foleo Mk.2 to be close behind the first and to be so different that it will be a new category of device without the need for each one to be accompanied by a salesman to make you believe it is. Come on Palm, set the stage for mobile companions and play it like no one else can, the Foleo you just announced just enters you onto an existing stage with competition that might well bury you!
