Let's face it, Palm screwed over its customer base TWICE. [Hello? Marketing 101, it is cheaper to sell something new to an existing customer than acquire a new customer.]
First, it was an adamant refusal to provide a USB driver compatible with 64bit versions of Windows (and so far as I know, there are no 3rd party alternatives).
Second, was not providing a smooth upgrade path to WebOS for PalmOS users:
a- $50 for a 3rd party emulator
b- only syncs with Exchange Server linked copies of Outlook (or pay another $50 for a 3rd party app).
In fact, Palm has also failed to provide any significant improvements to its core PalmOS apps. In part that's okay because they are good, but it also provided no encouragement to upgrade my Zire 31 ... folks, I don't play games, the media player was a huge power drain, and I never used the wimpy camera in my cell phone either.
I do manage to still sync my Zire 31 to Outlook on my x64 Win7 notebook - by doing a network sync via an older x86 XP PC on my LAN. It's a kludge, but it works.
I recently upgraded my cell phone (I'm with Verizon) ... Let's add it up. Palm with WebOS, about $150 with 2-year contract, plus $100 to do a smooth upgrade from my PalmOS device, plus a MANDATORY additional $30/month for the data plan. Contrast that with a Zire 31 (fully paid for at about $150), no additional software costs or monthly fees; and a 'non-smart' cell phone with OPTIONAL data plan that was free with a 2-year contract. ... I'll keep my Zire 31 chugging and see if HP offers any olive branches to Palm customers over the next two years.
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