Palm CEO is sceptical of the iPhone
In a recent interview, the CEO of Palm, Ed Colligan, has attempted to insult the iPhone:
"In my opinion it looks rather like a highly developed media player, which happens to include a phone.The iPhone could be interesting for people who like music and films with occasional phone use, but for businesspeople the touch-sensitive screen without a physical button keyboard will be a challenge."
Despite claiming to have a 'great respect' for Apple, Colligan continues by saying that Apple has supplied 'nothing at all' regarding the iPhone. He also manages to slip in a bit of product placement:
"[It] won't be easy to create a good smartphone that will functions on networks worldwide. Nokia, Motorola, and Samsung have worked on this for for 25 years and have only partially succeeded today. Our Palm Treo already has 90% of Apple's iPhone features at a much lower price."
Well, let's take a look...
* The first brick phones that came to market claiming to be 'mobile' fulfilled one primary function: to make telephone calls whilst away from a fixed line phone.
* A little later, text messaging came onto the scene.
* Today, mobile phones are little multimedia computers that do so much more than simply make phone calls.
So, every other manufacturer is trying to cram as much media and entertainment functionality into their phones - why not Apple, who after all have made a killing with their audio and video iPods, run a successful online music and video store, and therefore do know a thing or two about media players. Adding a phone isn't rocket science.
Maybe the first incarnation of the iPhone won't be right for business - but that's more likely to be caused by a lack of enterprise connectivity rather than having a touchscreen. It's a bit rich coming from the CEO of a company that makes touchscreen devices, albeit less developed than the iPhone's system, and generally requiring a stylus.
Apple may not have supplied the iPhone yet - everyone knows it's rolling out from around June this year. That doesn't mean that a select few journalists and analysts haven't been able to play with the prototype device.
Sure, your Treo may, to the untrained eye, function to 90% of the standard of iPhone, at a lower price, but it's still not the genuine article. And analysts agree.
PC guys are not going to just figure this out. They're not going to just walk in.
Everyone starts somewhere, Ed.
Related stories:
- Avi Greengart gives positive analysis of the iPhone
- iPhone under fire from LG for 'stealing idea'
- iPhone sets the standard for the mobile industry to aim at
Powermat: Revolutionary Gadget Charging
Came straight to this page? Visit www.iphonic.tv for all the latest news.
