CES: Is Palm's Pre the new iPhone?

"Pre's introduction, website, technology packaging, industrial design, UI, product naming and positioning...down to the flow of its CES presentation were pointedly, but perhaps not surprisingly, Apple-like. Of all the current iPhone competitors, Pre clearly captures the "soul" of the iPhone as much as any product not-from-Cupertino can. Whatever Pre "borrows" from the iPhone, it does so not with the brazen indifference of recent iPhone-killers, but with care and purpose."

However:

"Palm is clearly late to iPhone's party. By the time the first Pre is sold, the iPhone will likely have 30 million users in 70+ countries, 15,000 apps, a huge developer and peripherals ecosystem, perhaps a third of the market share and 40% of smartphone revenues. And that's before the next generation iPhone device and OS are introduced."

I explored Pre's chances in:

Strategic shortcomings of Pre in the post-iPhone era

"Palm is clearly late to iPhone's party. By the time the first Pre is sold, the iPhone will likely have 30 million users in 70+ countries, 15,000 apps, a huge developer and peripherals ecosystem, perhaps a third of the market share and 40% of smartphone revenues. And that's before the next generation iPhone device and OS are introduced."

While this statement has truth to it, understand that the industry is in a constant position of "what have you done for me lately?".

This was Palm's biggest problem for the past few years, and now will be what estimate will be their comeback. The iPhone set a new standard for handheld devices and raised the bar for everybody moving forward. Handset makers have responded to them just as they did to Palm, who fell asleep at the wheel. The woke up, roghted the ship, and I believe with a little luck will regain a strong position as one of the players in the market

Apple's Achilles heel is their arrogance and corporate culture that alienates developers and consumers in the long run. they have and i believe will continue to have robust products but as the other manufacturers respond to their success, they will see their numbers dwindle as well.

Go, Palm, show them what you've got!

They even ripped off the orange and green wallpaper color scheme that debuted on the iphone....

I am struck by the fact that you are locked into one network...just like the iphone. We need a telecommunications anti-trust lawsuit to expand this market in favor of consumers. That's the issue here, not which phone is better.

The Pre's big screen: 3.1 inches, with 320x480 pixels. That compares to the 3.5-inch iPhone screen, also at 320x480. Apple touts the 163 pixels per inch of the display; a Palm PR spokeswoman had no details of the Pre's ppi number.

Please tell me you're kidding. You couldn't do the ninth grade math to calculate the ppi of the Pre's screen given the dimensions? This is a joke, right?

Seriously? C'mon? The pixels per inch are unknown?

You have the resolution. You have the screen size in inches. I'll give you a frickin' hint here: Pythagorean Theorem. a^2 + b^2 = c^2 ? Remember that from grade 9 or earlier?

You have a triangle. One side of which is 320 pixels long, the other side is 480 pixels long. The hypotenuse is the diagonal measurement of the screen, which we have in inches (3.1")

So, first use the Pythagorean theorem to figure out the length of the hypotenuse (the diagonal) in pixels:

320^2 + 480^2 = 102400 + 230400 = 332800

Take the square root of 332800 to get the length:

sqrt(332800) = 577 pixels (rounded up)

Now we know that the diagonal is both 3.1" long, and 577 pixels long. So if you want pixels per inch, you just divide them:

577 pixels / 3.1 " = 186 pixels per inch

And there's your answer, using the MAGIC OF BASIC MATHEMATICS.

Geezus. Tell me it really isn't *that* bad down there in the good ol' US of A?

John W. Cox senior editor Network World

I am deeply sorry my mathematical idiocy has been such a shock that several of you were unhinged.

There's probably cognitive therapy that will help.

In the meantime, thanks for gracious help: it restores my faith in the self-correcting global digital family of humankind that is the Internet.

John W. Cox senior editor Network World

I am deeply sorry my mathematical idiocy has been such a shock that several of you were unhinged.

There's probably cognitive therapy that will help.

You edit for Network World. You of all people should know your audience is going to comprise of techies who have a solid grasp of middle school math (and higher) and are going to call you on something like this. And your response is to insult your readers? Nice.

Well John, for a tech journal it is a bit silly to say it's unknown when the numbers are there. Perhaps Mathz R haRD was a little tough on you though...

Cheer up!

@John Cox

The tone of your "apology" suggests that while you may not be ready to teach middle-school math, you might be ready to step into politics.

While offering a patently insincere apology, you characterize those who pointed out the lack of thought that went into your article as "unhinged". Do you actually think being a passive-aggressive wise-ass makes you look better?

In my opinion, what is really odd is not your lack of math skills, but the suggestion that you think ppi is a characteristic that is chosen by the manufacturer, like, say, brightness, and then somehow "built in" to a display, rather than being simply a shortcut for "pixels divided by screen size".

Pretty classy response there, John. Just the sort of thing one expects from a mature adult who has risen the ranks to become "senior editor." Not.

The unwashed masses of the Internet get a pass on their childish responses to your innumeracy. Your witless retort, not so much. Grow up.