Trying and trying again.

Thoughts on Palm’s future

Today was a rough day for Palm.  People are piling on left and right, asking whether Palm is dead, debating whether Palm should sell to Google, etc.  

As a Pre owner, I’ve been consistently pleased with Palm’s software development efforts.  But success depends on more than a great product.  The Pre’s original television ads were memorable only for their strangeness.  The lightweight plastic casing is cheap (but insurable).  And now we live in a world where a well developed app ecosystem appears critical, but webOS’s installed base may be too small to attract a critical mass of developers, despite Palm’s best efforts.

So it was a rough day for Palm, but I’m not as bearish as many others seems to be.  In politics, you’re never as smart as you look when you’re winning, and you’re never as dumb as you look when you’re losing.  The same holds true for Palm.  Marketing campaigns can be relaunched.  New hardware can be sourced.  And platform-dependent apps may have a shelf life—the combination of next-gen browsers and higher perceived connection speeds could plausibly substitute browser-based cloud apps for most locally installed apps in the future.

At the very least, I hope webOS development continues. Palm’s software development team has innovated at every turn; I’d like to see what they can do.