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  • The Paradox of Consumer Choice
    A few years ago I read a book called The Paradox of Choice: Why Less is More by Barry Schwartz. His anecdotes were insightful and pointed to truths about the amount of choice the free market has laid on us as consumers. Of course free markets and consumer choice should be good things, but there are certainly experiences I have had where the overwhelming sense of having too many options made it difficult to actually make a decision. I related to much of what the book was saying, particularly with the experience of picking out a DVD to watch from my massive collection. I recall staring at a wall of DVDs and having the most difficult time deciding what to watch. The decision-making process when faced with so many good choices was simply immobilizing.  
  • The Future of PC and Mobile Processors

    I've spent a lot of time with a number of hardware manufacturers recently, trying to get a glimpse into the next generation of processors and the ways in which they'll impact future gadgets and PCs. In all my meetings, one term has arisen time and again: SOC, or system-on-a-chip.

    Traditionally, chips have been created independently and then coupled together to provide multiple computing features. For example, a manufacturer would create a core processor like an Intel Centrino with a built-in Wi-Fi radio, and then attach that to a systems board, perhaps linking it together with a separate graphics co-processor, in order to deliver enhanced PC graphics. Another might take an ARM core processor and then add on additional features like extended graphics to enhance device functionality.

  • Apple's iPad: Live up the Hype? It Will....
    It was interesting to hear all the chatter after last week's iPad launch. Most reactions I heard from other analysts and media were lukewarm at best...which was what I expected. If you think about it, how can anything live up to the kind of hype leading up to this launch? But there was a lot missed in the media about the event and the product that I hope to share in order to maintain our perspective on not only the iPad but on Apple and their products.  
  • Innovation Abounds - CES 2010 Post Show Analysis

    This year's CES was very interesting. I had felt for the past few years that CES was sorely lacking in the innovation department. But this year it looks like things have changed in the technology industry. Technology companies have realized that to reach the consumer the pace of innovation needs to accelerate, and this year's CES was a start in that direction.  Several things stuck out that I'd like to highlight:  

The New Palm Pre

Written by Tim Bajarin Tuesday, 04 August 2009 22:07

I have been working with the Palm Pre now for awhile and have some early observations about the product and its impact on the market.

 

1-The Palm Pre is a solid smart phone for a market that will only grow. To put its growth potential into perspective consider this-In 2008, we sold approx 1.1 billion cell phones WW. But only about 10% of them were smart phones. We believe that in the US, by 2012, 65% of all cell phones sold will be smart phones and by 2015 at least 60% of all cell phones sold WW will be of the smart variety. This prediction suggests that there is a lot of room for multiple companies to play in this field and be successful and that there is a lot of room for innovation that will be necessary to deliver this type of growth in the future.

 

 

2-I believe that the Palm Pre itself is well designed and innovative. Its approach to marrying a touch screen with a real keyboard gives it an edge over most of the non-iPhone smart phones and will become one of the best options for anyone who prefers a real keyboard over a virtual keyboard on their smart phone.

 

3-Of the smart phones that have come to market so far to take on Apple’s iPhone, the Palm Pre is the best to date. Its touch screen is extremely responsive and its simple gesture motions make it easy to navigate through its menu’s and applications. Its global search is easy to use and overall I found the UI fundamentally intuitive. And its “card” metaphor for launching, viewing and using apps is brilliant. 

 

4-The big challenge for Palm will be to get software developers to back this platform and write exciting applications for the Pre. The fact that they have created the OS around Web based tools should make it relatively painless for programmers familiar with these tools to write apps for the Pre. However, this is a chicken and egg proposition for many developers as most of them are small companies and they have limited resources when it comes to backing a lot of smart phones. For most of them, they will write for phones that already have market growth potential such as the iPhone and Rim’s Blackberry as well as Windows Mobile and will have to be convinced that Palm and Sprint can move serious volume before many of them will be willing to jump on the Pre development band wagon. Also, Palm needs to make their app store easier to use and deliver a seamless way for people to buy apps and integrate them simply into their Pre itself. I am also concerned about the ability to deliver secure apps if the apps are written just in Javascript. 

 

5-Apple has a two year lead with the iPhone and will remain the gold standard for smart phones for the present. While the Palm Pre Web OS is version 1.0, Apple’s new iPhone OS is version 3.0. And of course, Apple does not stand still and I fully expect them to maintain a continual two year lead on competitors for some time. However, the market and demand for smart phones is very large and no single smart phone will meet the needs of everyone. The iPhone will continue to gain market share and find its audience, and if Palm is able to get software developers to back the Pre with many innovative applications, they too will find an audience for their new smart phone. This should help Palm get back to profitability as well as help make them a serious player in smart phones again.

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