Why Bring Out iWalk when you can buy Palm?

chicagdan · Jan 3, 2002, 03:47 PM

It makes no sense to bring out a new Apple branded PDA (especially given the failure of the Newton) when Apple could buy Palm Inc. for a song. All of the Newton and iPod R&D can be used to turn around the most underachieving tech company in the world.

spuncan · Jan 3, 2002, 03:55 PM

the reason is the same reason apple made the ipod. Apple can do it the best and it will look good. oh yeah and cuz apple likes to control everything. Still think its the iCam though or iLaserwriter cuz that whats left in the digital hub. and since Jobs is pesenting at CES it will probably be iCam (more comsumer electronic then a printer).

icruise · Jan 3, 2002, 04:00 PM

I doubt that they could get it "for a song" by any stretch of the imagination. But more to the point, the palm os (at least in its current incarnation) is pretty primitive compared to what the (fake) iWalk would be. I would rather see apple make their own OS, using what they learned from the Newton (real handwriting recognition, etc) than to just use Palm's OS.

eyelikeart · Jan 3, 2002, 04:01 PM

I do love Apple, but I do feel a PDA isn't something they should be worried about. The market's flooded with them already, and I'm not so sure the public is going to drop what they already have for the new Apple product. Granted, Apple does come up with some killer hardware ideas, but, to be honest, they have a tendency to be somewhat higher priced than the competition in almost all corners. To me, this seems a bit unreasonable for them to try wowing the public with another attempt at a PDA which could very well be overpriced when compared to it's competition.

I'm not trying to drop a bomb on anyone's excitement or ideas, but it's just my opinion. I welcome retorts of all shapes and sizes on this one...

chicagdan · Jan 3, 2002, 04:13 PM

In response to spuncan ... it's easy to make a Palm OS PDA look good -- have you seen the new Sony models? Since Apple would own the Palm OS if they bought the company, they could easily incorporate all of their Newton intellectual property into Palm Os 5.0, and would get royalties for sales of Handspring and Sony PDAs AND would have products on the market immediately that would require no expensive launch costs. And by the way, if they wanted Palm OS 5.0 to be an entirely different OS (just as OS X was to the computer market) they could do that too.

I'm not saying this is a good market for Apple to enter, I just think that if they really want the PDA market, why not play to win? Apple seems far too willing to accept a hard 10% instead of an easy 60%.

arn · Jan 3, 2002, 04:29 PM

well, briefly, the Newton OS was awesome...

night and day.

Besides... some people want a large screen.

arn

chicagdan · Jan 3, 2002, 04:50 PM

The Newton, no matter how "awesome" some people may think it was, was a failed product. It lost money for Apple and they killed it. Steve Jobs is a smart businessman. He did the smart thing by killing off the Apple clones, killing the Newton, protecting Apple sales margins and moving to OS X.

There's no way in hell Jobs is going to rejoin the PDA market at a time when no one is making a profit ... unless, that is, if he can buy the #1 company in the market and leverage that market share into a family of portable devices that can strengthen sales of his core product line.

Palm's market cap right now is roughly $2 billion ... that's incredibly cheap for a company that still dominates the PDA market (despite heavy investments from deep pockets like Sony, Microsoft, Compaq, HP, etc.) What Palm lacks is innovation -- and that's Apple's expertise.

mnkeybsness · Jan 3, 2002, 05:07 PM

STOP IT

STOP IT

STOP IT

STOP IT

PLEASE-no more PDA talk

i think i'll go try and relieve the pressure that is building up in my head now.

arn · Jan 3, 2002, 05:13 PM

The newton didn't fail. It was killed off. In fact, the company was spun off into a subsidiary... called Newton Inc.

The Newton 2000 was actually doing well at the time of it's death.

For not 100% clear reasons, it was killed and reabsorbed into Apple. This was during a time when Apple itself was hemorraging money.

Part of the "simplify" mentality. Besides... when does marketshare mean "good product" to us, especially.

arn

Jan 3, 2002, 03:55 PM	#2
spuncan macrumors 6502 Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Detroit	Cuz Apples Better the reason is the same reason apple made the ipod. Apple can do it the best and it will look good. oh yeah and cuz apple likes to control everything. Still think its the iCam though or iLaserwriter cuz that whats left in the digital hub. and since Jobs is pesenting at CES it will probably be iCam (more comsumer electronic then a printer). __________________ Fight the System, Protect our Freedom people say you can't cheat at life, people lie
	0

Jan 3, 2002, 04:01 PM	#4
eyelikeart Demi-God (Moderator emeritus) Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Metairie, LA	an already flooded market I do love Apple, but I do feel a PDA isn't something they should be worried about. The market's flooded with them already, and I'm not so sure the public is going to drop what they already have for the new Apple product. Granted, Apple does come up with some killer hardware ideas, but, to be honest, they have a tendency to be somewhat higher priced than the competition in almost all corners. To me, this seems a bit unreasonable for them to try wowing the public with another attempt at a PDA which could very well be overpriced when compared to it's competition. I'm not trying to drop a bomb on anyone's excitement or ideas, but it's just my opinion. I welcome retorts of all shapes and sizes on this one...
	0

Jan 3, 2002, 05:07 PM	#8
mnkeybsness macrumors 68030 Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: Moneyapolis, Minnesota	STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT PLEASE-no more PDA talk i think i'll go try and relieve the pressure that is building up in my head now. __________________ Scribbls - a collaborative drawing community designed to combine drawings into outcomes—no talent required.
	0

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Jan 3, 2002, 03:47 PM	#1
chicagdan macrumors 6502a Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Chicago, IL	It makes no sense to bring out a new Apple branded PDA (especially given the failure of the Newton) when Apple could buy Palm Inc. for a song. All of the Newton and iPod R&D can be used to turn around the most underachieving tech company in the world.
	0

Jan 3, 2002, 04:00 PM	#3
icruise macrumors newbie Join Date: Jan 2002	I doubt that they could get it "for a song" by any stretch of the imagination. But more to the point, the palm os (at least in its current incarnation) is pretty primitive compared to what the (fake) iWalk would be. I would rather see apple make their own OS, using what they learned from the Newton (real handwriting recognition, etc) than to just use Palm's OS.
	0

Jan 3, 2002, 04:13 PM	#5
chicagdan Thread Starter macrumors 6502a Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Chicago, IL	In response to spuncan ... it's easy to make a Palm OS PDA look good -- have you seen the new Sony models? Since Apple would own the Palm OS if they bought the company, they could easily incorporate all of their Newton intellectual property into Palm Os 5.0, and would get royalties for sales of Handspring and Sony PDAs AND would have products on the market immediately that would require no expensive launch costs. And by the way, if they wanted Palm OS 5.0 to be an entirely different OS (just as OS X was to the computer market) they could do that too. I'm not saying this is a good market for Apple to enter, I just think that if they really want the PDA market, why not play to win? Apple seems far too willing to accept a hard 10% instead of an easy 60%.
	0

Jan 3, 2002, 04:29 PM	#6
arn macrumors god Join Date: Apr 2001	well, briefly, the Newton OS was awesome... night and day. Besides... some people want a large screen. arn
	0

Jan 3, 2002, 04:50 PM	#7
chicagdan Thread Starter macrumors 6502a Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Chicago, IL	The Newton, no matter how "awesome" some people may think it was, was a failed product. It lost money for Apple and they killed it. Steve Jobs is a smart businessman. He did the smart thing by killing off the Apple clones, killing the Newton, protecting Apple sales margins and moving to OS X. There's no way in hell Jobs is going to rejoin the PDA market at a time when no one is making a profit ... unless, that is, if he can buy the #1 company in the market and leverage that market share into a family of portable devices that can strengthen sales of his core product line. Palm's market cap right now is roughly $2 billion ... that's incredibly cheap for a company that still dominates the PDA market (despite heavy investments from deep pockets like Sony, Microsoft, Compaq, HP, etc.) What Palm lacks is innovation -- and that's Apple's expertise.
	0

Jan 3, 2002, 05:13 PM	#9
arn macrumors god Join Date: Apr 2001	The newton didn't fail. It was killed off. In fact, the company was spun off into a subsidiary... called Newton Inc. The Newton 2000 was actually doing well at the time of it's death. For not 100% clear reasons, it was killed and reabsorbed into Apple. This was during a time when Apple itself was hemorraging money. Part of the "simplify" mentality. Besides... when does marketshare mean "good product" to us, especially. arn
	0


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