Why the Palm Pre Is a Major Advancement in Smartphones

The Palm Pre's future

As with all new platforms, there are some quirks and bugs that need to be fixed in the Palm Pre, such as: making clipboard cut/copy/paste easier to use; copying portions of a Web page; viewing the phone log; setting the homepage; viewing a summary of events in the Calendar; adding keyboard shortcuts; and adding categories for the Contacts. These will likely be addressed quickly via downloadable system updates over the coming months.

For the next six months, Palm is operating exclusively on the Sprint network. Every Treo or Centro user should consider migrating over to the Pre, and I expect that many Sprint subscribers whose contract expires in the next six months will consider switching over to the Pre.

The longer-term challenge for Palm is what to do after the next six months. It seems clear that it should quickly offer the Pre on Verizon Wireless, AT&T Wireless and T-Mobile as soon as possible. And it should expand internationally. Its webOS and Synergy platforms should make it easier for developers outside the United States to develop applications adapted for the local culture and language.

And I'm sure that the Pre 2.0 is already on the drawing board. My guess: Palm will do a Pre model that has a slide-out keyboard that's horizontal rather than vertical (in the vein of the HTC Android G1). And, at some point, Palm will have to consider licensing webOS to other smartphone manufacturers such as Samsung, LG and HTC.

For Palm, the light is finally burning at the end of a rather long, dark tunnel. It has stepped up to the plate and upped the ante in the smartphone wars. It's now up to developers to build some really great applications and users to get excited and tell their friends that they love their Palm Pre. I look forward to testing one of them in the near future.

J. Gerry Purdy, Ph.D., is the vice president and chief analyst with the Frost & Sullivan North American Information & Communication Technologies Practice. As a nationally recognized industry authority, he focuses on monitoring and analyzing emerging trends, technologies and market behavior in the mobile computing and wireless data communications industry in North America. Since joining Frost & Sullivan in 2006, Dr. Purdy has been specializing in mobile and wireless devices, wireless data communications and connection to the infrastructure that powers the data in the wireless handheld. He is author of Inside Mobile & Wireless, which provides industry insights and reaches over 100,000 readers per month.

For more than 16 years, Dr. Purdy has been consulting, speaking, researching, networking, writing and developing state-of-the-art concepts that challenge people's mind-sets, and developing new ways of thinking and forecasting in the mobile computing and wireless data arenas. Often quoted, his ideas and opinions are followed closely by thought leaders in the mobile & wireless industry. He has a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Stanford University. He can be reached at gerry.purdy@frost.com.

Disclosure Statement: From time to time, I may have a direct or indirect equity position in a company that is mentioned in this column.  If that situation happens, then I’ll disclose it at that time.