Hello world! Introducing the Palm Blog!

Before I could even wrestle with questions like "What will Palm's first blog post be about" or "Should I be witty? Reserved? -- the bigger question was "Would there be a Palm blog at all?" Well, at least one of these questions has been answered: Palm is blogging and this is our first post.

So what exactly will Palm blog about and who will be contributing to it? We're going to be flexible and broad on topics because we have a lot of stuff to talk about. The "who" is just about anyone at Palm, from interns to execs. Some days our posts will be educational about our products and other days thought-provoking about our vision and the ever-changing market dynamics. How about even generating a few laughs and who knows maybe some "spirited" conversations - we're game for that. We might even provide a peek behind the Palm curtain. And finally, what self-serving company blog (thanks, Yahoo) would be complete without some insight into the company's employees and culture? Over time, all of the above will be covered.

Please feel free to share your thoughts with us (comments are welcome) because we certainly plan to share our thoughts with you.

If you are feeling daring enough, here is the RSS feed to subscribe to and check us out on a regular basis: http://blog.palm.com.

Happy blogging,

Paul Loeffler

Comments

Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi. Wi-Fi.

If you make a Palm OS Treo with Wi-Fi, I'll buy it. If you don't, I'll hang on to my 650. I'm a loyal palm guy. (Owned the Palm Professional and then many others).

Did I mention I'd like Wi-Fi?

[Allan]

Agree with Concerned Fan's suggestion that Palm should have wifi-enabled Treo. My dream Palm OS Treo include the following features,
1. NO external antenna (it looks ugly)
2. Wifi or even WiMax-enabled
3. At least 1m pixel camera

Actually, Treo 680 already do a great job in design (if slimmer like blackberry would be perfect). If there is such perfect Palm OS Treo, I will definitely upgrade my Nokia 6100+Palm Vx.

[Carl W Brooks]

Well it is about time. I've been doing your work over at http://www.palmloyal.com since 1999. Maybe I'll really take a break now, since you'll be adding your 2 cents to the mix. Well maybe not, but I what the next Sprint Treo to replace my aging 650. I look forward to adding my 3 cents whenever possible.

[Barry Meskin]

Palm is now interested in feedback and customer service? Is that because the stock is falling rapidly and they can't compete with Samsung and Motorola. I bought a 650 and literally struggled with that for 2 years. All the same issues as you read on forums, grossly unstable, slow E Mail and poor battery performance. I ORIGINALLY BOUGHT THE PALM FOR THE SIMPLICITY OF THE SOFTWARE, THE TOUCH SCREEN, AND THE RESOLUTION. I decided to give them a second chance and just bought the 680. However, grossly dissapointed for the 2nd time. This too is unstable, E Mail slow again, and the battery performance still terrible. OH, I FORGOT, VOLUME IS STILL PATHETIC. I have to be honest, I just don't understand. The device is NOT cheap and then we (users) have to buy 3rd party applications to try remedy their failures. Volume care, Butler, Chattermail or SnapperMail,Launchers, PocketTunes, on and on. Tech support then directly openly blames all the issues on the 3rd party applications. I have to admit that I use this for business and both the 650 and 680 are more of a hinderance than a help. Funny, now they forgot the LED message waiting feature off the 680. As an "outsider" is the stock falling, directly proportional to the above.

[Garman]

I thank you for being courageous enough to allow comments. It may not exactly be like having an open source project but I think it is smart to tap the pulse of the community in this way although that may have been evident on the various other Palm Forums.

Was it just the Ipod or did a little thing called the Itunes store contribute to such groundswell. More than requesting for Wifi I would throw my 2 cents for a Palm Desktop with some kind of web access, rss, conduits, Api, updates, something. Isolation doesn't lead to growth and I am tired of only finding third party apps only for Microsoft Outlook and feeling limited by the device's own native and most compatible Desktop App. It's an mp3 player, a movie player, has wifi, a touch screen ... No, It's a Palm TX.

PS - If we can send a man to the moon can we reach beyond 15 categories. That alone would bring thunderous applause but i wouldn't want to clap for too long about this.

[LTH]

Nice to see you in the blog world

I don't undestand this buzz about WiFi, I already have it on my M515 with the Xircom sled, but could you answer this little question ?

Why, on the first Palm the springs releasing the batteries where on the same side ? :-)

[PJ Arts]

The Palm, Inc. blog is an excellent idea, and one that is long overdue.
If there is one historical gripe amongst the user-base, it would be the lack of a central repository for discussion, complaints and feedback. Currently, this vital data is scattered and diluted amongst the forums of the many Palm-enthusiast blogs. This impairs Palm's ability to properly assess the scale of an issue or bug; and promotes a feeling amongst the affected that 'Palm doesn't care.'

If properly managed, this blog should address those shortcomings; and provide a much-needed boost to the trust between these 2 groups.

Palm will benefit the most, in that they will have a direct conduit to 'field' results of their new products, along with suggestions from experienced, savvy users. This data can be effectively mined by Palm to provide a wealth of information which would guide architecture development, prioritizing of new features and scheduling of maintenance releases.

Most importantly, it can eliminate 'developer theory' as to which features a new device should ship with, as opposed to what users really want to buy.

Good job, Paul. Good job, Palm.

[awesomo]

Heck, it's about time. The guys from the Windows Mobile Team have been blogging since 2004. So congratulations on finally starting this blog.

I, for one, would be interested to hear some of your thoughts (or Palm's) on the mobile / handheld landscape; be it on device convergence, the practicality of complex applications for mobile devices (PDF/XLS/WORD viewers? ugh...), user segmentation and usage patterns, Web 2.0 apps on mobile devices, that new Linux-Palm OS, Wifi on a Treo (and why it isn't happening yet), that phone-thing by Apple whose name I forget, entertainment on mobile devices, compromises in function, design and carrier requirements etc..

Finally, thanks for starting this. I'm sure it's gonna be a fun ride.

[Treo 750 fan]

A forum format would be better suited for an organized and efficient feedback session. A blog can end up like what we see here.. a lot of congrats but gets no where as far as results.

Don't get me wrong.. thanks Palm for reaching out to your loyal users (and am definitely one) but lets put up a forum style with Palm support moderators.. We have seen the Dell blog.. its very pathetic.. tons of issues but no resolution because its in blog style.

I hope we can create a forum based, organized topic or product line and moderated by Palm executives, managers and or tech/customer support. Don't follow the GMs or the Dells by creating blogs.. in the end everyone just gets frustrated.

[Khertan]

It s a great that some new way of communication ll exists between you and your customers.

We will no easily share our thought about your decisions, hardwares and softwares products with you.

So my first question ll be we ll see one day a Treo with an hires+ display (320*480) and wifi. I'm a bit afraid because if i understand your investor day pdf. The only resolution for futur device in the roadmap are 320*320,240*320,and 240*240. I hope i'm wrong.

At this time i prefer to have a TX instead of a Treo due to the lack of a large display and wifi.

But to come back to the creation of this blog. It ll be a great idea to share about some explications about changes for developper on some specifics devices. For example why on the Treo 680 the system preference prefLauncherAppCreator correspond to the phone application instead of the launcher like on other Treo and Palm models.

[2xs]

It´s time for this blog... since, well my Palm Profesional of course!

Hopefully this is a step to the long forgotten closeness between Palm and the Palm community.

gr33tz 2XS

[Gianmarco Carnovale]

This is a great thing! Cheers!

Can you please add Morse.it in the list of Palm sites? We host the italian PUG, listed on italian version of palm.com in community page. Thanks!

[Duke]

Thanks so much! I will add you to my bookmark also! As someone who has been blogging about my Palm OS experiences, and often scour the net for Treo related news, rumors, and just all around Treo discussion, I am very much looking forward to visiting this site!
http://dukecarico.com

[Vampire Lestat]

Well... well.. well. well
How quaint.

[France Treo]

What a good news for all Treo users around the world!

This simply shows how Palm is committed in making their products even better, buy taking direct consumer recommandations and comments into consideration. Good job!

I'm also glad to be the firt french reader to comment on this blog - even the first european? Also, could you please add the french Treo website "France Treo" (www.france-treo.com) to the list of sites on the right side bar?

[E. Frederick Pony]

Welcome to the blogosphere. I hope you use this channel wisely and take advantage of the direct feedback from your customers.

Like many others, I also want to ask about the whereabouts of the 700p ROM update. I am a long time Palm customer, and at this point feel so burned by my year long constant battle with the 700p, that I am at the end of my rope.

I hope you use this blog to talk directly to people like me, explain what is really going on with the 700p update, help me get over this feeling of being burned, and turn me back into a happy Palm customer.

[SunGod]

I was hoping to be the first(no such luck), but I know I won't be the last to ask for more PDA's.
Haven't you guys realized the reason so many Treos are selling?
Its not because they are so good but because of their flaws.
Treo owners need to upgrade to a new model because it dose something better than the old one.
Since the T3 was released there has been no real reason for consumers to upgrade except WiFi in the T|X.
A resent survey on one of the big Palm forums backs this up when over half there readers still use PDA's.
Please please please keep building T|X/ fit in your pocket/ not a phone style devices lots of people want them.
SunGod, IT Retailer, Melbourne, Vic, Australia, 24 (Thats right I'm not some old fogey who can't keep up with the times) Zire21—T|X
P.S. Can you please update your computable phone list I wanna update to HSDPA.

[PC]

Yes, please, when is the 700P firmware update being released? I am on Verizon Wireless and have had a disappointing experience with this device since I bought it. Bluetooth does not work, constant disconnects and static, with several different models. Lag time with Versamail is unbearable. Had to purchase another mail client, which I find unacceptable! SMS lag time when sending is an issue. There are other issues, but I am tired of retyping them. Check out discussion.treocentral.com and look under the 700P Hardware forums and you will see all the problems that people have with this device. $400 for a device that doesn't quite work the way it should? Unless you fix this, I know that most of the people in our company, that have Treos will not be getting future devices. That is already the decision as of now. And that is around 200 people that I know. There are plenty, I am sure, that I don't even know of.

[Adib]

Welcome and I look forward to reading your blog everyday. I have been a palm user since 1998.In fact my friends and me have created one of the palm pda users communities in Malaysia. You are welcome to take a peek at our website: http://www.palmx.org

Currently,I am using Treo680.

[Woset]

Welcome and good luck! You know you'll have a hard time ahead of you here but - hey - this thing like other late gossip is set to rise the heart of many of your dedicated users. Keep up the work and improve! We still want a/your difference and its all in your hands.

A longterm user

[Jim Adams]

When will the ROM update for the 700p be out??

[elliot]

Hello, Palm!
I greatly look forward to seeing this blog can help improve the communication between Palm and us!

[Rick]

As a loyal Palm user, I would like to echo those 700P users that feel the company has deserted those that plunked down a lot of money. I am aware of no other high tech phone that has gone a year without any ROM updates at all, and the most frustrating thing is the lack of comment about it from Palm. Please quiet some of the complainers by telling us what's going on. Why has it taken a year to get Bluetooth working? Why can't you tell us what is happening? If the blog is an attempt, let's hear some information.

[e2mtt]

Please... keep us posted AND read the comments. I'm one who loves the "zen" of Palm... the instant quickness combined with everything in one place.
It would be great seeing you float new ideas here. You have been added to my RSS feeds.

[dtsomp]

Good luck on your new blog!

And since everyone is asking for something (one way or another), what about Unicode and multi-language support?

(The Greek Palm Users community salutes you ;))