Just over a year since the Palm Pre caused mass hysteria amongst gadget fanatics at CES 2009, Palm is back in the tight spot it thought its stunning smartphone would see it out of. Its CEO, Jon Rubenstein, has come out this morning saying Palm just isn’t shifting blowers and that orders from networks have dried up.
So what can it do to fight its way back to the top? Adding Palm Pre video recording support, as it looks likely to do today, is a start. But here’s our plan to put Palm back in prime position.
Get new phones out quicker
Taking six months to release the Palm Pre was a huge gamble. And with sales figures like that at Woolworths in its dying days, it’s one that didn’t pay off. Waiting a massive ten months to unleash the Pre here in Blighty and then failing to follow it up with the Pixi smacks of failure to understand just how quick the mobile game moves. The Palm Pre Plus and Palm Pixi Plus just aren’t good enough sequels. Palm needs to move much faster as Android and Windows Phone 7 Series both up the ante.
Make sure software is the same the world over
Today’s Palm Pre 1.4 update is a good move, but Palm’s bizarre insistence on keeping phones with different software versions in different countries is infuriating and leaves those Brits who pay hefty monthly bills lagging behind fellow Palm owners across the pond. Keeping everyone in the loop is the first step towards making sure punters are continually happy with their smartphone.
Stop squabbling with Apple
At first, Palm’s insistence on iTunes syncing looked like a battle worth fighting. But now it has its back to the wall, there’s no point in picking a fight with one of tech’s biggest players, especially one that has a history of coming down hard on rivals. Palm needs to stay focused on its own game rather than starting squabbles it’s just not well-placed to win. If it wants to maintain critical acclaim, its crucial it keeps its eyes on the prize.
Bring an end to O2 exclusivity
When word went round earlier this year that the Palm Pre just wasn’t selling, it was hardly surprising. Yes it’s a great phone, but maintaining an exclusivity agreement here in the UK is surely counter-intuitive for a company which just doesn’t have the public perception that Apple has built up over the past decade. It’s already got Verizon on board in the US following a tie-up with Sprint, so for the Palm Pre Plus, it has to get into bed with all the UK networks in order to get punters paying up.
Licence webOS to third parties
Palm got burnt badly when PalmSource, a division of the mobile maker, was span off, only to license the old-school Palm OS back to it and other mobile mavens. But with Android finding itself in a raft of amazing new machines, and with Microsoft plotting similar plans for Windows Phone 7 Series, webOS has to diversify. It’s a great operating system, arguably every bit as good as its rivals. Palm isn’t big enough to make more phones on its own, so why not define some strict terms of service and let some of the planet’s biggest phone players see what they can do with it?
What do you make of Palm’s predicament? How can it save itself and keep webOS alive? Tell us in the comments section now.
