Russell Beattie

There's some news this morning about how PalmOS phones are the number one selling smart phones in the U.S. That's good, but it has nothing to do with how things are going to be a year from now. Not to say that the Treo 600 isn't a kick-ass device and the rest of the PalmOS smart phones as well. It's just that the Symbian based phones really haven't arrived yet.

I'm not sure why actually. It's almost May and T-Mobile here in the U.S. *just* started selling the Nokia 6600. Why has it taken so long? The 6600 was launched in Europe last October and sold over 3 million phones in the first several months - but why the delay to get the phone into American carriers, I have no idea. I was sure last year when the Nokia 3650 was launched simultanously world-wide that the days of these types of incomprehensible delays were over, but I guess not.

And where the hell is the EDGE-enabled Nokia 6620? I mean, *that's* the phone that I've been waiting for. Maybe AT&T Wireless dropped the ball with the all their subscriber troubles and Cingular isn't really known for having the latest and greatest, but this is ridiculous. I mean, for Palm and Microsoft to have double digit marketshare here in the U.S.? I swear, I wonder if it's an attempt by the non-American manufacturers to make sure that the U.S. gets the tech last to make sure it's developers and other tech companies have the edge in worldwide markets. Let's assume it's not and that Nokia has just screwed up this launch with the other marketing misteps in the past quarter, but still. It makes you wonder.

It's not just Nokia that's blowing this one, actually. Siemens has yet to get the SX1 out the door, the SendoX is god-knows-where, Samsung's phones aren't happening yet and Panasonic isn't either. It's frustrating as hell! But they're coming. Promise.

So to all the PalmOS afficiados who are excited by the news, don't be. It's just a blip. Americans don't actually prefer these phones, it's just right now they dont' have much of a choice. The 3650 (which is a super fantastic phone, but pretty huge, not a flip and with a weird keypad) is all we have here right now. The rest of the Symbian phones are just being embargoed or something. They'll get here around Q4 of this year and are going to blow everything else away.

Believe me, I have expressed my joy of the Palm User Experience over and over again, but the reality is its just not happening. Sorry.

-Russ