Is it January already? How time flies. 2006 was an eventful year, product-wise, for Palm. Palm is fully committed to smartphones now, since there were no new PDAs or Mobile Managers released. They launched five new Treo smartphones, on Windows Mobile (700w, 700wx, 750v) and Palm OS (700p, 680). Here are some of my predictions on what will happen in the Treo world in 2007.

1. Treo 750v launches in the US
The 3G, Windows Mobile Treo 750v is already available in many European and Asian countries. In the US, Palm has faced delays in introducing this model. Palm should get their act together soon, and hopefully will be able to launch the Treo 750v in the US in the first quarter of 2007.

2. Treo 680 launches all over the world
The new Treo 680 has all the right ingredients to be a hit : proven stable operating system, nicer form factor, more memory, and at an affordable price. Since this smartphone runs on GSM, it should be made available in most countries in 2007. Palm did this particularly well with the Treo 650, rolling it out in a couple of countries a month to ensure maximum press coverage.

3. HSDPA firmware update for the Treo 750v
Yes, the Treo 750v is a 3G phone running on UMTS networks. There’s a newer update for UMTS called HSDPA which is already available in many countries with 3G. Don’t worry about the mouthful of acronyms — it just means that your Treo 750v will be able to browse and download even faster than ever. HSDPA support is already rumoured to be released soon.

4. ACCESS Linux Platform (ALP) will be released
I don’t think we will see a commercially available smartphone running ALP until late 2007, if at all. I’m fairly confident Palm will not use ALP in any Treo for at least a couple of years, since it has the right to use and extend Palm OS.

5. No new Treo smartphones or PDAs
As much as I would love to see new Treo smartphones, it’s unlikely that we will see any this year. Palm has a pretty much complete, refreshed line of smartphones both the high end and the low end, both Palm OS and Windows Mobile, and all the new networks (UMTS, EVDO). All it needs to do is market and sell the current smartphones, and spend time building the next generation. We know Palm is resistant to trading battery life for the current ever-slimmer form factors we see from their competitors. Palm also tends to lag behind in incorporating new, gee-whiz stuff. So in 2007, there will be no RAZRlike Treo with built-in GPS, WiFi and UMA.

6. … and one more thing
OK, so this is more a Steve Jobs/Apple thing. Even if we don’t see the Apple iPhone (or whatever they will call it) at Macworld next week, I’m hoping that Jeff Hawkins will be ready to show off his new invention. There will be no new PDAs or Mobile Managers because Palm will launch a new category of mobile personal information management. I have no idea what it will be, but based on what I understand from Jeff’s book On Intelligence, it will make your work life so much better, and fulfill the function of a backup brain. And I will probably buy it, whatever it is.

The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) will be held next week in Las Vegas. Last year, Palm announced its first Windows Mobile Treo, the Treo 700w at CES. Let’s see what Palm comes up for us.

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Filed under: Mobile World

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