Palm finished with Windows Mobile

By Phil Nickinson
last updated

We hate to see it happen, but it's really not that much of a surprise:

After pumping out a half-dozen Windows Mobile devices, Palm officially is finished with the operating system and will focus solely on webOS. Our pals at PreCentral.net just broke the news from John Rubenstein himself during a financial conference call:

Due to importance of webOS to our overall strategy, we've made the decision to dedicate all future develoment resources to the evolution of webOS. Which means that going forward, our roadmap will include only Palm webOS-based devices

That's definitely a bummer for all you Windows Mobile Treo fans (and we certainly have our share around here). But strategically, it makes sense. Palm will be able to throw all of its resources into webOS, as it really needs to be doing.

The good news, at least for those of you lugging around Treo Pros, is that you'll still be able to partake in the Windows Mobile 6.5 fun, thanks to custom ROMs.

Fare thee well, Palm. Thanks for many years of solid Windows Mobile devices. You'll be missed.

Phil Nickinson
Phil Nickinson

Phil is the father of two beautiful girls and is the Dad behind Modern Dad. Before that he spent seven years at the helm of Android Central. Before that he spent a decade in a newsroom of a two-time Pulitzer Prize-finalist newspaper. Before that — well, we don't talk much about those days. Subscribe to the Modern Dad newsletter!

14 Comments
  • Yeah, I was kind of expecting that. Unfortunate though, as my Pro still is a good WinMo device. Oh well, unfortunately I am now more involved with the WinMo space so HTC Pro 2 here I come...
  • I REALLY hope that now that Palm is done with WinMo, that HTC finally releases a QWERTY-bar WinMo Professional device of their own. The Epix was OK while the iPAQ 910 sucked. But there's no reason why HTC can't do that form factor better.
  • oh well.. HTC built the Treo Pro so no biggie.
  • They built it but didn't design it. And from CFay's analysis of the ROM, Palm still had a lot of custom tricks to the OS that HTC doesn't do.
  • Didn't we decide that HTC offered a few ... suggestions?
  • Oh definitely, but I think Palm was still the primary designer of the device and still had a hand in how the OS was tweaked (see hardware graphic acceleration/beats the Touch Pro in performance). But by this point, they had farmed out more of the design/implementation to HTC.
  • It's great they have a custom Rom for the CDMA but I sure hope they don't leave those of us with unlocked phones on AT&T orphaned. (On the other hand, it might be an excuse to snag an HTC Touch Pro 2 when AT&T gets it).
  • I'm won't even be surprised if Palm falls completely because of how long they take to release phones. Htc runs circles around Palm and as soon as I get enough money I will be moving right on over from my dinosaur 700wx to the Htc Touch Pro 2.
  • No... Palm... You had the best tweaked ROMs ever. What a shame...
  • Certainly is a shame to see that Palm is out of the WinMo picture, but really not surprising at all. They have been stuggling badly for a number of years already and the new WebOS seems to have a lot of good qualities about it, which translates as potential. But I also feel that Palm may disappear all together before long. They are in trouble due to failure to keep up with the changing times and technology. And those changes happen quickly and frequently in the current handset market. Not only did Palm announce the end of WinMo on Palm devices but also that the company lost money for the 8th straight quarter. Sadly, I do not foresee WebOS as the big Palm rescuer. They may already be suffering from the effects of the dying quivers.
  • Palm designed it, no doubt but HTC had about 85% of the software in there. All Palm did was making things confusing as hell for developers by making some not so traditional moves in their rom structure.
    -CFay
  • Too bad! my 700wx and my 800w have been two of the best phones I have had. I dislike moving parts and HTC bloatware, (had 4 PPC6601's) but may have to try the Touch Pro 2..
  • Here is the conundrum for Palm with WM:
    The Pre form factor is a compelling advance over the treo Form faotor. Other than a sim slot in the cdma treo pro (which would be no advance for the extant gsm), the main way to improve it is a bigger screen, which is the clear dominant market trend at the momment. So the next wm palm would sensibly be a pre form factor. The problem with that is it would look like palm had less faith on webos. I think they had no choice. Add that they have cash problems and have not been able to properly promote webos, it makes sense to cut the wm division out. When I picked the treo pro over the touch pro, the touch's screen was tempting,but it was mainly due to touch pros lower battery life and lack of a 3.5 mm jack. I have been test driving the cdma (sprint) tp2, and fixes both issues, throws in a sim which is great for travel, and even bigger higher def screen. I just don't think Palm saw a place to compete with htc there. what would their next wm handset possibly offer to distinguish it from htc or their own pro if they didnt want to confuse the market with a pre form factor?
  • Palm Treo Pro + SPB Mobile Shell 3.5.1 = R O C K S ! will be one of the best mobile i ever had,
    keep you in the closet in case of 8) "Vive le HD2 !"