If I Were (Palm) King For A DayIf I Were (Palm) King For A Day

PalmOne just turned another quarterly profit based on strong sales of its Treo smartphone. But it's going to take more than that to make palmOne a significant player in the future or, for that matter, to ensure its long-term survival.

I don't say that out of ill-will toward either the company or Treo. The company has done a good job of hanging in against withering competition and rapid change and the Treo remains one of the cleverest smartphones around. But one successful product isn't nearly enough to ensure the company's long-term survival when it's competing against the likes of Microsoft, Nokia and Symbian.

I say that not only because Microsoft continues to pound away on vendors and enterprises with its Windows Mobile platforms. But an equally big threat is on the horizon: Nokia and Symbian. Neither has yet made much of an effort to sell smartphones in North America where palmOne is strongest, but that's about to change with the release of Nokia's 9300 in September.

PalmOne needs to act decisively if it is to stay afloat in the long-term, let alone be a major player. And I'm talking about more than just changing its name back to Palm, which occurs in a couple of weeks. If I'm king of palmOne for a day, here's what I'd do.

First and foremost, I'd release a Windows Mobile version of the Treo as soon as possible. This has been long-rumored and palmOne has done nothing to discourage those rumors. While palmOne recently renewed its commitment to the Palm platform, that's not a monogamous relationship -- they can use other platforms if they want.

It's no secret that Microsoft-based devices are eating palmOne's and the Palm OS' lunch in the enterprise and Symbian should be strong there, as well. It's also true that the Treo has an enormous amount of good will among both consumers and, I'm sure, enterprise decision makers. A Windows Mobile version would be a huge hit in the enterprise, I believe. It also would strengthen palmOne's position outside of North America, where its prospects are improving quite slowly.

PalmOne also desperately needs a mid-priced smartphone, which, in my Palm kingdom, would be the current Palm OS-based Treo 650 or, at the very least, the old Treo 600. Lower the price to $249 and consumers will buy them by the trainload, replacing all the revenue lost because of declining PDA sales. A low-priced Treo would, in turn, spur further enterprise sales since this is one product category in which many business users are still telling their IT shops what devices they want.

Finally, as Palm King, I'd keep up the company's good work with the low-end, mass market Zire PDAs and, perhaps, aim the higher-end PDAs, which no longer sell very well, at the rugged enterprise niche now dominated by companies like Symbol and Intermec. And I'd get serious about LifeDrive, making it either cheap enough to be a mass market device or compelling enough for people to fork over $500.

PalmOne has been -- and still is -- an innovator and a market driver, but it has suffered as market conditions changed radically. This is a delicate time for the company and for its one-time sibling PalmSource but they can, I believe, turn it around if they make some bold decisions.