Update: I've written an editorial / eulogy for the Foleo over at WMExperts titled "A Curious Absence." Here's the most pertinent quote:
That, in the end, is where the Foleo failed. Palm said again and again that the Foleo wasn't meant to replace your laptop. Here's the rub: it should have been able to replace your laptop. On its own, perhaps not, but in conjunction with an uber-smartphone, yes. That's why I say that the Foleo was three years too early - smartphones just don't deserve to have "mobile companions" yet.
Posted today at the Palm blog, a gigantic bolt from the blue:
In the course of the past several months, it has become clear that the right path for Palm is to offer a single, consistent user experience around this new platform design and a single focus for our platform development efforts. To that end, and after careful deliberation, I have decided to cancel the Foleo mobile companion product in its current configuration and focus all of our energies on delivering out next generation platform and the first smartphones that will bring this platform to market. We will, of course, continue to develop products in partnership with Microsoft on the Windows Mobile platform, but from our internal platform development perspective, we will focus on only one.
Yep. It's a shocker. Colligan states that Palm wants to focus their development efforts on the Linux Smartphone Platform, though he did write that Palm still plans on developing the a "Foleo II" and releasing it sometime in the future -- based on the new "unified platform."
Additionally, the sudden change will also cost Palm around $10 million to their earnings.
The Foleo has been met with a large amount of skepticism and confusion, especially given Palm's claim that the Foleo is a "mobile companion" and not a UMPC or sub-notebook. It's currently unknown whether the decision is related at all to recent rumblings about Palm's direction in the blogosphere. It's unlikely, though it's certainly possible that the recent web postings were the straw that broke the camel's back. Presumably many will be happy with the decision that Palm is refocusing its efforts on Smartphones.
Also in the lurch: the many developers and companies who had signed on to create and support software for the Foleo. One almost hopes there'll be a black market for them. ;)
So long, Foleo. You had some promise, hopefully someday you'll fulfill it.
Discuss the Axing of the Foleo in our forums.
