Palm most at risk from iPhone?
Nothing gets past those jaguar-like fellows at AppleInsider, as evidenced by their latest news including research notes from analysts at Bank of America and Morgan Stanley offering a look at what company stands to suffer most from the iPhone. According to these analysts, Nokia is in a strong position to stave off competition, while Motorola does the bulk of its business in lower-end phones that won’t compete with the iPhone, and RIM’s business-oriented products should keep their loyal base. Who does that leave to fall victim to Apple?
Palm’s Treo phones may be at the greatest risk of all, Huberty said. Beyond sharing features and prices, Palm is also in the unfortunate position of having a disproportionately large number of Apple enthusiasts in its midst. Treo owners are twice as likely to own an iPod or Mac, according to a Morgan Stanley survey, and are much more likely to consider iPhones regardless of their existing Apple product ownership.
We’re not sure why this phenomenon of the overlap between Treo and Apple fans exists, but just anecdotally we’ve noticed a high percentage of our friends also have Treos (though this could just be nerd selection bias). What we’ve also noticed–and this again could just be the company we keep–is that Treo owners don’t feel as chained to their handsets as, say, a BlackBerry owner. That is, they’re willing to look around a little more and see what other phones have to offer, while BlackBerry owners treat their devices like absolute necessities and that they’re so critical you can’t risk trying a competing device.
Of course, several companies go unmentioned in this analysis. Sony Ericsson, Samsung, and LG are a few of the other bigger players that could face some stiff competition from Apple. The unknown is how companies will respond to the iPhone over the long run. Palm looks vulnerable now, but there’s no telling what awesome secret product they have up their sleeve. Either way, the rivalry should push smartphones to new levels.
Filed under: iPhone News
Of the various Smartphone OS’s (Windows Mobile, Blackberry, Palm, Symbian), Palm is the most capable, and, thus, more in direct competition with the iPhone. I think Blackberry is poised to survive the longest against the iPhone, due to the price point.
The reason a disproportionate amount of Treo users are Mac users is that since is it based on PalmOS it has always had better compatibility with Macs than Blackberries or PocketPC/Windows Mobile devices.
Pam Desktop was originally based on Claris Organizer after all.
So almost 100% of Mac users wanting a ‘Smart’ phone may have chosen Treos, whereas Windows users will have been divided amongst Treo/Blackberry/Nokia/Sony Ericsson/Windows Mobile
Unfortunately, Palm have been their own worst enemies and by neglecting support for the Mac, have if anything made it even more likely for people to choose the iPhone.
I have tried a Treo, Blackberry, and PocketPC and far prefer the Treo (or Palms in general) but the iPhone is going to massacre them all.
I agree with John Lockwood. Mac users migrate toward the Treo because it has been the ONLY cell phone product with commercial software to trasnfer address book, calendar and notes data from Macs. A few troublesome, open source, third party apps exists for a few phones but most major cell phone vendors just ignore this connectivity on the Mac.
This is how Apple could win lot’s of iPhone customers just from its Mac base. But Apple will have to introduce a full lineup of handset models — a simple, low cost handset with the most basic phone features only (some people really do just want a phone that just works with minimal camera, Web or music capabilities; others want all the bells and whistles).