Treo 755p Update for Verizon Released + Palm News

The first good news is that Palm has finally released its Treo 755p Software Update for Verizon which will bring your smartphone up to version 1.08. 

The next good news is that Palm states that “This software update is a tune-up that improves the phone application, stability and device usability” – one that I have to assume addresses some of the “lag” issues that many users had reported.

Unfortunately, aside from the above note Palm has made absolutely no other information available as to _exactly_ what this update delivers and you’ll have to install it in order to find out… 

You can download the Palm Treo 755p Software Update for Verizon – and please let me know about your update experience (good or bad) via the Comments section.

At the same time, if you’re updating your smartphone software you may consider also updating or upgrading some of your Treo 755p accessories.

For example, you could start by looking at some of the bestselling Treo 755p cases in our store such as the Helix Holster II, SPE Ultraslim SkinCase, SPE P6 Pouch Case and new Swiss Mobility Legion organizer case.

Next you may want to look at your power options with a Treo 755p charger, cable and cradle where I would recommend the SPE Retractable S&C Cable, SPE Car Charger, Treo Battery Charger and Palm Cradle Kit.  When it comes to power there’s naturally also a number of spare Treo 755p battery options with standard and extended batteries available for your smartphone.

If like me you spend hours every day talking on your phone while on the go then you should seriously consider a Bluetooth Headset such as the New Jawbone, original Jawbone or Motorola H700.  If you happen to spend hours in your car then you should also look at the range of Treo 755p speakerphones available such as the Jabra SP5050 and new Blueant Supertooth 3 – the fist to offer Text-to-Speech technology.

Finally, no accessory kit would be complete in my opinion without some screen protectors, a spare stylus as well as a memory card reader such as my favourite SanDisk MobileMate SD+ Reader.

Palm: Good & Not So Good News

Last week Palm reported its Q4 and financial year 2008 results with news that the company had record sales (principally thanks to the hugely successful Palm Centro) just short of 1,000,000 smartphones (968,000 units) during the quarter and a total of 3.2 million units for the year (its highest smartphone sell-through yet).

At the same time, Palm nonetheless reported a loss of $43.4 million this quarter – roughly half of this loss was attributed to compensation and restructuring costs as the company continues to change and builds Palm 2.0.  The more obvious reason for this loss is simply that Palm basically has no high-margin Treo smartphones on the market and even the huge success of the Centro (which has considerably lower margins) cannot make up for Palm’s overall market share loss at the premium end of the market.

Having said this, for this coming quarter Palm will at least benefit from the introduction of the new high-end and high-margin Sprint Treo 800w (due July 13) which combined with the recently launched Verizon Centro should considerably help the company’s finances.

It’s clear that without the availability of its next-generation NOVA OS to power new smartphones before 2009, Palm will in the meantime have to rely almost entirely on Windows Mobile powered Treo smartphone sales (including the slick GSM Treo 850 due in September) to get the high margins that it needs.  This is certainly not a bad thing as Windows Mobile penetration continues to grow in the enterprise and it also leads in Europe where Palm is still weak.

Everybody is not that optimistic about Palm’s future but I’m seeing more than a few pockets (including me) where there is a growing positive sentiment that the company has reached an “inflection point” and is now set on a new path to make a strong rebound towards 2009.  Naturally any chance of real success will depend entirely on the design of Palm’s next-generation smartphones as well as its new operating system.

It’s true that right now both Apple with its iPhone 3G and RIM with its BlackBerry Bold have some terrific devices coming out this summer (see above) but the fact is nonetheless that it’s still far too early for anyone to claim there is a winner in the “Smartphone Wars”.  I personally have no doubt that Palm will make a strong turnaround by next year with a completely new hardware and software platform. 

In the meantime, like millions of Treonauts I absolutely cannot wait to see what’s in store for us and I have to admit that I would pay dearly to get my hands on the first NOVA screenshots as well as an image of one of the next-generation Palm “Quattro” smartphones…

Treonauts always have a positive attitude…