The new palm pre
Category: Business
Published: 01/11/2009 11:40 a.m.
I am a tech guy at heart, so CES and macworld week are fun times for me. I watched the Phil-note, and there wasn't much there, besides the late mention that I can now buy music over EDGE. That may cost me a few dollars over time, but everything else was boring business/pro stuff that I don't really care about. So, turning to CES, I didn't expect there to be much there to wow me. Hopes of wireless USB and other real technology advances were not seen, instead getting some new netbooks and one special phone.
That phone is the Palm Pre, and it looks pretty great. I watched the long presentation that they gave, and it shows off some innovative things. Also, notably, some Arrested Development references in the contact list. In the tech demo, they really showcased some great features, but also gave many hints at where they get their innovation, which I am not impressed with. First the bad, then the good...
The bad: Palm basically copied 90% of the iphone, which is not innovation. First, the device itself. Its size is withing 10% of the iphone in almost every way. Its black, volume on the left, sleep and headphone on top. 3.1" multi-touch screen, single home button, and similar proximity and accelerometer sensors. All very iphone-like. Then the OS. you've got a permanent bar at the bottom, and a grid layout for applications. The cards are almost identical to the way apple lays out safari pages. And since the applications are all essentially web-apps, the cards really are just webpages, but I guess local. The multi-touch is very similar, and as a whole, it just reeks of "like an iphone". None of this is innovation. It is copying things.
Now the good: The other 10% of the device is very great innovation. The use of the area below the screen for gestures is very smart. You get input without using screen real-estate. The slideout keyboard and removable battery are direct targets of things people don't like about the iphone. These features will hopefully address some people's concerns. The OS itself looks beautiful, and the ability to have multiple apps open at once is very cool. And all of the integration with google, facebook, and outlook (for business) are a big deal. This type of integration is becoming it's own market, since you need an additional service to combine all of your other things. There are some other little tweaks in the OS like how interruptions are handled which I think have great purpose behind them. Also, the inductance charging stone looks very cool, and is really a true innovation put to good use. These kinds of things make great products, and the Pre will be a great product.
Overall, though, the Pre is just a revised iphone. The issue with this is the timing. The iphone was announced over two years ago. At the time it was a huge advancement. Now, two years later, the Pre comes out. It is an advancement, but not as significant as the original iphone. I just don't see them jumping ahead as far. They are ultimately playing a game of catch-up, while Apple is secretly building the next big thing. If I was stuck on Sprint service, then I would be very excited. Otherwise, I am mildly interested.
In the tech world, you can't succeed merely by copying the best and adding some little tweaks. You have to re-invent and innovate and produce things people have never heard of before. I've heard of the Pre before; it is called the iphone, and I've had it for a while. I applaud Palm for their added features, but I hope they don't think this is their big ticket. Also, I am not a Sprint fan, and CDMA is an old technology and not the world-wide standard. I am guessing this will be a big hit for a short while but while fizzle fast. Apple has been working on the next iphone updates for months and in June it is likely they will have some news that may blow away the Pre. Palm can't win at a catch-up race, and it really needs to think further ahead.