Sunday, March 26, 2006
How Palm Capitalized On The Blackberry Patent Uncertainty
Posted by Ed Hansberry in "ARTICLE" @ 07:00 AM
http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB114308086956305949-SPgLM3EUvfd2rBZzYpDE3qRvTzU_20070323.html?mod=blogs
"Late last year, Joe Beery, chief information officer of US Airways Group Inc., began looking for a new wireless email device. While his company had deployed more than 300 BlackBerry gadgets to its top executives, Mr. Beery wanted to evaluate alternatives, particularly since BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd. was embroiled in a nasty lawsuit that threatened to shut down its email service. So Mr. Beery turned to Palm Inc.'s Treo smartphone, which combines a cellphone with wireless email capabilities and other applications such as word processing. Within a few weeks, Mr. Beery had given up his BlackBerry and switched over to the Palm device. And while he has no plans to eliminate the BlackBerry from US Airways, the CIO now counts the Treo as another option for the airline. "I find the Treo is more usable than the BlackBerry," Mr. Beery says. "It's really the only other option we saw on the market."
Palm is internally projecting the Treo will match or outsell the Blackberry by the end of 2007. The company I work for officially supports the Blackberry, but I have been able to get them to at least take a look at alternatives. The Treo, both PalmOS and Windows Mobile version is so much more powerful than a Balckberry, and the Windows Mobile version is a portable office, just like all other WM5 devices. The permanent ROM storage for all data is the clincher. You just can't deploy devices that can lose everything when the battery dies, and it is a shame it took until last year for MS to release a Pocket PC Phone with this feature. Now that they have that done, as well as a reliable push system and a partner like Palm that develops killer hardware and has global name recognition, it is sure to be a banner year for Palm and all Windows Mobile devices. But do you think the Treo will outsell the Blackberry by year's end?
I will have to say, having used a Treo 700 for a few hours, I personally find the K-Jam's keyboard much easier to use, but the convenience of having the keyboard always available has its advantages.
"Late last year, Joe Beery, chief information officer of US Airways Group Inc., began looking for a new wireless email device. While his company had deployed more than 300 BlackBerry gadgets to its top executives, Mr. Beery wanted to evaluate alternatives, particularly since BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd. was embroiled in a nasty lawsuit that threatened to shut down its email service. So Mr. Beery turned to Palm Inc.'s Treo smartphone, which combines a cellphone with wireless email capabilities and other applications such as word processing. Within a few weeks, Mr. Beery had given up his BlackBerry and switched over to the Palm device. And while he has no plans to eliminate the BlackBerry from US Airways, the CIO now counts the Treo as another option for the airline. "I find the Treo is more usable than the BlackBerry," Mr. Beery says. "It's really the only other option we saw on the market."
Palm is internally projecting the Treo will match or outsell the Blackberry by the end of 2007. The company I work for officially supports the Blackberry, but I have been able to get them to at least take a look at alternatives. The Treo, both PalmOS and Windows Mobile version is so much more powerful than a Balckberry, and the Windows Mobile version is a portable office, just like all other WM5 devices. The permanent ROM storage for all data is the clincher. You just can't deploy devices that can lose everything when the battery dies, and it is a shame it took until last year for MS to release a Pocket PC Phone with this feature. Now that they have that done, as well as a reliable push system and a partner like Palm that develops killer hardware and has global name recognition, it is sure to be a banner year for Palm and all Windows Mobile devices. But do you think the Treo will outsell the Blackberry by year's end?
I will have to say, having used a Treo 700 for a few hours, I personally find the K-Jam's keyboard much easier to use, but the convenience of having the keyboard always available has its advantages.
