Fiat Lux

I agree 10,000%.

Look, we know what we’re talking about here won’t be able to happen today, tomorrow, or next week. It’s going to require some serious time, dedication, and faith in the brand you’ve built. Your stock is tumbling, the lowest it’s been in months; your customers have lost faith, and those buying Treos seem to be just going through the motions; your efforts to expand your business have gone unfulfilled, and perhaps most importantly your consumers are unhappy and looking for the next great thing — that you’re not providing. But it’s not entirely hopeless. Your biggest competition’s already shown its hand, and you’ve seen how successful they’ve been. Look at what they’ve done right (and wrong), and build upon it.

Even if you only implemented half the suggestions we’ve laid out here we think you could really turn things around. And we do, honestly, want you to make it through this thing. We want to love Palm like we loved it in the old days, and know somewhere, deep down, you’ve got some fight left in you. And believe you us, this is your shot. The bottom’s about to drop out on the Treo, and if you can’t make it happen soon, you may never get another chance to get a foothold on innovation.

Sadly, I think Palm is neither willing nor able to listen.

Those of us who still, against all odds, harbor some fondness for the PalmOS platform were looking forward to today, when Palm founder Jeff Hawkins finally unveiled the super-duper mystery project he’s been working on for some time now.

It’s an overpriced, underpowered Linux laptop.

I’m underwhelmed and very disappointed.

Oooh. A less expensive Treo. Me want.

At DigitalLife 2006 in New York City Thursday, Palm introduced a new Treo smartphone aimed at average consumers rather than just business customers. The Treo 680 is a quad-band GSM handset that runs Palm OS and comes in a number of different colors.

Palm says it has designed the Treo 680 to reach a wide range of users around the world, and has simplified the device’s software to make that goal a reality. “Really what we focused on in the past is the mobile professionals,” Palm CEO Ed Colligan said in a press conference.

Although it comes with largely the same feature set as the Treo 650, Palm has updated the 680’s phone application to version 3.0, which offers a completely new user interface. Favorites have been simplified and contacts are now integrated directly into the dial software.

In addition, Palm has included a wired car kit, a “My Treo” user guide and knowledge base support system, as well as a new version of the Treo’s e-mail software known as VersaMail 3.5. Multimedia, blogging and mapping utilities come with the 680 as well. Google finally released a version of its Maps software for Palm on Thursday.

I’m still reasonably happy with my Razr, though, so I doubt I’ll be buying one of these the day the come out. The Razr won’t last forever though……

Well, I broke my Tungsten C some three months ago and I still haven’t decided whether to get the damn thing fixed or not. With 2006 fast approaching, I need to finally make a decision, because if I do go back to paper, now is the time to go buy a planner.

Scott found a link to a highly-rated guy on eBay who apparently repairs Palm PDAs for less than what it would cost to send the Tungsten back to PalmOne for a repair. I’m thinking about it.

I’m also thinking that since I survived all semester without a PDA, I probably don’t really need one. I miss the games and being able to read e-books a bit, but the ability to do those things is not really worth $75-$125 to me right now. Especially when I can get a perfectly good 2006 Day-Timer for under $25.

Someone with psychology training might point out to me that not making a decision is also a decision, and that’s quite true. In essence, by going three months without my PDA, my decision has already been made. I just need to admit it and move on.