Hi everyone. I’m going to try to give my thoughts on people’s reaction to Palm’s Foleo. Honestly, I’m really amazed by how seemingly angry and dismissive people are about the Foleo. It makes me wonder if something else is motivating such harsh responses.

I think about people’s response to Apple’s iPhone which, while not everyone feels this way, is that people have this anticipation about Jobs and Apple - almost a  “what is Apple going to do right next?” And this seems to be in contrast to, what I think, is the disappointment and frustration people have come to have over the years about Palm which seems to go something like “What is Palm not doing now?” or “how is Palm underwhelming us now?”

How do I feel about Palm? Well, I haven’t used a Palm or Treo since 2003. I’ve been using Pocket PC phones since that time (the i700 and then i730). I like the Palm Pilots but don’t trust their operating system. Too many anecdotal stories of Palm Treos resetting on their own. And then there’s the turtle like pace with which Palm seems to move to offer new innovations. So this in particular seems to be a big point of frustration for many people.

My Initial Impressions of the Foleo

When I first saw the Foleo I thought-wow! Instant on for applications, one touch synchronization for e-mail, word, excel, the ability to see photos, internet at the speed of available WiFi or EVDO or UMTS (I think I have this right), 5 hours of battery life, a full size keyboard & full size color screen and all weighing in at 2.5lbs!

But then you realize the shortcomings of the Foleo: no wireless broadband without a smartphone with broadband and Bluetooth unless one of the wireless carriers offers a wireless aircard that fits into the Foleo’s USB port (I’m assuming this could be an option), no music player, no synchronization with contacts, calendar and tasks, no camera, no YouTube, no broadband if your Treo or Pocket PC Phone’s battery dies, no DVD player capability, limited memory, and no video camera for video conferencing.

I suddenly wasn’t so enthused about the Foleo. But then I asked myself, how often do I use my i730’s media player? Answer: about a fraction as often as I use my iPod Nano. Hmm. Why is that? Because, the iPod music player is vastly superior to the Pocket PC Phone’s media player. What did Jeff Hawkins say about specialization?

I have to ask the question: what do I want to do with an ultra portable mobile device? Put another way (and this question is for every gadget geek who uses a laptop and/or a PDA cell phone) what do I do with my i730 (replace the i730 phrase with your cell phone/laptop) that could be done better on an ultra portable mobile device? The answer to this question is very personal to each gadget geek’s needs & preferences. There are certain things I always do with my i730 that are nonnegotiable. I must have these functions. Then there are things that would be nice to have. Given this “step back for a moment” to really review your mobile needs, what’s your “mobile profile” or mobile needs & preferences?

These preferences reflect how I want to use an ultra portable mobile device. Other gadget folks may have a very different profile from mine and may even want to add features to this list. That’s ok. Personal mobile preferences are personal. How each of us uses a mobile device is distinct to how we run our day to day lives.

How does the Foleo size up now? For me, the Foleo is missing 2 critical apps: Contacts & Calendar. Mr. Hawkins figures business people would love to view their e-mail & word & excel attachments on a full screen for extended work. Is it possible business people who are on the go would also want to review their month’s or week’s appointments on a full screen so they can reschedule appointments or get a feel for the amount of meetings ahead that they’ll have to tackle? What about contacts? I have close to 500 on my i730. It would be nice to see them on a full screen at Starbucks or at an airport if the need arose to search through all 500 of them. And that does happen.

So, am I panning the Foleo for not having the contacts and calendar apps? Well, if it were for sale today, I wouldn’t buy it. It has many of the features I actually do want but for my life, I would love to have full screen access to contacts and calendar when away from my desk. But Mr. Hawkins says Linux developers are in the wings ready to develop apps for new Foleo owners. Here’s where I see a problem in Mr. Hawkins strategy.

Ok, I understand he’s trying to build a demand and he’s targeting business users. Well, not having calendar and apps out of the box for the Foleo is a problem. And promising that developers will make apps in the future doesn’t solve the problem today. It’s an open ended problem with no time frame for a solution.

Mr. Hawkins reminisced in his Foleo announcement about creating the Palm Pilot in 1992 (I think that’s the year) but what he’s not taking into account in bringing this device to market is the speed and high expectation levels gadget users have in 2007, not 1992. I ask you, how old is YouTube? Two years old? Three? I don’t think it was even around when I was using my Treo 90 in 2002. My point: technology for gadget geeks today is changing and improving at an ever faster pace. Technology improvements that you might have seen take several years back in the 80s or 90s might take only a couple years now. Is my Samsung i730 an improvement over my Samsung i700, both of which were only a couple of years apart? Let’s see-slide out keyboard, EVDO, smaller form factor, and voice dialing. Seems like pretty important improvements that came pretty fast.

Mr. Hawkins can’t expect to execute his strategy with the sort of evolutionary speed his Palm and Treos have taken over time. Competition is fierce today and that pushes gadget innovation at an ever faster and faster pace. As a result, all of us gadget geeks want it better, smaller, faster and now. And with all the bells and whistles we can get so we can run our lives on the go which is what many gadget lovers are about I suspect.

Building a loyal clientele of folks who’ll want the Foleo makes sense. But Palm doesn’t have that kind of time. With companies like Samsung, Microsoft, and Apple working fast to give us digital in our pockets and/or in our briefcases, Palm will need to execute just as fast or be left with people saying “somebody’s else device already does that-and better and with more.” Palm should certainly be worried about Apple if the rumor and speculation about it developing an ultra portable laptop turns out to be true.

To get back to my calendar and contact example, what Mr. Hawkins should of done is announced the Foleo with many more Linux developers who would have already developed numerous options available for users to add on the day they got their Foleo. The Foleo presentation on the Palm website says something about the ability to add apps at the click of a button from the web browser. Great. How about giving us a ready list of apps today that anticipates users’ needs-like my need to see my calendar and contacts on a full screen. It’s not enough to say there’s a bunch of Linux guys out there ready to develop for you. I’m not putting down $500 to wait for potential solutions. That’s like a T-Mobile rep telling you they’re always putting in new cell towers so the signal should get better eventually. Are you ready to sign up for our cell phone service?

I like the Foleo a great deal. Instant on for word, excel and e-mail is the bomb. Internet via EVDO or UTMS or wifi on a big screen would great too. No spinning hard drive to worry about-excellent. If only Microsoft would learn that shoving a whole Windows Vista PC into a little Q1 Ultra that takes too much time to load and get info from on a small screen is just not the way to go, maybe then UMPCs would really take off (I am reserving judgment on the HTC Shift-that form factor with its potentially touch type capable keyboard is very intriguing).

What is a potential design flaw in the Foleo is its reliance on the user’s smartphone for internet access via Bluetooth. How much power will this suck up during the day? Will your smartphone need a recharge in the middle of the work day even though the Foleo can still keep going because of its 5 hour battery? Maybe I’m off about this battery issue so please, if someone knows better, let me know.

I really can’t say enough about instant on. It’s so important for anyone on the go. If you don’t believe me and think waiting for a Windows Vista UMPC to boot up is ok, ask yourself, how would you feel if your cell phone took 3-4 minutes to turn on? How about your iPod?

And what about Palm’s simplicity? I love the fact that syncing e-mail, word, excel could be so easy for anyone to do it. I freely admit, I am not a tech guy-I’m a tech user, a tech lover. It just has to work. I don’t want to do the computer help desk thing to get value out of my mobile device. I suspect they’ll be a bunch of that for a Windows Vista UMPC. Intuitive and simple access to my mobile apps is what I need and is what Palm can offer to this field but it needs to execute at the speed of today’s digital innovation. Anything less and gadget lovers will go looking elsewhere.