Is Palm on its Deathbed?

When thinking of the word “PDA”, it’s hard to not think of Palm, given that since the company was launched in the early 90’s, its devices were in the hands of a lot of people. It can be said that those companies that kick things off early have the best chance of succeeding, but that’s not really the case with Palm, as the company has been battling numerous issues over the past couple of years.

The biggest issue, of course, was competition. No one expected Apple to get almost everything right, but it did, and then we have Google as the latest competitor which is actually doing quite well. As Jon Stokes points out, the major reason both the iPhone and Android-based devices are succeeding is thanks to the device’s respective app store. While the iPhone (and similar devices) have access to over 100K apps, and Android at over 10K, the apps at Palm’s app store totals about 1K.

Early last year, Palm introduced two things that were supposed to reinvigorate the company, a revamped OS (Palm OS > webOS) and the Pre, which was designed as the perfect smartphone. It was smaller than the iPhone, but had a hardware keyboard, and for some reason, a mirror on the back of the device (I haven’t seen this, but the article points it out).

Unfortunately for Palm, neither the keyboard or other features of the device truly impressed, although Jon stresses that the webOS is still one of the best OSes out there. Palm’s big issue was the fact that no one was ever truly locked into webOS – especially not with services like those from Google that do a great job of keeping all your settings and contacts in sync.

Just this past Friday, certain analysts have predicted that Palm’s stocks (PALM) could go down to $0. Currently, share prices are fluctuating, and sit at $4 at the time of writing, down from about $9 just last month. As it appears, Palm is truly on its way out, and is primed to be either acquired or file for chapter 11. It’s unfortunate, it goes without saying. It’s always sad to see a pioneer of sorts end up finishing last.

The power of the long tail for app stores is that everyone can find and share a handful of quirky little apps that really excite them for whatever reason. And when they share those apps, they’re essentially shilling for the platform, not the specific apps. Every time two people pull out their iPhones in a crowd and start trading recommendations for incredibly niche apps that fit their specific interests, everyone who doesn’t have an iPhone feels like they’re missing out.