Palm, one of the early innovators in smartphones through its Treo line, has made some moves lately that it hopes will position itself to compete with the likes of Apple’s iPhone and others. In addition to an infusion of $325 million in cash from private equity, Palm’s board has been joined by two key former Apple executives. Jon Rubinstein, a key force in iPod development at Apple, has joined Palm as executive chairman. Fred Anderson, a former Apple CFO also joins Palm’s board.
Palm needs all the help it can get. With the pending iPhone debut on June 29th and Research in Motion’s phenomenal success with the Blackberry brand, Palm’s Treo will need some ‘magic.’ The Treo line has seen its own success and has a loyal following. But most would agree that the Treo line will need to step it up a couple notches to compete in the future, and quickly. Upgrades to the Treo over the past few cycles have added some useful features, but future development cycles will need to include major design changes and a couple of ‘wow’ moments in order to compete. Stay tuned.
Read this BusinessWeek online post for more insight.
