Palm VII Launch Observations

from the email-is-still-the-killer-app dept

Palm finally kicked off the national roll out of the Palm VII. They reduced the price from $599 to $499 and introduced new query apps from big guys like Fidelity and Amazon. Now I can trade stocks and then use the proceeds to buy DVDs with out having to be at my desk.

They also made two other significant changes.

First the Palm.net site has a whole section dedicated to accessing your email with the Palm VII. When 3COM first introduced the device they said it was designed for short messages but not for checking email. That was dumb. Third-party developers came out with a number solutions to get around this limitation. Since I loaded ThinAirMail onto my Palm VII, it has become 100x more useful to me. Email is the killer app.

Consequently, my KB usage has gone up dramatically. Palm.net does not have an all-you-can-eat access plan. Again, dumb. The access plans are use based. I signed up for the 150KB/month plan at $24.99. With the national roll out Palm has introduced a new "Volume" plan for power users like myself that should work out much better. For $39.99 I get 300KB per month, which should be more than enough to check my most urgent email, trade some stocks, and buy some DVDs. All while away from my desk.