What does the future hold for Palm?

Over the past several years the mobile market has literally exploded, and we have come a long way since the Apple Newton. Now companies want more than ever to combine as many devices as they can into one, along with developing a flexible user operating environment. There has always been a fierce battle between Microsoft and Palm for the control of the mobile sector, and it is hard to tell what the future holds for Palm OS. With added pressure from its rivals, Palm is trying to satisfy its business customers, as they will

"now provide automatic wireless delivery of e-mail, calendar, and contact information directly from Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 SP2 or Exchange 2007."

Since Microsoft has this much influence in the computing industry it is hard to develop something that is unique and still holds a competitive edge against such a powerhouse. Of course, there is also an update that

"introduces another feature that's critical to IT administrators: security and central management. "

However even with all these improvements the article brings up a very important point: it is incredibly hard to dedicate thousands of dollars into something that might not be around in a year or two. Palm has a huge challenge standing before them; they need to convince those IT administrators that they are here to stay.

As unfortunate as it would be to fail in that, the home market looks even tougher to acquire a greater presence in. With the recent announcement of the Apple iPhone with its Mac OS, and the already strong Windows Mobile OS, Palm might just continue to spiral down until it is all but forgotten. Perhaps they need a product as revolutionary as the iPod to pull them out the ditch, considering that that was a life saving miracle for Apple. Or maybe they just need bolder management that has the ability to lead instead of follow.

Full story here.