Palm and Microsoft on the Windows Mobile Treo

Palm and Microsoft on the Windows Mobile Treo

Posted by Harry McCrackenMonday, September 26, 2005, 06:38 PM (PST)

Today's San Francisco press conference made it official: There's going to be a Windows Mobile 5.0-based Treo smartphone. It'll be available exclusively from Verizon Wireless at first, and will run on that carrier's EV-DO broadband network. But all hasn't been revealed--the execs wouldn't talk about the product's name, its price, its full specs, or its exact release date, except to say it would be available "very early" in 2006. (The WinMobile Treo that Engadget snared identifies itself as a Treo 700w, but it's possible that's just a working name.) After the press conference, I met up with a Palm guy--Greg Shirai, VP of product marketing--and a Microsoft guy--John Traynor, senior director of segment marketing for the mobile devices division--and peppered them with questions. Here are a few of their answers. When did this project get hatched? "I've been working on this project for over two years," Shirai told me. That would date back to the era of the Palm-Hanspring merger, and indeed "Donna and Jeff [Dubinsky and Hawkins--cofounders of Palm and Handspring] were involved in early discussions with Microsoft." And "once Palm split up and PalmSource was a separate entity, that was the opening." Why a Windows Treo? Conventional wisdom says that a Treo that runs Windows Mobile may be more attractive to big companies, especially those that use Exchange and Outlook. And Palm agrees. "We have a fairly strong enterprise messaging story with the [Treo] 650," said Shirai. But "we've heard that many people have a preference--if not a requirement--for an end-to-end Windows solution." However, Palm won't market the Palm OS Treo as a consumery product and the Windows Mobile one as a corporate one: "Our approach is more about choice--we're saying we have something built around this experience that Palm provides." And it will now be available in both Palm OS and Windows Mobile flavors. As for Microsoft, "We've had people show us Treo and say, 'This is a great device,'" says Trayor. "Palm brings that unique understanding about what makes a great phone experience." Is a Windows Treo destined to be just a commodity phone running an off-the-shelf OS? "We asked to be able to differentiate on this platform," said Shirai, who added that Palm was exposed to Windows Mobile 5.0 early on and that Microsoft engineers added API calls at Palm's request to help it add Palm-style features on top of Windows. Palm, he said, figured that "if we can add our special sauce [to Windows Mobile], we can light up the smartphone market even faster." Hey, how about Palm OS-based Treos? The press event stressed that the WinTreo will "expand" the Treo platform rather than replacing the Palm OS, but it was short on specifics--like when we'll see a new Palm OS model. But Shirai said that Palm OS aficionados shouldn't fret. "We've extended our Palm OS license through 2010, and we have a robust roadmap on that platform...we have a very loyal user base and a very healthy developer community." Will Verizon's EV-DO service be a big deal? "For syncing e-mail, if it's just text, it doesn't necessarily change the experience much," Traynor said. "But if it's a 1MB PowerPoint attachment...or I can surf at high speed, that's a big difference....and Verizon has done a great job of rolling it out." Ultimately, the two most intriguing questions that come out of all this are ones that can't be answered at a press event. They're A) OK, so is the Windows Mobile Treo worth buying? and B) What does this truly mean for the Palm OS in the long run? We'll do a hands-on evaluation of the new phone as soon as possible so we can chime in on the first question. As for the second one, nobody really knows the answer...but we'll all find out in the months and years to come.