Friday, May 23, 2003
Does Palm Understand Its Predicament?
Posted by Ed Hansberry in "THE COMPETITION" @ 09:00 AM
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=9637
Palm seems to have tied itself very closely with Microsoft Office, even Outlook. Does Palm understand how this could cause major problems for itself in the future? This is an interesting article that brings up a few things I hadn't considered before. I am not sure I agree with all of it, but some of it rings true to me.
"Palm bundles the Tungsten with a supposedly huge value in bundled software. As with any piece of hardware, most is garbage, with the occasional useful gem thrown in. One gem seemed to be VersaMail. I was actually looking forward to being able to download my address book to the Palm, and take it with me. Productivity on the road would go up, new contacts would go in automatically, and life would be a small bit better. I quickly loaded it up."
Of course, the experience is less than ideal. In fact, it is downright frustrating, including having to deal with a tech support department that saw the word "VersaMail" and replied back with a canned response - an occurrence all too common with many tech support departments. :(
"Unfortunately Palm either has corporate blinders on, or doesn't get the big picture. Microsoft does, and you can bet it is laughing all the way to the bank. While Palm may make the best hardware out there, without a radical change in software, my next purchase will be an iPaq."
Palm seems to have tied itself very closely with Microsoft Office, even Outlook. Does Palm understand how this could cause major problems for itself in the future? This is an interesting article that brings up a few things I hadn't considered before. I am not sure I agree with all of it, but some of it rings true to me.
"Palm bundles the Tungsten with a supposedly huge value in bundled software. As with any piece of hardware, most is garbage, with the occasional useful gem thrown in. One gem seemed to be VersaMail. I was actually looking forward to being able to download my address book to the Palm, and take it with me. Productivity on the road would go up, new contacts would go in automatically, and life would be a small bit better. I quickly loaded it up."
Of course, the experience is less than ideal. In fact, it is downright frustrating, including having to deal with a tech support department that saw the word "VersaMail" and replied back with a canned response - an occurrence all too common with many tech support departments. :(
"Unfortunately Palm either has corporate blinders on, or doesn't get the big picture. Microsoft does, and you can bet it is laughing all the way to the bank. While Palm may make the best hardware out there, without a radical change in software, my next purchase will be an iPaq."
