This has been a good year for Palm. Earlier this year they launched the Palm Pre, which has enjoyed good reviews and had the power under the hood to be a strong rival to Apple's Iphone. The most recent Palm creation, the Pixi is a solid smartphone for first time users. Despite all the hype and Palm's improvements in their products, it seems as though this is merely a delay of the inevitable.
Their products simply lack the 3rd party application support that competitors such as Apple, Blackberry, Microsoft,and Google have. Blackberry has continued to be the favorite in the business smartphone world, where Palm once stood in the 1990s. They have successfully marketed to the new wave of young and hip smartphone users with the Blackberry Storm and Storm 2. Google's Andriod format continues to make huge improvements from the original G1 to the Motorola Driod. Their market share is virtually invisible in the smartphone market with the other giants in the game. Simply put, Palm's reinvention came too late. Its partnership with Sprint, is almost reminincist of watching two ships sinking slowing, perhaps one faster than the other.
A buyout seems to be the most likely future for this old schooler. It would hardly seem necessary for Apple, Blackberry, Google, or Microsoft to make an offer. Nokia seems to be a better suitor for such an acquistion. Whatever the case, Palm's time is coming to end. Althought it will be sad to see them go, the smartphone segment has been revolutionized by the iphone and it is an exciting time in the overall industry.
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