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Palm still designing new phones, despite HP's doubts,

Since the announcement that it would be acquired by Hewlett-Packard, Palm has scarcely figured in any discussions of the smartphone landscape. HP wants the operating system, but is mainly focused on emerging device formats such as web-enabled printers and tablets, is the message from within the larger firm. But until the deal …

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Bullseyed
Alert

All Talk?

First and foremost, put yourself in HP's shoes. If you really were planning on keeping up with the Smart Phone market, would you want to tell anyone? I'd be lying through my teeth saying "no, no phones for us.... BAM iPhone killer".

HP and Apple don't really compete at all as it stands now. With the introduction of tablet PCs, they will be competing in one vertical. HP will likely pursue practicality, while Apple continues on it's usually "shiny but useless" path for the Jersey Shore/MTV crowd. Why not open up two fronts on Apple at the same time? If the iPhone and iPad are so similar, why would a webOS tablet not work just as well as a webOS phone? HP could use the exact same model as Apple (sharing OSes, apps, etc) and just do it better than Apple.

The wildcard then becomes Android tablets/phones and Google's response. We really don't need webOS AND Android. The apps will need to be crossplatform, or one will have to die off. I can't see HP or Google backing down, so it will become a war of who can throw money at it the longest until Microsoft gets their s*** together with a tablet OS and standardizes the industry.

Matt Bryant
Boffin
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RE: All Talk?

".....BAM iPhone killer...." Erm, whilst a big hp fanboi, and an occaissional iPaq user, I really don't think hp are going to make an iPhone "killer" for exactly the reason you mentioned. Apple phones are aimed at the Jersey Shore / MTV crowd, whereas hp products are either serious business tools or generalist consumer plays. Hp don't really do the fashion-victim bling stuff that Apple do, and to be an iPhone killer you'd have to make a bling product for that "I must have it just because someone else told me it was cool" crowd.

The idea of using WebOS in products such as tablets and printers is actually a bit alarming for opensourcers - hp could use Linux for free, so the fact that they paid out for an OS they know will not be impacted by others patents implies they didn't have the same confidence in Linux.....

Anyway, given a choice, for business use I'll still be using my BB rather than an iBone, iCowPat, Pre, or any WinMobile or WebOS device.

/Countdown to knee-jerk Apple fanboi response in three... two ... one.....

Volker Hett
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The Linux Kernel is free, but WebOS is much more than that.

As is Android. Although WebOS contains more free and open source than android does, there's still a lot you won't find in any garden variety Linux Distribution.

OffBeatMammal

the Pre is actually a nice device

although the keyboard is a little fiddly (I'd have preferred a compact qwerty affair like on some of the crackberries) the Pre/Pre Plus is a pretty nice phone. The Pixi has very little going for it - same keybaord but not a slider so the screen (which is the best part of the experience) is too small.

The UI harks back to the simplicity of the old PalmOS but offers the same sorts of features that you expect to find on a modern smartphone with iPhone on Android branding.

Sadly not supporting Band 4 (1700AWS/2100) in the US it's no use to me on T-Mobile and uncertainty about the device's future support (and no other compelling reason to switch to AT&T) makes it a non-starter

Chad H.
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Maybe...

Maybe... but why they chose to include a Cheese knife as a feature, I'll never know.

h 6
WTF?

Jersey Shore?

Surely the Jersey Shore/MTV crowd would go for Kins or Droids -- definitely NOT iPhone material, that crowd.

Matt Bryant
Happy
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RE: Jersey Shore?

Not kidding, I drove past my local Job Center yesterday and there was a "yoof" in standard cap and nylon tracksuit coming out, with what looked like an iBone 3GS held to one ear. Now, I suppose others might meanly imply the waster had pinched it, but I suspect that our over-indulgent (i.e., Labour vote ensuring) welfare system had allowed him to purchase said device, no doubt because he had been told it was the height of fashion.

Note to fanbois - for every Apple user that can eloquently and technically explain the merits of their device, there are a dozen fashion-victims simply riding the Apple bandwagon, that don't have a clue how to even use their Apple product for anything more than bragging to each other.

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