Summary: On May 30 Palm Inc. announced the Foleo, a network-centric laptop designed for tight wireless integration with smart phones. Although presented as an e-mail device, it is much more — a solid-state, network-centric Linux laptop. As such it offers significant advantages for both corporate and individual users.
Analysis: Palm Inc. has a history of introducing revolutionary, sometimes misunderstood products. On May 30 it announced the latest in these, the Palm Foleo. Although Palm chose to introduce the Foleo as a slave system to smart phones (Treos and, potentially, WinMobile, Blackberry, Palm, Linux and Symbion devices from other manufacturers), it really is much more than that. Unfortunately Palm has yet to publish a spec sheet for the Foleo, so its exact capabilities are unclear. However what it has said is that the Foleo runs applications, including versions of some Palm OS third-party software, over Linux, implying that this is a Linux laptop computer, probably with an overlying Palm application interface. Presumably it also runs Linux applications.
Palm says that it is instant on and off, and it apparently does not have a hard drive. Like a PDA, therefore, it must hold its applications and data in memory and continually power its processor and RAM. The power switch only turns off the display screen. Again Palm has not revealed how much memory the Foleo has, but it has CF and SD slots, allowing users to add to the available resources by inserting a memory card.
What makes the Foleo exciting, however, is its superior connectivity, particularly outside the home or office. While traditional laptops depend on very spotty WiFi coverage, the Foleo can connect to the Internet anywhere a smart phone can get a cellular signal. While the cellular network is slower than WiFi, it is pervasive.
This makes the Foleo a new kind of laptop, designed to operate as an intelligent network end-point rather than a stand-alone computer. It allows organizations to deliver information and services, including access to enterprise systems such as CRM and ERP, through secure portals, with little more than a Web browser resident on the device. This has major advantages, particularly for support of field sales and support personnel:
- All updates to application functionality, data, and documents such as repair manuals can be made centrally and immediately become available to all users since nothing needs to be updated on their laptops.
- New application versions never require updates to the hardware or operating systems of client devices, since they only run on the central server.
- Security is greatly enhanced since no sensitive data is kept on the laptop to be stolen with the device.
- Applications and forms such as order forms for external sales staff that must be available even when the Foleo cannot connect to the Internet can be stored on a CF or SD card and inserted in the laptop when needed. All other documents, including personal photos, videos, etc., can be stored online.
- Because users can easily access personal applications and files from games to photo sites online, they can be kept totally separate from the corporate image, which can be delivered as a portal, avoiding software conflicts.
- As a Linux device, the Foleo avoids many security issues — no one is writing malware for Linux.
- Also as a Linux device, it taps the huge amount of creativity of the open source community. And with many companies already using Linux applications, it is not a new platform in many corporate and government environments.
- At $500 retail quantity one, the Foleo is half the cost of the laptops most enterprises use today, and while it does not have equivalent internal resources, its pervasive Web access allows it to use the essentially infinite resources on the Internet.
- As an essentially simpler machine, with no hard drive to fail, the Foleo should have excellent durability, presuming quality construction.
Action item: Corporate IT should take a serious look at the advantages and trade-offs of network-centric computing for its mobile workforce in light of the Foleo announcement. Once the Foleo becomes available, enterprises should consider buying one or two for evaluation.
Most of all, network-centric computing requires rethinking how people work. With the advent of service-oriented computing (e.g. SOA), the need to support a geographically scattered work force, and the third wave of globalization as defined in Thomas L. Friedman's book, The World is Flat, this is an new reality that transcends the Palm Foleo, but which that device, if its reality matches its promise, may fit into well. --Bert 12:11, 1 June 2007 (CDT)