IDG had a recent opportunity to chat with Palm founder Jeff Hawkins, and the interview focuses squarely on the netbook market. While I’m of the opinion that the small notebook market is pretty well defined, it looks like Hawkins still feels there’s a market for a Foleo-like device. At least that’s how I’m reading it based on these excerpts:
"IBD: When Foleo was announced critics questioned this category. What’s your thinking about it now?
Hawkins: As far as I know the category hasn’t taken off yet, but there’s interest in it. Myopinion has been pretty consistent… I’m a frustrated computer user — Idon’t particularly like using computers. I was very excited about Foleoand I’m still excited about the category. And I never lost any of myexcitement for it, even though Palm decided not to launch the Foleo…. If anything, my career has shown me that there’s a demand for simplicity and size reduction. I’m still convinced it’s a great category ready to really take off."
At first I thought Hawkins was talking about the netbook category, but upon a second review, I’m not so sure. What’s interesting to me is the timing of this interview since we recently shared news that Celio’s REDFLY was now available for consumer purchase. Many commenters indicated that it was too late for such a device to be successful and that the price was too high when compared to netbooks. Remember, the REDFLY is very similar to the Foleo concept with two major differences: it uses the Windows Mobile, rather than Palm platform, and it can’t be used without a phone while the Foleo can.
I recommend reading the whole article, because it’s entirely possible I’ve misunderstood the message that Hawkins was trying to convey. It seems like he sees a small window of opportunity for second generation Foleo, but I’m not convinced there is due to the netbook market that continues to expand at a rapid pace.
I do think Hawkins is closer to the target with his commentary on the various netbook models out there. He believes that there’s still room between the "too small" devices and the "too big" devices in this category. Perhaps we’ll see a Foleo 2 in that gap: a standalone device with a lightweight mobile OS sized somewhere in between?
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