November 15, 2004

PalmOne Considering Microsoft and Linux

It certainly sounds like they are seriously looking at making a Treo on Linux or WindowsMobile. The Treo's core asset is the form-factor and software, so there is no reason why PalmOne couldn't duplicate their success on another platform. You did say that you evaluate other platforms. What's good about Linux or Microsoft? Linux is an open platform that has a different licensing structure. So there's some value in that. And it's more open to the developer community than a lot of operating systems, so there may be some value in that. On the other hand, it's very immature relative to this segment of the market, so there'll have to be a massive development effort to support that. Microsoft obviously has enormous resources to throw at the marketplace. They are particularly strong in the enterprise. They may have some more features, specifically in the media area where they've probably advanced the platform a little more aggressively than Palm has. So there are advantages to all these things, and you really have to look at what target market we are really going after, and if these advantages come to bear, and if we should do products that support those platforms. It's a massive effort to go and develop on another platform. It's not a trivial thing. It's not a decision we would make lightly, and we really have to feel like we are going to swing the market in a completely different direction to do it. Read