New Smart Phone Launched by Palm

Palm is rolling out the new Treo Pro smart phone on Wednesday, says the Mercury News. Although they recognize that no one is likely to wait on line for hours just to get first crack at this new phone, Palm has high hopes that the phone will be able to carve its own special niche in the mobile phone industry.

This is a new Treo. The Mercury News describes it as both thinner and altogether sleeker than previous models. It runs on a Windows operating systems. Because of that, Palm is hoping that IT managers and corporate times will prefer the new phone.

The new phone is being launched hot on the heels of Palm’s big success last year. The Centro, which went for about one hundred dollars, was targeted at people who were purchasing smart phones for the first time. It did extremely well in that particular niche, however the profit margins were still low. Now, the Treo Pro is coming into the market after the recently launched BlackBerry and innumerable products for the new iPhone 3G.

Still, analysts and experts think this launch is a good thing – and a smart move – for Palm. One of them is quoted in the Mercury News as saying that “[Palm] needed this badly.” Ken Dulaney also made the distinction that the Treo Pro was an improvement for Palm, but not necessarily a breakthrough product of iPhone level.

Palm has taken a lot of hits over the years. Once upon a time, they led the industry when it came to PDAs. They were even the leader in smart phones – at least those that ran on their own operating system. However they have lost that top spot just recently. This is mostly due to the fact that Palm’s competitors have been offering smaller, sleeker, and altogether less bulky phones.

Still, smart phones make up about 19 percent of all the cell phones and wireless devices being sold in the United States. If the Treo Pro appeals to both IT managers and people who have never used a smart phone and are looking for a good segue model, they may just have another hit.

(August 22, 2008)