Palm's Return and New Entrance Into the Smart Phone Market with the slick Treo Pro

Palm's Return and New Entrance Into the Smart Phone Market with the slick Treo Pro

Palm wants to push Apple iPhones and Blackberrys over. It has come ready to unleash the power of its slick Treo. Palm wants to get back in the smart phone world which it pioneered a few years ago. The Treo Pro is a stylish smart phone for business users. It has the thinnest profile: 13.5 milimeters, or 0.53 inches. If you take a look at is predecessors, you will see there is no resemblance there at all. With this introduction, Palm is serious about getting back into the game which has been lately dominated by RIM or Research in Motion and Apple, with its iPhones 3G.

As a consumer, I truly appreciate the new competition that the products of Apple and Rim are going to get. I just hope that the prices will go down on each of these models. What I like about the Palm Treo is that it is cool and has a great hardware design. Its packaging and accessories are elegant and easy to use. The Treo is the last release of a series of new products brought on by Palm. Last October, Palm released Palm Centro which cost $99. It has been a consumer-oriented smart phone designed for women and younger users. With the sales of more than 2 million units worldwide, Palm has been on its way to regain part of its market lost to the blackberrys and iphones.

Palm did not rest on its laurels. It continues to dedicate more attention to its research labs. Soon it developed the 800w which was a Sprint exclusive. Like the Treo, it offers a Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional operating system.

What's all the hoopla about the Treo? It is a GSM phone with 3G highspeed data access, Wi-Fi and GPS. This great phone should meet the needs of most business people including IT managers and other end users. Its features are superb: Windows Mobile 6.1 professiona Os, 3G high speed data, 256 MB of memory, 400 MHz processor, Wi-Fi, GPS, 2 megapixel camera, 320 x 320 display; Talke time goes as long as 5 hours or 250 hours of standby. It weighs 4.69 oz.

How Much Does The Treo Pro Cost?

The Pro will sell in the United States for $549 unlocked. With this kind of price, how many users will buy it? Can the Treo truly push iphones and blackberrys over? With the sales of more than 7 million iPhones in just a year and with people clamoring and waiting long time to put their hands on the iPhone 3Gs, one may wonder whether there will be a strong market for the Treo with this kind of price. Keep in mind that there will soon be a new smart phone that carries Google's Android operating system. Right now, Palm should try to line up some independent application developers. RIM, Apple and Windows Mobile are far ahead in the game. We must say that Palm is making the right steps right now with the release of the Treo Pro. We will see what the near future will bring.

Apple iPhone Hiccups: Dropped Calls but Fun to Have

People are complaining about the dropped calls and other issues pertaining to the iPhone. Others are saying that this product was supposed to carry the good name of the company.

"Andre Charland just bought an iPhone 3G, the phone from Apple (AAPL) that hit the market on July 11. But the Canadian software executive isn't giving up his BlackBerry Pearl. He says that the BlackBerry is a "workhorse" for e-mail and phone calls, while the iPhone isn't as reliable. "I’ve just had dropped calls and issues like that," says Charland. "I have the iPhone mostly for fun," like watching video or browsing the Web.

The iPhone has been a huge financial success for Apple, with sales outstripping most expectations. But some users, such as Charland, have found that the iPhone 3G, for all its benefits, isn't that great a phone. In recent days people have filled blogs about Apple, as well as the company's own site, with complaints of dropped calls and failed attempts to get connections for their new iPhones. On Aug. 12, Nomura Securities analyst Richard Windsor flagged the issue in a research note, calling it a "worrying sign." He said the development would give breathing room to rivals such Nokia (NOK) and BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (RIMM) .

Back to a BlackBerry
The reason for the iPhone's reception problems is in dispute. Two sources, including one close to Apple, say the issue is a chip from Infineon that manages wireless communication. But a spokesman for Infineon (IFX), Guenther Gaugler, says the chip performs smoothly with some Samsung phones. The two sources, who estimate the glitch affects less than 3% of iPhone 3G calls or Web sessions, say Apple expects to fix the problem by sending a software upgrade to each iPhone.

It's too late for Ryan Shaw. The salesman bought the new iPhone shortly after it came out. But he says he couldn't get service in his house near Cleveland and that 40% of his calls were dropped. His wife is expecting a baby, so he couldn't afford to miss a call. He ultimately switched back to a BlackBerry and Verizon Wireless. "[The iPhone] was a cool toy," says Shaw. "But it's a phone, and that's what I needed it to be first."

Plenty of people are taking Charland's approach. They buy the iPhone as a portable computer for Web surfing, video, and music. But they carry a second phone to make calls. "People use the iPhone as a PC in their pocket," says analyst Trip Chowdhry of Global Equities Research. "[Apple] should change the name to iTablet. It's slightly mispositioned."

$100 Million From Perkins for iFund Developers to Create Apps for iPhone 3G

Steve Jobs must be happy to learn that Perkins is setting aside $100 million for anybody, any developer who wants to develop apps for the iphone 3g. So the race is on. If there is money, there will be lots of people to come grab it. The only catch is that they have to work for it. So more apps for all of us!