Palm Withdraws Linux-Powered Foleo PC

M Saunders writes "Not long after we enjoyed playing with the device at LinuxWorld 2007, Palm has announced that it is shelving the Foleo handheld PC, before it was due to ship, so that the company can focus on a 'next-generation platform.' Palm hasn't ruled out a 'Foleo II' at some point, but for those of us looking forward to dinky Linux-powered laptops it's a bit of a disappointment. Still, with the Asus Eee PC nearby — and at a very low price point — perhaps it was a sensible move by Palm."

I'm not surprised.

[Dster76]

It's not a laptop, but it's a reason to carry an extra charger, in addition to your smartphone's. Don't these product designers every travel?

SURPRISED?

[MikShapi]

That a 500$ non-x86 glorified PDA in a UMPC form factor and lacking wireless capabilities would not sell in 2007, when Asus intends to push an XP-capable PentiumM-based EeePC that will harness the Windows application base for 200$-300$?

When two weeks after its announcement, VIA showed a reference C7-based UMPC (reworked nano-itx rig with a screen, really)?

GIVE ME A FUCKING BREAK. I'd be surprised if palm managed to sell more than four of these units. Whoever made the call to do this product is a clueless idiot, and the engineers working for him are clueless idiots for not having pointed just how pathetically backward such a product would be in light of existing competition. It wouldn't have sold a decade ago. NOW?

1999 called. They want their Jornada back.

They withdrew it because...

[jddj]

...it was an answer to a question that nobody asked. Unless the question was "WTF?"

Bwahahahaha!

[Gavin Scott]

As I wrote here when they announced it:

It seems that almost all gadgets introduced as being a "new class" of device can be found a year later being sold by the pallet-load at bay area surplus and auction places. A year from now we can go in together on a lot of 100 of them for $1 each :)

The only question now is whether they show up at Weird Stuff Warehouse or BDI :-)

Seriously, this might be the most embarrassing product announcement I've ever seen.

G.

Re:I'm not surprised.

[Mikachu]

Are you saying we might be nearing an end to overpriced cell phone chargers?

I wish the US government would follow suit. The chargers, at this point, often cost as much as buying a new phone (subsidized, of course).