Palm closing retail stores, paying out Treo owners

Palm has decided to close its retail stores as it faces the effects of a class-action lawsuit filed by Treo owners.

Palm announced on Wednesday that Treo 600 and 650 owners who have had their units replaced or repaired at least twice are eligible for cash rebates on new Palm smartphones, as part of a settlement of a class-action suit filed in 2005. The company will also repair any Treo 600 or 650 that hasn't failed twice, but is outside of the original warranty.

Thursday brought news that the company's 34 stores--eight Palm-branded locations and 26 stores that were inside Airport Wireless outposts--will have to go by the end of the current quarter. "We continue to focus our company around core business initiatives and are consolidating more resources behind fewer programs in order to compete most effectively and build world-class, category-defining mobile solutions. We have therefore made the decision to close our retail stores," the company said in a statement regarding the retail move.

The two announcements were made separately, but it's not hard to see one affecting the other. The rebates are only for users who purchased, or plan to purchase, a new Palm smartphone after sending their old one in for repairs at least twice, which is kind of expecting a lot of those folks, I think.

I haven't had any problems with my older Treo 650 or the Treo 700 I currently use, but if I had sent it in twice for a repair, I'd probably be looking at a different manufacturer when it came time to buy a new one. The company denied the plaintiff's claims that Treos failed at unacceptable rates, but felt it would have cost more to fight the lawsuit than it would to settle it now.

Palm is going to have to come up with $75 for any such Treo 600 owner who bought a new Palm smartphone between September 30, 2005, and six months after the settlement becomes final. Treo 650 owners can get $50 back on the purchase of any new Palm smartphone during the six-month period after the settlement becomes final. A final hearing is scheduled for May 2. If you think you might be eligible, check out this site for more information.

Palm has plenty of work ahead of itself getting to work on its next-generation operating system for its smartphones, as well as continuing to expand on the early success of the Centro. A new hardware design that doesn't cause as many problems as the Treo would also probably be a good idea.

[thenet411]

Palm needs to give up the ghost

They had their time but their time is over. Palm is dead.

Long live Windows Mobile!

[tashman]

please

I've moved onto a real device the nokia n810. This blows away anything MS could dream off.

[dragonfly8610]

Get real

I have used Windows mobile and Palm OS....and for ease of use when mobile, I'll take Palm OS anytime...Windows is too cumbersome for mobility applications

[AndrewRich]

Let me get this straight

Because my Treo 650 has broken and been replaced twice, I can get a credit... towards another Treo? Let me know when they build a device that (wow!) has WiFi, GPS and Bluetooth 2.

[matt_ernst]

Palm closings

I would have appreciated Palm's support of the Mac community 5
years ago or so. Instead, it seemed they were hostile toward
anyone who used a Mac with their Palm. I'm sorry for their
difficulties.

[bobcode]

They had stores?!

Palms kinda look underpowered and expensive compared to the iPhone. That's not fair, because I can get a Centro for $99 with discounts.

[fred dunn]

They are doing the right thing....

Getting back to their roots (the Palm OS and hardware), everything else is just extraneous.

What they really need to concentrate on is getting easy to use development tools out their so people can develop apps that do not require a great deal of time from thought to code.
This will at some point produce a "killer" app that everyone will want the Palm OS for.

[emsabh]

Multiple failures

I am one of the folks who had failures for both the 600 and 650.
The 600 failed 4 times over 18 months and was replaced each time
by another handset. The 650 failed twice, with a replacement
handset each time as well. Unfortunately the ease of use won out
for me over the frustration of spending time in a sprint store.

[TV James]

Sprint should have been your first clue of problems to come.

nt

[oldguytoo]

i like mine

I like the Palm m515 I use. It still works well.

[bottomline]

The Shift in the PDA World

My company produces real estate application software for both Palm and MS Mobile devices. Our current shift is moving away from specific device platforms and towards internet connected devices regardless of the platform. Yes, not all existing devices are internet capable. Our current applications will take care of that for now, but the future of applications for these devices seems to be on the internet.
From a programming cost perspective, one program written for the internet is more cost effective than the device specific applications. Furthermore, code maintenance is significantly easier.

[Joe A Flores]

Outdated OS

I think this is the main issue with palm, is the same OS.
Remember that was the same problem with Apple in the mid
90's.

[Emilio2000]

My Treo abused, but still works fine!

Due to those stupid latches that are supposed to hold the Treo secured to your belt, but get dislodged easily at the slightest bump, my Treo fell to the ground multiple times, on bare asphalt, on a carpeted floor, on cement, ... and it still works. In fact, it works better than ever. I used to have a few freeze-up (requiring a re-booting), but haven't experienced one in the last year or so.

[Don Mandy]

palm treo

My Palmd treo 650 has been the worst nightmare. My first one lasted only a few days before I sent it back for warrany. Now the phone part no longer works and it does not work well with my computers either....My first palm product was purchased back in 2002 or 03 and I thought I would have learned from that nightmare, but I didn't.

[berock]

Treo 700P has more problems than benefits

When I replaced my aging but stable Kyocera 7135 smartphone (Palm OS 3.5), Kyocera had exited the smartphone business. My only Verizon choice was the Palm Treo 700P to transfer programs and extensive compiled data based on Palm OS, so I thought. The Treo 700P is the most unstable P-O-S I've ever encountered. Palm Support's first solution for the PROGRAMABLE smartphone was to remove ALL programs. Still problems, then it must be my data in Palm's own programs, per Palm Support, so delete that, too. Why then did I spend so much for an ostensibly programable phone???? Even on basic phone functions like SMS text messaging, this phone resets. THE WORST PURCHASE DECISION I'VE EVER MADE! Never again Palm! Never again Verizon (for refusing to admit this phone is unstable).

[W2Kuser]

I want to like Palm, but...

their technology is so klunky & out-of-date that they seem hopelessly behind the curve.

Why can't they simply combine the best features of their competitors into a radical new product line instead of making these tentative, baby steps ("ooooh look, they're offering a NEW COLOR...!")

A sad demise of a true icon...

[xarophti]

Treo

I wanted to like the Treo, but I couldn't do without the Grafitti interface. I can't use those tiny keyboards! Palm seemed to have gotten fat and lazy once they bought out Handspring years ago.