Palm finds a companion for its Treo smartphone

Taking mobile computing one step further, Palm Inc. on Wednesday unveiled a device, called “Foleo”, a compact portable computer that will accompany its Treo smartphone. This small laptop-size gadget is the first computer designed to be a companion to a smartphone, Palm, the leading producer of handheld computing products, said in a statement.

The Palm Foleo, which includes a full-size keyboard and 10-inch (25.4-centimetre) display, is designed to let users manage and edit their e-mails and other documents by communicating with their smartphones via a wireless Bluetooth connection.

Initially pitched as a companion for Treo smartphone, the Sunnyvale, California based personal digital assistant (PDA) manufacturer Palm intends to eventually make Foleo available for rival smartphones such as Research In Motion's Blackberry and Apple Inc.'s revolutionary iPhone.

With large screen, full keyboard and wireless technology, the new gadget enables users to easily view and edit email and office documents residing on their smartphones, offering productivity-minded business people a more complete mobile solution for email, attachments and rapid access to the web.

At 2.5 pounds, Foleo is just half the weight of other small laptop computers, and is priced at $599 before a $100 rebate beginning this summer. Due to launch sometime in this summer, the Foleo will come embedded with Wi-Fi, Internet-browsing capabilities and a Linux-based operating system. It turns on and off instantly and features fast navigation, a compact and elegant design, and a battery that last up to 5 hours of use.

"Foleo is the most exciting product I have ever worked on," said Palm's founder, Jeff Hawkins, who is also the visionary behind the Foleo's concept and definition.

"Smartphones will be the most prevalent personal computers on the planet, ultimately able to do everything that desktop computers can do. However, there are times when people need a large screen and full-size keyboard. As smartphones get smaller, this need increases. The Foleo completes the picture, creating a mobile-computing system that sets a new standard in simplicity."

Although, the Palm Foleo mobile companion include several applications like email, full-screen web browser, and viewers and editors for common office documents such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint and PDF files, still it lacks a hard drive and other full functions of a computer.

The Palm Foleo is drawing criticism from analysts who believe this new device would not help Palm to boost its position in a booming smartphone industry. Analysts further contend that it lacks mass appeal, saying the consumers would likely not like to carry an additional device as they already have all-in-one devices like computer notebooks that are getting smaller and cell phones, including the Palm Treo, that are getting smarter.

“This is the most disappointing product I've seen in years,” said Todd Kort, an industry analyst at Gartner Inc. research firm. “They have some longer term goals for this product in mind, but this is going to hit the market with a thud.”

Despite being the company that pioneered the handheld computer space, Palm has been facing immense pressure from companies like Microsoft, Sony Ericsson, Nokia, Motorola and now Apple, which have been increasingly developing all sorts of convergence devices, whereas Palm has lagged behind in it (until the Foleo hits the market), it just had the Treo in the market.

Palm, the manufacturer of the Treo range of smartphones, has found itself under pressure mainly by Apple's much-anticipated iPhone, an all-in-one cell phone/iPod/pocket computer which the iPod/Mac maker plans to launch in June.

Apple’s iPhone has already shaken up the cellphone industry by its flexible interface, giving a tough challenge to handset makers including Palm, which makes the hybrid phone-organizers, called smart phones.

Shares of Palm rose to 42 cents, or 2.6 percent, to $16.60 on Wednesday in NASDAQ trading.