Comments on: Palm’s Folly, er…Foleo http://betterthannew.wordpress.com/2007/05/30/palms-folly-erfoleo/ Innovation, Design, Strategy, Controversy Sun, 03 Aug 2008 11:53:38 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 By: Adam http://betterthannew.wordpress.com/2007/05/30/palms-folly-erfoleo/#comment-12 Adam Fri, 01 Jun 2007 17:22:56 +0000 http://betterthannew.wordpress.com/2007/05/30/palms-folly-erfoleo/#comment-12 You didn't even bother to read the specs? The Foleo has WiFi, therefore it does not rely "on owning a Palm Treo to connect to the Internet", though it will happily, and readily, use one if you want it to. You are very wrong about this product. I think it's a great idea. It's just like the first Palm organizers: simple, effective, very usable. The Foleo has Wifi, Bluetooth, USB port, SD and CF card slots, Full size keyboard and a new pointing device, large screen, long battery life, INSTANT ON, Linux OS, auto syncs with smartphones (not just Treos). I can easily envision future models with smaller (7") screens, folding keyboards, built-in webcams, tablet-like swiveling screens etc. You can read your emails, surf the web, edit word and excel documents, read pdf docs on it (pretty much what most people do while commuting). I'm sure, third party developers like myself, will soon come up with many more solutions, including IM chat clients, media players, text editors, ebook readers, PIM apps etc. You get all this for less than $500, and you laugh at it? Who needs a $1000+ laptop that fries your lap, takes ages to turn on, runs out of juice in less than 2 hours, and weighs almost 10 lbs? Not me! I think you're so blind-sighted with his Jobsness' eye candies and mind games that you can't see how elegantly simple and useful this product really is. You didn’t even bother to read the specs? The Foleo has WiFi, therefore it does not rely “on owning a Palm Treo to connect to the Internet”, though it will happily, and readily, use one if you want it to.

You are very wrong about this product. I think it’s a great idea. It’s just like the first Palm organizers: simple, effective, very usable. The Foleo has Wifi, Bluetooth, USB port, SD and CF card slots, Full size keyboard and a new pointing device, large screen, long battery life, INSTANT ON, Linux OS, auto syncs with smartphones (not just Treos). I can easily envision future models with smaller (7″) screens, folding keyboards, built-in webcams, tablet-like swiveling screens etc.

You can read your emails, surf the web, edit word and excel documents, read pdf docs on it (pretty much what most people do while commuting). I’m sure, third party developers like myself, will soon come up with many more solutions, including IM chat clients, media players, text editors, ebook readers, PIM apps etc.

You get all this for less than $500, and you laugh at it? Who needs a $1000+ laptop that fries your lap, takes ages to turn on, runs out of juice in less than 2 hours, and weighs almost 10 lbs? Not me!

I think you’re so blind-sighted with his Jobsness’ eye candies and mind games that you can’t see how elegantly simple and useful this product really is.

]]> By: Mark http://betterthannew.wordpress.com/2007/05/30/palms-folly-erfoleo/#comment-11 Mark Fri, 01 Jun 2007 02:02:10 +0000 http://betterthannew.wordpress.com/2007/05/30/palms-folly-erfoleo/#comment-11 This is a difficult post to write. I work with my team over hundreds of hours in the course of a project analyzing interviews, peoples habits, needs, desires, to avoid just such a product from seeing the light of day. Not because I have some deep seated love for Palm, but because the Foleo is such a wrong-headed left turn of a product by a brilliant guy, it has me reeling. I cannot overstate people’s reaction to it. When I showed people the images and semi-Functionality of the product the first response is silence like they have been whacked with a 2 x 4. The second response is a series incoherent gurgles like “but..”, “um..” Whaaa?”. It’s true, it seems the concept it so bad, simply gazing at a picture of it rips the fabric of space-time that it immediately sucks in all capability for reasoned thought in the surrounding vicinity. It’s the digital equivalent of Medusa’s head, able to turn any career into immovable stone. This is a difficult post to write. I work with my team over hundreds of hours in the course of a project analyzing interviews, peoples habits, needs, desires, to avoid just such a product from seeing the light of day. Not because I have some deep seated love for Palm, but because the Foleo is such a wrong-headed left turn of a product by a brilliant guy, it has me reeling. I cannot overstate people’s reaction to it. When I showed people the images and semi-Functionality of the product the first response is silence like they have been whacked with a 2 x 4. The second response is a series incoherent gurgles like “but..”, “um..” Whaaa?”. It’s true, it seems the concept it so bad, simply gazing at a picture of it rips the fabric of space-time that it immediately sucks in all capability for reasoned thought in the surrounding vicinity. It’s the digital equivalent of Medusa’s head, able to turn any career into immovable stone.

]]> By: Top Posts « WordPress.com http://betterthannew.wordpress.com/2007/05/30/palms-folly-erfoleo/#comment-10 Top Posts « WordPress.com Fri, 01 Jun 2007 00:00:29 +0000 http://betterthannew.wordpress.com/2007/05/30/palms-folly-erfoleo/#comment-10 [...] Palm’s Folly, er…Foleo [image] If we had any lingering doubts about Palm’s inability to compete with Nokia, Motorola and Apple,  look […] [...] [...] Palm’s Folly, er…Foleo [image] If we had any lingering doubts about Palm’s inability to compete with Nokia, Motorola and Apple,  look […] [...]

]]> By: Steve and Bill Reminisce, Mock Gil Amelio http://betterthannew.wordpress.com/2007/05/30/palms-folly-erfoleo/#comment-9 Steve and Bill Reminisce, Mock Gil Amelio Thu, 31 May 2007 07:23:46 +0000 http://betterthannew.wordpress.com/2007/05/30/palms-folly-erfoleo/#comment-9 [...] D: All Things Digital conference has been quite interesting, from the introduction of Palm’s ludicrous Foleo device to Microsoft’s over-the-top (literally) Surface computing initiative and Apple’s more [...] [...] D: All Things Digital conference has been quite interesting, from the introduction of Palm’s ludicrous Foleo device to Microsoft’s over-the-top (literally) Surface computing initiative and Apple’s more [...]

]]> By: Cult of Mac » Blog Archive » Steve and Bill Reminisce, Mock Gil Amelio http://betterthannew.wordpress.com/2007/05/30/palms-folly-erfoleo/#comment-8 Cult of Mac » Blog Archive » Steve and Bill Reminisce, Mock Gil Amelio Thu, 31 May 2007 04:27:31 +0000 http://betterthannew.wordpress.com/2007/05/30/palms-folly-erfoleo/#comment-8 [...] D: All Things Digital conference has been quite interesting, from the introduction of Palm’s ludicrous Foleo device to Microsoft’s over-the-top (literally) Surface computing initiative and Apple’s more [...] [...] D: All Things Digital conference has been quite interesting, from the introduction of Palm’s ludicrous Foleo device to Microsoft’s over-the-top (literally) Surface computing initiative and Apple’s more [...]

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