Palm pulls the plug on the Foleo

Palm CEO Ed Colligan has announced that he has cancelled the Foleo - barely weeks before the 'mobile companion' was due to go on sale. Citing a decision to concentrate on "a single, consistent user experience" for Palm products, Colligan states that Palm will instead "focus all of our energies on delivering our next generation platform and the first smartphones that will bring this platform to market".

Palm has long been criticised for failing to develop the creaking Palm OS operating system ( Garnet) in any meaningful way for the last few years. The decision to shift its attention away from the Treo product line to a device that no one wanted was derided by many Palm users, and their response to the Foleo's premature demise has been largely positive.

The Foleo received a decidedly lukewarm reception when Palm announced it back in May, largely because the idea of an limited-functionaltiy ultra-portable that only worked fully when linked to a smartphone seemed superfluous in this age laptops. That's not to say the lightweight, instant-on Foleo didn't have its appeal, but the $599 price didn't compare favourably to the bevy low cost laptops that are available.

This isn't necessarily the end for the Foleo platform, though. Although pulling the plug will cost Palm $10 million, Colligan makes it clear that this decision only affects the device in its current configuration, so we may see a Foleo II at some point in the future.

www.palm.com