Friday, October 3, 2003
Palm This, Palm That, Toshiba Might Throw in Their Hat?
Posted by Jason Dunn in "THOUGHT" @ 07:00 AM
The three most-discussed stories of the past week ("Palm Tungsten 3 Reviews", "Why I Miss My Palm III", and "Toshiba: 'The PocketPC market is pretty much dead.' ") all have something in common: the Palm camp is moving fast, and the Pocket PC camp is not.
For the longest time, back in the days of the Palm-size PC, Windows CE-based PDAs have had hardware that pushes the envelope. While Palm devices languished at a puny 160 x 160, Pocket PCs had a mighty 320 x 240 resolution, resulting in a much nicer display. Then Sony went to 320 x 320...and the Pocket PC stayed the same. The new Palm Tungsten 3 offers 320 x 480 resolution and instant landscape mode. For those keeping score, that's double the resolution of the Pocket PC. When I look at Palm units with that resolution, there's no denying it: the crispness of the text, and quite often the quality of the screens, is a marked improvement over what we have in the Pocket PC camp. Since back in late 2001, Pocket PC owners have been begging Microsoft for a bump in resolution. We're now coming up on the end of 2003, and still we sit at 320 x 240. And when you consider that Windows Mobile 2003 just came out a few months ago, given Microsoft's release cycle, it will be late 2004 before we see anything changed. How did Microsoft fail to see this coming when their users have been yelling about it for three years?
And performance? Don't even get me started on performance - the Pocket PC OS is more flexible and powerful than the Palm OS, but as anyone who has used a Zire 71 can tell you, the responsiveness of it will put any Pocket PC to shame. Remember though that DOS was fast too - when Palm finally releases a true multi-tasking OS, will they be able to maintain that snappy performance? We'll see what happens.
While there's been some consolidation and thinning about the Palm ranks (Handera faded away, Handspring is being acquired by Palm), it's obvious that Palm is no longer sitting on their hands, riding out the popularity of their OS as they once did. The Pocket PC camp has been chipping away at Palm's market share, and in some countries such as Australia, the Pocket PC has taken the lead. HP is innovating hard, but they seem to be the only truly creative OEM on the Pocket PC side of things, while companies like Gateway and JVC can't seem to commit to a course of action. Meanwhile, Palm, Sony, and Handspring have been releasing new devices with hardware that pushes the envelope of mobile computing.
The Pocket PC once held the crown as the most innovative and cutting-edge platform in both hardware and software, and I want to see it re-take that crown from Palm. Microsoft needs to drop the hammer and make the next version of Windows Mobile a tangible improvement over what we have now - a leap like Windows XP was over Windows ME, not a Windows 98 to Windows 98 SE, which is what it feels like we've been seeing for the past two versions. I grow tired of hearing "We didn't have the resource to implement that feature...". Tap into some of that multi-billion dollar war chest and make it happen! Pocket PC OEMs need to get creative, win the hearts and minds of consumers with sexy and innovative designs, and make Pocket PC hardware the most cutting-edge PDA platform out there.
If it doesn't happen, those of us on the Pocket PC side of the fence may just grow tired of feeling like second-class mobile device citizens and look to another platform with a stronger vision for the future. No, the sky is not falling in on the Pocket PC camp, but Palm has sprinted ahead in some key areas, and Microsoft and most of their OEM partners seem to be still strolling along...not realizing that the race is now on.
For the longest time, back in the days of the Palm-size PC, Windows CE-based PDAs have had hardware that pushes the envelope. While Palm devices languished at a puny 160 x 160, Pocket PCs had a mighty 320 x 240 resolution, resulting in a much nicer display. Then Sony went to 320 x 320...and the Pocket PC stayed the same. The new Palm Tungsten 3 offers 320 x 480 resolution and instant landscape mode. For those keeping score, that's double the resolution of the Pocket PC. When I look at Palm units with that resolution, there's no denying it: the crispness of the text, and quite often the quality of the screens, is a marked improvement over what we have in the Pocket PC camp. Since back in late 2001, Pocket PC owners have been begging Microsoft for a bump in resolution. We're now coming up on the end of 2003, and still we sit at 320 x 240. And when you consider that Windows Mobile 2003 just came out a few months ago, given Microsoft's release cycle, it will be late 2004 before we see anything changed. How did Microsoft fail to see this coming when their users have been yelling about it for three years?
And performance? Don't even get me started on performance - the Pocket PC OS is more flexible and powerful than the Palm OS, but as anyone who has used a Zire 71 can tell you, the responsiveness of it will put any Pocket PC to shame. Remember though that DOS was fast too - when Palm finally releases a true multi-tasking OS, will they be able to maintain that snappy performance? We'll see what happens.
While there's been some consolidation and thinning about the Palm ranks (Handera faded away, Handspring is being acquired by Palm), it's obvious that Palm is no longer sitting on their hands, riding out the popularity of their OS as they once did. The Pocket PC camp has been chipping away at Palm's market share, and in some countries such as Australia, the Pocket PC has taken the lead. HP is innovating hard, but they seem to be the only truly creative OEM on the Pocket PC side of things, while companies like Gateway and JVC can't seem to commit to a course of action. Meanwhile, Palm, Sony, and Handspring have been releasing new devices with hardware that pushes the envelope of mobile computing.
The Pocket PC once held the crown as the most innovative and cutting-edge platform in both hardware and software, and I want to see it re-take that crown from Palm. Microsoft needs to drop the hammer and make the next version of Windows Mobile a tangible improvement over what we have now - a leap like Windows XP was over Windows ME, not a Windows 98 to Windows 98 SE, which is what it feels like we've been seeing for the past two versions. I grow tired of hearing "We didn't have the resource to implement that feature...". Tap into some of that multi-billion dollar war chest and make it happen! Pocket PC OEMs need to get creative, win the hearts and minds of consumers with sexy and innovative designs, and make Pocket PC hardware the most cutting-edge PDA platform out there.
If it doesn't happen, those of us on the Pocket PC side of the fence may just grow tired of feeling like second-class mobile device citizens and look to another platform with a stronger vision for the future. No, the sky is not falling in on the Pocket PC camp, but Palm has sprinted ahead in some key areas, and Microsoft and most of their OEM partners seem to be still strolling along...not realizing that the race is now on.
