The Palm Gamble
What does it take to go up against something that has a solid market, a fanatic following and a brilliant strategist? An excellent foresight and the ability to make the possible out of the impossible. Who else would dare to take on something like the iPhone, that literally marked the era of touch-phones? None other than Jon Rubinstein, CEO, Palm Inc.Known better as the “guy who invented iPod”, Rubinstein worked as the Senior Vice President of Apple’s iPod Division till 2006.
Rubinstein joined Palm in 2007. As with Apple, he has helped bring out a revolutionary product, the Palm Pre. Its not new for Rubinstein to play his part as the underdog, rejuvenating and establishing a practically dead brand name. Apple was much in the same condition as Palm was before Rubinstein joined both. Palm which was once the alias for PDAs had succumbed to time and fate. Nowhere was Palm heard and told about until the Pre.
What makes Pre different from iPhone ? We have heard that the Pre and the new iPhone 3G S has essentially the same specs. The Pre takes the upper hand in the software. WebOS, the new Linux based OS introduced by Palm revolutionizes the way a developer used to program applications. They need not any longer be coded based on platform specific, company based programming languages. WebOS Applications can be programmed by anyone having knowledge of javascript, HTML and CSS. In this age of global blogging and web, most of us know some HTML.
It is not the quality or the ease of developing that is going to attract users. Because, for the majority, once an Apple, always an Apple. The success and the future of Palm will depend on the impact, both visual and usage, of the Pre. Apple on the other hand, convinced that they have an upper hand in the mobile market, are not to be ashamed or offended.
Apple responded within a couple of days by announcing the iPhone 3G S. It has been a while since Pre got out and the reviews are coming in. Almost all agree that the hardware is a bit flimsy, but at the same time praise and accolade WebOS and asks every phone developer to use WebOS as the platform of the future.
Where did Apple fail ? And why hasn’t iPhone 3G S developed the same sense of innovation and excitement that the original iPhone or the iPhone 3G had shown ? Apple is simply trying to get back in the race with a new, shiny, extra nice, eye candy wine in an old bottle. Save the Compass, nothing in iPhone 3G S is worth the switch from iPhone 3G. But as for Pre, a compelling and innovative OS resides pulling everyone to its grip like the Ring.
And Apple has to compete with iPhone 3G itself, coming out with the new iPhone OS3.0
But, will the Pre succeed ? Only time will win.
My liitle, secret?, Pre.
Everone likes the story of the Underdog.
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Martha on 08.24.2009
the iPhone 3G looks very cool and feature packed. i will be saving some of my allowance to buy that phone.
Acne88 on 09.12.2009
iPhone 3G is best phone ever released. it has great styling and has nice cool features that is why i like it so much.