Palm is Back!
I remember the last big Palm products, the Palm Pixi and Palm Pre mobile phones. The WebOS platform was one of the last big players that had the potential to confront the iOS and Android crowd with a unique interface and great selection of features.
The last WebOS item I actually owned was the HP TouchPad. A direct iPad competitor and at the time actually more advanced and feature rich than the iPad released at the time. Sadly, Palm and the HP takeover were short-lived and the WebOS platform was sold off to LG to power smart TVs.
Revival and a Pivot
Using the Palm brand name and some of the recognition that may still come with it, Palm are back with a mobile phone replacement that looks a lot like… well… a small mobile phone.
Palm report that the small mobile device is made for people who wish to be untethered from their digital devices. But still connected for a quick snapshat, instagram post, or text message.
And this device is seriously small. About as small as a standard “palm” size, further adding to the effect of the Palm branding for the new device.
Palm touting the device is only slightly bigger than a credit card.
But What Would You Really Use It For?
And this is the big question. Why?
Reviewing the Palm site can give a consumer the real purpose behind the device at the bottom of the product page where they compare the device, not to another mobile phone, but instead to a smart watch.
So the Palm is being targetted to people who may not want a smart watch but would still want another ancilary device to own. I am not sure the intersection there has a very large market. But with the increase in popularity of larger and larger mobile phones, perhaps the masses may realize that bigger is not always better?
Will It Make an Impact?
The million dollar question for the company is: Will people by in to the vision?
As an Apple Watch owner, the Series 3 and Series 4 with Cellular can almost completely duplicate the same functionality that the Palm device is touting, only securly on a wrist and always available. While it may be iOS exclusive, Google is also hard at work implementing improvements to WearOS (Their smart watch OS platform), leaving the Palm with a large amount of competition with only the form factor being the differenciator.
Will Palm prevail and sell these units? Being exclusive to Verizon Wireless in the US at launch limits the customer base, but if there is interest I am sure it will branch out to other carriers and perhaps even launch globally.
Perhaps like Blackberry, Palm could also rise from the ashes as a completely different company with different visions, but riding on the brand name and nostalgia of the business world who may still remember a time when Palm was the go-to provider for mobile technology.