Thoughts from Tealpoint
September 12th, 2007
Palm Infocenter just posted an interview with Tealpoint's Vince Lee in which he discusses the Foleo cancellation. (You'll remember that Tealpoint is the company that understands the potential of the Foleo more than Palm.)
…the Foleo team had been working very hard to get the product to market, and many features had to be set aside due to the tight schedule. It's no secret that the Foleo had shortcomings in some key areas, but it was hoped these could be addressed in software updates after the initial release. The decision to cancel the Foleo is a smart one, however, if it means that the Foleo can return sometime in the future as a much stronger product. …
Our sincere hope is that the next gen platform is some flavor of Palm OS running on top of a Linux kernel, and that the Foleo would return as the current Foleo-1 hardware running this new operating system. Not only would this allow developers to write apps for the next gen platform, Palm OS Garnet, and Foleo-II simultaneously, but it would capitalize on the existing library of PalmOS apps to fill in many of the software gaps that were missing on the Foleo-I.
The more I think about it, the more comfortable I am with the cancellation of the Foleo-1, but not for all the reasons the gadget fans give. I want a finished product, one that has a bright future of third-party applications. Let's hope the Foleo can indeed rise from the ashes as a stronger product.
September 12th, 2007 at 5:59 am
I hope the new Foleo doesn’t have a touch screen like Palm OS2 smartphones will. The ability to navigate entirely with hands on keyboard was really a slick design.
September 12th, 2007 at 12:48 pm
I agree… I thought the design and layout of Foleo-I was perfect. Hopefully, next generation changes will be operating system & software only.
September 13th, 2007 at 12:53 am
This may be too fine of a hair to split, but wanting a finished product sounds pretty similar to what the gadget fans say.
If you’re gonna make it, make it right.
September 13th, 2007 at 1:16 am
I think “finished” and “fully loaded” are two different things.
September 14th, 2007 at 1:48 pm
Very interesting - the list of missing features that Tealpoint were concerned about (”printing, PIM, browser tabs, instant messaging, video playback, and PalmOS compatibility”) must have been a concern to all Foleo software partners. Some of those I wasn’t aware of (e.g. printing) and are really very basic. Others are still essential these days (browser tabs, IM and video), and of course PalmOS II compatibility will be a huge benefit.
There are very few apps that can run seamlessly across both a phone, PDA and mini-laptop, since they would require GUI changes, but it would be great to have 60-80% of the core code port automatically.
The other thing Palm need to really think about is how to make the Foleo II accessible to Linux developers - being able to *easily* port existing Linux apps, e.g. mobile GNOME or Qt apps, would be a huge benefit, giving it a huge application base very quickly. The issue is to make it possible for such apps to interoperate with the main GUI, and if possible to simply adopt GNOME Mobile Edition so that the commonality with other mobile Linux devices (which are a fast growing area) can be as large as possible.