Suxx

[andpin]

MMM I would want to know who?s the stupid guy in the marketing area from Palm that gave the Zire the price of 99 bucks. It?s just stupid. lets see...... how much must palm pay for building this device?? For marketing?? I don?t think that much more than 30-40 $ maximum 55$. They should risk a little bit more and sink the price til 60 or 70 $. i?m sure that a lot of people would buy it then, those kind of people that think that these things are practic but too expensive.
I?am sorry Palm but this was a score aganst u, but the match hasn?t ended already. Microsoft 1 Palm 0

[Be3G]

But the thing is, it will go down in price eventually.

Thomas

[AlanG]

Not to mention that you can't find a Pocket PC device for under $300, the Zire looks really good for someone just getting into the handheld game.

Alan G

[ShadowHawk]

The Zire is priced very reasonable if you ask me. Sure many of the other models are around the same price if not just a little bit more. However, look how expensive they were at the beginning of their life. The Zire is only starting at $100 and rest assured that it is going to go down. However, many of the other units that are around the same price do not include rechargeable batteries. This unit is a lot smaller then the other of the m1xx series. Someone looking for something compact like the m5xx series, but not willing to pay that much money will love this little unit. Sure this unit doesn't provide much in terms of power or memory, but for someone just getting started (and those of us like me that bought it just to say I have it) will enjoy this little unit. Then they can see how much they are going to use it and decide if it would be worth spending more money on another unit. If you weren't sure about whether or not you wanted to get into the PDA world, then $40 or $50 may mean a great deal to you. I mean why spend an extra $40 or $50 if you aren't going to use it that much?

Not only that, but look at Microsoft's selling campaign. Palm still supports most of their units produced. I have a Vx also, and when that needed worked on a few weeks back, Palm was right there and they fixed the problem very quickly. Now picture this as Microsoft, if this was an older version of their software, well thats too bad, it isn't supported anymore becuase they want you to go out and spend more money on the new version. Thats pretty ridicilious if you ask me. You paid for it and you should get support for it for as long as you own it. Sure there may be times that you would have to pay for that support because if they offered free support forever, then they would never make any money. However, they don't support it at all. You can't even go online and update Windows 95 anymore because they no longer continue to support it. If you ask me, thats Palm 1 Microsoft -100.

Palm must be doing something right, because when I went to get my Zire and I was looking at it, 4 people bought one and that was within about 10 minutes. If they sell like that all day at every store, that is great marketing.

[Polychrome]

The Microsoft argument doesn't really work, since Palm still makes hardware that uses 3.5 and 4.0. Microsoft does not make hardware for windows 95 any longer, nor do they even sell it. Besides, Windows 95 is MUCH older than Palm 3.5, which came out after windows CE. (Palm at one time made devices that included Windows CE I believe.) You're talking a distance in years here.

IMO, what's "working" is they're putting the zire in a package that fits nicely with all the "cheapie" electronics, therefore, people are buying it, thinking they're getting a good deal. Not to mention it has Mac appeal. (In other words, it looks "pretty".)

[ShadowHawk]

Originally posted by Polychrome
The Microsoft argument doesn't really work, since Palm still makes hardware that uses 3.5 and 4.0. Microsoft does not make hardware for windows 95 any longer, nor do they even sell it. Besides, Windows 95 is MUCH older than Palm 3.5, which came out after windows CE. (Palm at one time made devices that included Windows CE I believe.) You're talking a distance in years here.

IMO, what's "working" is they're putting the zire in a package that fits nicely with all the "cheapie" electronics, therefore, people are buying it, thinking they're getting a good deal. Not to mention it has Mac appeal. (In other words, it looks "pretty".)

Actually the Microsoft thing does work. You stated yourself that they don't make stuff for Windows 95.....I'm letting you know that Palm sticks behind their devices......Microsoft just leaves the Windows 95 users in the dust......I never mentioned buying something new with 95 support. Palm still supports their older stuff, Microsoft doesn't.....It doesn't matter about years, as Microsoft keeps making better and charging more each time and then telling you that they don't support the old anymore.....I was simply refering that Palm does a good job with support!

[Ben S]

Originally posted by Polychrome
came out after windows CE. (Palm at one time made devices that included Windows CE I believe.)

Nope. Palm, as a hardware company, has only ever made devices based on the PalmOS. Now that they're split in two (the OS group and the hardware group), it's entirely possible that the hardware group could opt to base a device on another OS, but given the huge market share that PalmOS compatible devices have, they'd be crazy to try (IMHO).

[KarenColor]

In college I took economics, you know like a EC 101 but I learned that the cost to make something, manufacture it is not a big part of the total cost. You have markleting, shipping, warehousing, package design, manuals to write, printing, softwere, CDes to make, Boxes to design, the list is really long, and lots of people have to be paid. Well you probably had the same course. Maybe I am silly but I am always amazed when a company can make a new thing like the ZIRE and sell it at a price that allows them to make enough to stay in business and to let the companies like CompUSa and Best Buy stay in business too. Oh well you know what I am trying to say. The Zire looks really nice.
Karen

[Polychrome]

Originally posted by ShadowHawk
Palm still supports their older stuff

Maybe, but now they charge you if it's older than 90 days. :P Even if it's still in warranty you have to pay to talk to them. As for Microsoft, you're given a set number of times that you can annoy the tech support people, but you can save it and use it later if you so wish. I dunno. I will say that I've had good experiences with Microsoft tech support in the past. The only time I used tech support for palm, I was simply e-mailed back everything I already knew, then a survey. They didn't even give me a suggestion on how to fix it. (Yes, this was the "real person" and not the automated reply.) And then my question was answered in the forums.

I'm going to assume that since Microsoft probably has to deal with a lot more people overall, it makes it harder to support Windows 95. Especially since almost nobody uses it anymore except in those photo machines you see in arcades, and I think that only has proprietary drivers. And really, how many people have desktop or laptop computers as have Palms? I'm gonna guess that if Palm gets as popular as they wish they were, they're gonna start putting on more restrictions too.

On the other thing....

I coulda sworn they were making palms for Windows CE in about 1998. I could definitely be wrong, and maybe they were HP or something. :P Either way I concede. Though I do wish to know what was in the air when I was thumbing through all those Best Buy catalogs that year. Please feel free to slap me with whatever fish you may have on hand.

[ShadowHawk]

Originally posted by Polychrome


Maybe, but now they charge you if it's older than 90 days. :P Even if it's still in warranty you have to pay to talk to them. As for Microsoft, you're given a set number of times that you can annoy the tech support people, but you can save it and use it later if you so wish. I dunno. I will say that I've had good experiences with Microsoft tech support in the past. The only time I used tech support for palm, I was simply e-mailed back everything I already knew, then a survey. They didn't even give me a suggestion on how to fix it. (Yes, this was the "real person" and not the automated reply.) And then my question was answered in the forums.

I'm going to assume that since Microsoft probably has to deal with a lot more people overall, it makes it harder to support Windows 95. Especially since almost nobody uses it anymore except in those photo machines you see in arcades, and I think that only has proprietary drivers. And really, how many people have desktop or laptop computers as have Palms? I'm gonna guess that if Palm gets as popular as they wish they were, they're gonna start putting on more restrictions too.

On the other thing....

I coulda sworn they were making palms for Windows CE in about 1998. I could definitely be wrong, and maybe they were HP or something. :P Either way I concede. Though I do wish to know what was in the air when I was thumbing through all those Best Buy catalogs that year. Please feel free to slap me with whatever fish you may have on hand.

Sure, I'm not saying Microsoft doesn't have a lot of stuff to do. I mean Microsoft still does a good job, but I would like to at least be able to upgrade some of the older upgrades on a computer with 95 installed on it......I mean the hardware is probably way outdated, but that is why it only has 95....I don't have any computers that way, but this one at work is a stupid POS and I can't do anything about it. I know Palm charges, but everyone has to at one point or another.....Otherwise they don't get paid!! I was just refering that Palm must be doing something right as I have seen them sell like hotcakes.