Is It “Pre” or Post Season for Palm?

This week Bulletproof InfoTech was fortunate to work with our colleagues at CityTV here in Calgary and the fine folks at Palm.  Mike Yawney (aka @gadget_guy) invited us to have a look at the new Palm “Pre” Smart Phone and offer up some of our opinions.

I remember back when I first started in the IT Consulting business here in Calgary with ACDAT System Services, my Palm Pilot was my trusted companion.  It held my schedule, my contacts and other information which armed me to do my job helping the junior Oil and Gas and Small Business community here in the Stampede City.

I still remember upgrading to a Palm IV, which I purchased off eBay and picked up in Downtown Toronto in the late 90′s.  Now my Blackberry Bold is my trusted sidekick.  Blackberry still provides all the same information my Palm did back in the day, but now…no cables to synchronized and everything happens over the air.  We didn’t have WiFi or 3G networks back in the early Palm days.

Boy, how times have changed.

The question I have after spending some time with Mike this week is this, maybe two questions.

1. Is Palm to late to the game?  How hard will it be to knock Blackberry or iPhone off their perch?
2. What will happen to Palm if the “Pre” doesn’t make it

In the video below from CityTV, I mention I am impressed with this device and I am, it is good device.

It’s form factor is amazing, stylish and designed for comfort.  This phone is not a brick like the Blackberry or iPhone, the big boys can learn some from this design.  The charging system is equally as impressive, gone are the wires needed to charge your phone, simply slide it against the magnetic charge and presto you are charging your device. The user interface is slick, gestures allow you to slide your finger up, left and right and perform functions on the phone and multitasking is simple yet effective.

My first impression was “I think Palm has it here”.

Now, I did some more research.  I ran across some documentation online which states Palm Pre is not 100% linked in with Microsoft Exchange.  Oops, big no-no…connectivity to corporate email systems is essential in business today, it looks like some of the issues are related to security of the device.  Now Palm, this is something your competitors have nailed or have something fairly tight.  This is a must.

The design of the keyboard is awkward to say the least, although the phone fit snugly into your palm, typing while surfing (landscape) is not going to work, simply because of design.  This could be a challenge, especially if you do a lot of surfing or filling in of online forms as part of your daily job.  Ooops, missed that one as well.

I welcome you to watch the video from Mike Yawney and CityTV.

I want to wish Palm luck on new device.  Without fixing the Microsoft Exchange issues and quickly, they will struggle to even be identified in the Smartphone market.  This is a great phone for the teenagers who want something cool or the entrepreneur who doesn’t need to worry about connectivity to Microsoft Exchange.

Is this a fit for my clients?

This is a consumer focused device, in my opinion not a business phone or device for information workers in the field.  Stick with the Blackberry if you need something reliable, or even the iPhone.

If you are on BELL Mobility, you can look into it…sorry Telus, ROGERS and all the others, this is not for you – YET!