The Mobile Web Tablet

Yes, what else can you call it, the iPod Touch might very well be the first true consumer friendly mobile web tablet. WiFi, touch screen, full browser support and, of course since it’s Apple, a stunning design. What else can you ask for?

Well, a keyboard would be nice, but I guess the accessory market for iPods will take care of that.

Downloadable applications would be nice too (don’t know if it’s as closed as the iPhone).

Oh, and VoIP, too.

Still, it is a beauty.

No wonder Palm ditched the Foleo today.

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Official announcement from the Palm Blog:

In the course of the past several months, it has become clear that the right path for Palm is to offer a single, consistent user experience around this new platform design and a single focus for our platform development efforts. To that end, and after careful deliberation, I have decided to cancel the Foleo mobile companion product in its current configuration and focus all of our energies on delivering our next generation platform and the first smartphones that will bring this platform to market.

Tough move by Palm, but there’s no point in going in to a platform battle with a platform you don’t plan to support to 110%. There’s also a few competitors like the Asus EEE PC that’s much more competitively priced.

This seems to be Ed Colligans decision (the CEO of Palm) and the Foleo was Jeff Hawkins (the co-founder of Palm) pet project. Guess there was some heated discussion behind the Palm walls before this decision was taken.

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David Beers runs the blog Software Everywhere and has some really interesting thoughts on the Palm Foleo:

For Hawkins, it’s the smartphone that is the new PC. The Foleo is just the piece that completes the vision.

It’s a long post but well worth the read if you’re interested in the next big paradigm for computing in a post-PC, post-internet, post-mobile world.

I agree with what he writes. There’s something happening in the “black hole” of the market between the laptop and the mobile phone: 5 to 10 inch displays, sub $1000 price (even $500) and full connectivity options.

It’s an extremely interesting battle ground because the winner might very well end up with both sides of the hole under their control.

If, for example, Microsoft and Intel manages to squeeze Windows and x86 into 5 inch notebooks that are fuel cell driven, flash card in stead of hard drive and instant on/off then what we have is the smartphone platform of the future. Bye bye, Symbian.

If, on the other hand, Nokia, Motorola and SEMC manage to upscale their mobile phones to full keyboards and larger screens, then why do I need to buy a Windows laptop?

Definitely an opportunity for new players to take a place. Palm is doing the right thing. It’s a gamble though, but what choice do they have?

Anyway, it’s fun to follow what happens. Can’t wait to get my hands on one of those Foleos.

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Now I get it. Portfolio, Palm-Foleo. Port, palm. Foleo.

Clever.

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I’m just returning home from the Reboot-conference, two days of inspiring talks and people. One of the talks was by the CEO of Opera, H?•kon Lie. It was entitled The web everywhere: $10 paperbacks, $50 phones, $100 laptops and $250 game consoles and H?•kon brought a $100 computer to the stage (you know, the one designed for kids in third world countries).

Interest in the Fisher-Price inspired device was huge. People were packed around the little green toy, trying to catch a glimpse of it or feel it. Here’s a picture of what it looked like.

Even though the One Laptop Per Child-PC has a larger goal than just being yet another gadget for the 2.0-crowd, you could still feel the “I want one”-urge around the little plastic device. There seems to be something very appealing in the idea of a cheap, portable internet-connected device with a large screen and real keyboard.

The Foleo is quite small.

How strange then, that the new Palm device, the Foleo is met by the blogosphere with disappointment and doubt. Reactions seem to be mostly of the “what-the-heck-is-this”-variety. I really wonder why.

It has an open Linux OS, a web browser, a full keyboard, wifi, usb and bluetooth. It’s relatively light weight and with instant power on. I’d say, this is a very interesting device that may very well replace my laptop at least when traveling. Especially if I can plug in an external hard drive and a digital camera.

The most common reaction to the device seems to be “I can get a real laptop for $700, why should I buy this for $500?”. That’s a valid question and the Foleo will be an interesting test of the market to see if it’s possible to penetrate the Windows (and Mac OS/X) domination. The laptops in this price range often has a 14 or 15 inch display so it’s not really the same product.

Or is it?

I really don’t know. That’s why it’s and interesting development to follow, as this could be a whole new market: the 5 to 10 inch displays and sub $1000 price. There are UMPCs (Windows), Nokia web tablets (Maemo Linux) and Sony UX Micro PC (Windows, too expensive, though).

So, this is a battle ground and the winner will dig deeper, into the huge 2 to 5 inch display market that today is occupied by mobile phones. A lot of players will try and stop Microsoft from going there.

Could be that the price is what keeps Foleo from becoming a success. It might have to distance itself from a Microsoft laptop even further and $500 might not be enough. I wouldn’t be surprised if the $100 laptop has some successors targeted at the same audience and UMPCs will continue to drop in price.

The Foleo might end up squashed in an impossible price point. Never the less, the cheap, portable, mobile web tablet is coming and the Foleo is a step in the right direction. I’m looking forward to the response from Apple, Nokia, Google, Microsoft, Sony and all the other players on the field.

I just wonder how many of them will have a hand crank.

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