And while this is a first-generation product that might not wow early adopters, it could draw more interest as developers create more applications, said Tim Bajarin, an analyst with Creative Strategies.
"It could be an interesting device as a standalone low-cost Linux computer," Bajarin said. But that's one of those chicken-and-the-egg questions: you're not going to get a lot of developers interested in a product unless there's sizable demand for the product.
And there isn't going to be as much demand for a product that doesn't have a lot of applications, he said.
One way Palm and its carrier partners could create interest in the Foleo would be by bundling a Treo, a Foleo, some storage cards and an unlimited data plan, Bhavnani said. At around US$799 or US$899, that might attract some customers who have been sitting on the sidelines of the smartphone scene, and that's an awful lot of people.
What's in it for corporate users?
The real money, however, comes from the corporate users. Palm fought uphill for many years trying to get the Treo devices
It's far from clear why corporations would want to give their mobile workers a Foleo, given that it would require the few vital corporate applications that could even be stored on a Foleo to be rewritten for Linux and that the device doesn't work with GoodLink or BlackBerry, Bhavnani said.
Hawkins did not reveal many details about Foleo's specifications. Representatives for Intel, AMD and mobile-processor powerhouse ARM were unable to immediately confirm whether Palm was using one of their products.
The product uses flash memory, but it's not clear how much will be dedicated to system memory versus storage. A Palm representative said specifications would be released this summer closer to when the product would be available.
After the success of the Treo, Palm has been searching for a new hit as it fends off rumours that it might be sold to a larger vendor or a private-equity firm. Given that, it might have made more sense for the company to come up with a new design for the Treo, or software that lets Treos work more closely with existing laptops, rather than striking out on an uncertain path, Kort said.
Palm's faithful -- who have stuck by the company through years of languishing development of the Palm OS -- appeared underwhelmed at the announcement of Foleo, according to comments on the PalmInfocenter blog.
"This reminds me a bit of the first wave of WinCE-based laptops in the late '90s that touted instant on and fast access to applications. Or it reminds me, you know, of laptops," wrote poster "Nybble" on PalmInfocenter. Negative sentiment outnumbered positive thoughts by a wide margin on the blog.
our laptop takes an eternity to boot up, but my Windows CE Mobilepro is on in an instant. I can conserve power by flicking it on and off.
I'd love the Folio, if it were a good bit cheaper - price is a big issue. Like the NanoBook, this is going to be popular with writers who just want a keyboard and screen - if the pricepoint is right.
There must be a market for this sort of device - just check out the prices on the Psion on ebay - but maybe the market researchers aren't getting it right.