[miffed]

although TBH I hold a little hope for this one , certainly looks interesting

http://i.gizmodo.com/5126702/palm-pre-first-impressions

....Maybe this is the one I have been waiting for ? :D

[Ben]

I'm hopeful WRT the Pre but, tbh, having seen old PalmOS devices it'd have to be a pretty radical departure to be even worth mentioning.

I honestly don't think it's going to be 'all that', but I hope it's good enough to compete in its own way. Palm can't be a million miles from disappearing altogether, surely, given they don't sell a massive number of phones and that excludes them from achieving certain economies of scale.

If it's not a good OS then it could easily be a casualty in 2009 IMHO, even if Palm survives on.

[Hands0n]

Definitely one to watch. iPhone users need other brands to come along and up the ante. That is good for iPhone owners. It is good for touchscreen owners of all brands.

Until the Palm Pre the only other serious competition comes in the form of the G1 "Googlephone". The upcoming release of their Cupcake build will add pressure on Apple to update the iPhone to deliver MMS and deliver against other shortcomings.

The Palm Pre looks the real deal. If they've got the OS and UI working flawlessly then they are in with a good chance against the competition. If not then we may well see this as Palm's swansong.

The big challenge to all of these companies is to avoid this class of handset becoming premium product. They really need to commoditise their devices if they are to succeed in the emerging markets that depend more on mobile comms than we do in the west.

[Ben]

The big challenge to all of these companies is to avoid this class of handset becoming premium product. They really need to commoditise their devices if they are to succeed in the emerging markets that depend more on mobile comms than we do in the west.
Absolutely. In many developing economies the mobile phone is or will be the primary method of accessing the Internet.

[miffed]

Ah , Nice to see Tim's got his feet under the table

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/01/21/apples-tim-cook-warns-competitors-if-you-rip-off-the-iphone-well-go-after-you/

Palm don't seem too bothered though !

http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/23/palm-responds-to-apples-veiled-threat-over-pre/

[Hands0n]

LOL - this is the stuff we need to shake us all out of our complacency. Lovin it :)