"Only 15 percent of Palm users want an integrated MP3 player," [Palm's vice president of product planning and strategy, Michael] Mace said.
Uh, yeah. Early adopters who like technology don't want to listen to MP3's when they're on the go. And I'm sure there's no overlap between Palm and Rio owners. Duh.
Is it really just pure animosity towards Microsoft that makes Palm proponents argue that they don't want color or MP3's or true web access or whatever else the platform has lacked?
I do agree that usability and simplicity are important goals for either platform, but if users want a truly simple, reliable, usable monochrome platform for keeping track of contacts and appointments, I would suggest they grab a Day-Timer and a ballpoint pen. People who like gadgets, who are willing to deal with the trouble of synching with a desktop computer, and who are willing to be without their phone numbers when their batteries are dead, ought to just get the gee-whizziest platform. And iPaqs look better than anything on Visor makes anyway.
Now of course, everyone likes to point out Palm's propaganda about how easy-to-use their platform is. I defy anyone who has actually used the wireless web clippings on the Palm VII (ugh, Roman numerals) to describe the feature as usable. Not to mention the learning curve as opposed to the relatively analogous experience of Internet Explorer on the Pocket PC versus on a desktop PC.
Just my 2 cents, of course.
