Wednesday, June 7, 2006
How The Pocket PC Beat The Palm
Posted by Ed Hansberry in "ARTICLE" @ 06:00 PM
http://sastwingees.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2006/6/4/2005214.html
Enterprise, enterprise, enterprise. :wink: This is a blog entry about how Microsoft beat Palm at its own game, and what Apple should learn from this as Microsoft takes aim at the iTunes/iPod combo.
"Let us first look at Microsoft brilliantly outflanked Palm to the extent that Palm capitulated entirely and released a Treo with a Windows Mobile OS. Interestingly, as I pointed out last week, Palm did use the much-talked-about license-your-OS strategy advocated by Clayton Christensen. It licensed the OS to several partners (Sony, Garmin, Tapwave, Handspring, Handera...) and for some time it did seem like the Palm was winning the battle. Microsoft, meanwhile, made quite a few attempts (remember the brick-sized clamshell Jornada with a full-keyboard, anyone?) and finally hit a home run with the Compaq iPaq which used a similar stylus-based UI pioneered by Palm. iPaq was introduced in 2000, a full four years after the Palm Pilot debuted in 1996. In the interim, MS has also done another important thing which will help it in the year 2002, as we will see - it built the OS as a general purpose one capable of running on multiple types of processors including the more powerful Intel ARM-based XScale processors."
The article also mentions one of the key turning points for the Pocket PC vs Palm war, the year both UPS and FedEx went with the Pocket PC for their mobile solutions, helping to solidify the Pocket PC as a serious enterprise tool.
UPS truck on Windows Mobile steroids
My favorite quote though is from the Palm 10 year anniversary press release. "February 1999 The sleek, modern Palm V handheld redefines the handheld industry with a new icon a product that strategically had zero additional features from its predecessor. Message: style matters." Of course, Microsoft and its OEM partners finally got that, something the iPAQ 3600 clearly showed. However, Palm forgot that style wasn't all that mattered. You can have a car that looks like a Porsche or Ferrari on the outside but if it has the chassis and drive train from a Ford Escort, it is still a Ford Escort.
Enterprise, enterprise, enterprise. :wink: This is a blog entry about how Microsoft beat Palm at its own game, and what Apple should learn from this as Microsoft takes aim at the iTunes/iPod combo.
"Let us first look at Microsoft brilliantly outflanked Palm to the extent that Palm capitulated entirely and released a Treo with a Windows Mobile OS. Interestingly, as I pointed out last week, Palm did use the much-talked-about license-your-OS strategy advocated by Clayton Christensen. It licensed the OS to several partners (Sony, Garmin, Tapwave, Handspring, Handera...) and for some time it did seem like the Palm was winning the battle. Microsoft, meanwhile, made quite a few attempts (remember the brick-sized clamshell Jornada with a full-keyboard, anyone?) and finally hit a home run with the Compaq iPaq which used a similar stylus-based UI pioneered by Palm. iPaq was introduced in 2000, a full four years after the Palm Pilot debuted in 1996. In the interim, MS has also done another important thing which will help it in the year 2002, as we will see - it built the OS as a general purpose one capable of running on multiple types of processors including the more powerful Intel ARM-based XScale processors."
The article also mentions one of the key turning points for the Pocket PC vs Palm war, the year both UPS and FedEx went with the Pocket PC for their mobile solutions, helping to solidify the Pocket PC as a serious enterprise tool.
UPS truck on Windows Mobile steroids
My favorite quote though is from the Palm 10 year anniversary press release. "February 1999 The sleek, modern Palm V handheld redefines the handheld industry with a new icon a product that strategically had zero additional features from its predecessor. Message: style matters." Of course, Microsoft and its OEM partners finally got that, something the iPAQ 3600 clearly showed. However, Palm forgot that style wasn't all that mattered. You can have a car that looks like a Porsche or Ferrari on the outside but if it has the chassis and drive train from a Ford Escort, it is still a Ford Escort.
