A Tale of Two OS'

Depending on which side of the fence you were sitting yesterday, it was either the best of times or the worst of times.

On the one side, die-hard PalmOS fans everywhere were in mourning as their arch enemy Windows Mobile stormed their gates.  On the other side, Windows Mobile devotees were in ecstasy as they viewed for the first time their OS running on the best smartphone in the world which was designed by none other than Palm.

However, this bi-polar view of yesterday’s announcement only paints a small part of the overall picture.  The larger remaining part – where rational as opposed to emotional thought prevails – reveals Palm’s development of a Windows Mobile Treo as probably one of the single best and most mature business decisions that the company has ever made.

As Ed Colligan, Palm’s CEO, pointed out at the press conference yesterday, the fact is that Palm is no longer in the OS business and the company’s primary objective is ultimately to sell as many devices as it can – whether these are powered by PalmOS or Windows Mobile.  It is simply evident that Windows Mobile will allow Palm to reach a whole new set of customers who have previously been unwilling or unable to adopt the PalmOS for one reason or another.

However, it is important to note that Palm’s adoption of Windows Mobile came with a small but critical caveat to Microsoft.  Namely, Palm would develop a Windows Mobile Treo only if it was given the freedom to make improvements to the OS – something which other handset manufacturers are typically not allowed to go near.  Thus Palm will be able to ensure that their products will benefit from fundamental and distinctive new functionality while offering devices that remain 100% true to the company’s DNA of innovation, simplicity and usability – one that delivers a harmonious hardware and software integration.

Before the press conference and later discussions with senior Palm executives including Ed Colligan, I had seriously feared that this Windows Mobile Treo would consist of nothing more than Palm slapping this new OS in a Treo casing – something which would undoubtedly have positioned Palm in the commodity business.  However, because Palm will have the ability to add value at the OS level it will also be able to significantly differentiate its Treo from other smartphones running Windows Mobile.  Thanks to Palm’s innovations, I will argue that when the Treo 700w is released early next year (exclusively on the Verizon Wireless network for about 6 months) it will quickly be rated as the best Windows Mobile Smartphone on the market.

I would like to stress that I use the term “Best Windows Mobile Smartphone” and not “Best Smartphone” because the reality is that Palm will continue to release PalmOS powered Treo smartphones for the foreseeable future and most people will agree that our Treo 650 is still the ‘best-in-class’.  However, the question currently on many people’s minds remains “When will the next Treo running PalmOS be released?”.  Some rumours point to an antenna-less one ‘coming soon’ (probably not before Q2 next year) but Palm has been mute on this front and no leaks have surfaced thus far.  At any rate, there is one description that will continue to befit Palm in the future: “The best smartphone company in the world” – not an altogether bad thing to be known for.

In this respect, there was one more almost imperceptible change at Palm yesterday during its analyst conference.  Namely, Ed Colligan presented Palm’s mission as being “To become the world's leading mobile computing company” whereas before it had always been “To become the world's most significant mobile computing company”.  As I had written before, I have always had an issue with the ‘most significant’ label as in my opinion it was an implicit acknowledgement that Palm was forever doomed to compete in a niche market.  Now finally Palm appears to have found the courage and energy to aim at complete leadership – one that I personally believe they can achieve.

Treonauts always look for leaders…