Mobile devices, the “Third Screen” or smart phones dominate our world and manufactures are constantly trying to cram more and more into these devices. Headlines have been dominated of late with the news of Apple’s iPhone which won’t be available here in Canada until next year, or RIM’s Blackberry 8800 and 8300 models.
One company that we don’t hear from as often is Palm who’s behind the Treo series of smart phones. Info-Tech Research Group suggests that Palm’s time may be coming to an end and that a mobile manufacturer such as might be purchased by Motorola, Nokia or a private equity firm. Senior Research Analyst Carmi Levy says, “Palm has recognized that its brand equity is eroding quickly and that it won’t be able to ride the Treo’s wave of success for much longer.”
In a world of instant gratification Palm has left consumers out in the wind for a wile without introducing something cool to the marketplace, so it might make sense that someone such as Motorola or Nokia acquire the company and integrate it into their existing product line. Of course we can’t forget that features such as camera phone or MP3 player are great, but the operating system is the backbone of any mobile device and allows for services to be built on top of that. The dominate operating systems that we hear about today are Blackberry, Palm, Microsoft Mobile and Symbian. Blackberry continues to invest into their OS where Palm has not put the same resources and become somewhat obsolete.
