I still haven't decided what to get.
I liked the Driod, but plans I looked at are expensive. I need to start looking around at plans again.
It looks like HP is trying to get into the business. HP is going to acquire Palm.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/04/29/cnet.hp.palm/index.html?hpt=Sbin
Then they should meet head on at the door, because it looks like Palm will be going OUT of business.
HP is acquiring Palm for $1.2bn because they already have an existing mobile platform and all the necessary in-roads in development. They're buying the browser, basically. Palm is pretty well regarded in the tech aspect, they just made some shitty business decisions and suffered badly in the shadow of the iPhone, which isn't really all that buzzworthy anymore.
I think HP would make a pretty decent phone or tablet, I like their products.
I agree on all counts of that assessment. My dad has been using Palm smart phones since they came out. He didn't want to leave the Palm atmosphere until this month because it looks like Palm is behind the competitors due to bad business decisions. He just got one of the Droid phones to replace his dated Treo. I've always liked HP products too, so I'm sure they'll be able to turn Palm around and get them back on top.
On the business end, their most recent flub was a underperform on sales of units. They projected a certain number for the past quarter and came in way, way under it. So their share price got totally crushed on an exodus and the shorts piled on. This spills over into the public eye as a holy fuck! moment, and gives them a really bad rep, the typical citizen will take one look at the chart and assume everything is falling to shit internally. But its not, the tech side is what it always was - a quality product. The Droid is attracting customers, iPhone is doing well, etc etc. That doesn't mean their product is junk, it just means right now people are fascinated by new products that (deservedly so) are gaining popularity.
I've never heard anything
bad about Palm. Its just that they're not really cool, and the younger customers with disposable income who change phones often are ignoring them, because they're considered a boring product.
But, yeah. HP wants to enter the mobile device arena, and its probably a good way to do it. Its a proven product, all the bugs are worked out. You can skin it to look like anything. So why not? Its probably better than designing from scratch and then damaging their reputation by putting out a buggy product. They could have shit on the shelves in six months if they want, and catch the wave of popularity by offering a full range of devices under the HP brand. Slam dunk.