Last night, after I posted on Palm's Tony Brown and what he had to say about the state of Palm's new OS, I began to get a tad bit perturbed.  Those accustomed to Morninpaper's stylings know that this is not too uncommon.  Being a longtime Palm user and fan, I have been known to ruffle the feather of a Palm fan... Or two.  But let me be clear on this, I have no blind allegiance to anything except my mother and God, and even they can test me sometimes.  If I feel that something, no matter how much I advocate for it is wrong, I will let those feelings fly, even if it's my own advocacy.  Now, maybe I'm getting... annoyed out of place here, and you can tell me if you think so, but I just don't think Palm really cares about the community that keeps it in the news.

The net is riddled with sites that have devoted time and cash to the cause that is Palm.  Sites like PalmAddicts, Palminfocenter, TreoCentral and Palm-Mac to name a few, give readers updated news on everything and anything Palm, and yes, I include Morninpaper in that list.

Even though somewhat unrelated, when a representative of Palm sat down to discuss in some part the future of Palm, and then stood up done with said interview without shinning a single flare on a spec of light, I felt....Dissed. 

Never mind the fact that the only time someone from Palm reaches out to any of the hard working Palm blogs is to squash some rumor, demand the pull of a leak or clarify a misunderstood quote.  No, we can put that aside, that's just business.  But when given the opportunity to let us go to work on Palm's behalf, they don't even give up a time card.  MorningPaper, now Morninpaper.com leaked and started the firestorm that is the Palm Centro.  That torch was carried by every Palm loyal blog, Tech blog and blogs that would really rather see Palm go away, all across this big blue globe.  I'm not trying to claim credit for the Centro being a selling machine, far from it.  But what I am saying is that interest that was created by that leak helped to get thousands hyped on the idea of a new Palm device.  By the time the thing actually hit the market folks couldn't wait to see it in person.  And that's what we do.  For every brand within their perspective loyal blogging. 

RIM seems to know this.  It's no coincidence that BGR and Crackberry get the lowdown on Blackberry news before just about anyone else.  There is a pipeline that RIM unscrews the cap on, and the trickle of info finds its way to the advocates that will help fan the excitement through some of the nets most fervent Blackberry advocates.  Does it get out of hand? Yep.  I'm sure that there is info that makes it down that pipeline that leaves RIM asking, "who unscrewed the pipe?"  But they turn and look at their stock ticker and forget all about it.  

This is where the actions of Palm boggle my mind.  Not that I think Palm should be in the game of personally leaking information in a quiet sly manner.  No, that Palm doesn't say anything at all.  They don't play the coy games that elude to news that we must pick through and debate at nauseam.  On second thought, that is what they do.  The truth of the matter is this.  If Tony Brown let a juicy tidbit fly, or anyone from Palm, we on the net would have spent the next 7 straight news days discussing, mocking-up, rendering, planning for and most importantly, bringing the Palm brand back into the spotlight.

And maybe it's true, the whole Folieo thing most likely left them shell shocked and gun shy.  But this is big business, with tons of awe striking competition out there.  Buck up and get over it.  While palm users look to their favorite Palm blogs for new and exciting news, and all they get is updates on the same 7 Palm software titles, RIM, GOOGLE, APPLE, NOKIA, HTC and SAMSUNG are treating their loyalist to party invitations that read like the ones reading it are the only ones who know, making them feel specially invited to the next secret launch party.  Okay, maybe not Apple.  But Apple doesn't need it.

Frankly at this point it just doesn't feel like palm really cares about the community that works so hard to spread its news.  They just don't seem to take their loyalist seriously.  As if to say, "Who needs em', folks will buy our goods with or without them."  And there could be some truth to that.  But let's just remember, if it were not for the blogisphere, the Folieo would be on the Best Buy shelf right now, single handedly pulling Palm into the dark recesses of retail store rooms. So evidence does seem to support the notion that Blogs, those that are loyal to Palm, could go a long way in helping them succeed.  

So why doesn't Palm see it that way?  Or are they like the Clintons, living in decade's old way of doing things, and thinking that it will work again in the new world.

 

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