One Garmin PalmOS GPS-PDA survives, all WinMob now dead

GPS GADGET firm Garmin surprised this scribbler by admitting the company's silent and merciful killing of almost all GPS PDAs, with only the iQue3000 running PalmOS surviving. All of the company's WinMob PDAs are history.

Garmin: PDAs 'going the way of the dodo'
Having owned almost eight Palm OS devices including one smartphone, I was certainly eager to test Garmin's latest offering to see how well the PalmOS and GPS functions were integrated by Garmin, but the firm hasn't been very enthusiastic. Since I first approached the company, the answer has been "we don't have any iQue3000 units available for testing". Strange way to promote a $350 product, indeed!.

The Last of the Mohicans: the iQue3000 survived the axe, for now...

Jessica Myers, whose title is 'Sr. Media Relations specialist' at Garmin told this INQ scribbler "You should also be aware that we have seen an increase in customers wanting GPS solutions for their smartphone rather than their PDA. As you probably know, we have discontinued production of all of our PDAs (except for the iQue 3000) due to lack of demand for PDA products."

Then she pointed me towards the company's web page which indeed shows the Palm powered iQue3000 as the only survivor of the 'endangered species'. That was news to me, as the Palm powered iQue3600 and at least one of the company's WinMob ones were still alive the last time I visited the site.

Garmin's GPS-PDA product line is now a single one

In fact, I had the iQue3600 very much on my purchase list the moment I heard about a local company recently digitizing street maps of Buenos Aires city and most of the country's highways and routes, and making those available for Garmin devices. It would have been really nice to see the iQue3000 or the 3600 promoted down here. I saw none, ever, and there's a loyal Palm OS user base in this land. Oh well, time to scratch the 3600 off my long savings list and replace it with a 3000.

Is the 'death of the PDA' meme a self-fulfilling prophecy?

The company seems to think that "specialised devices" -actually dumbed-down devices with limited functionality- are the future.

Despite this, the contrarian in me continues thinking that PDAs have its place in the market. When I commented Garmin's decision to leave only the iQue3000 alive to a tech-savvy friend in California, his comment was: "From what I know about the retail consumers they are increasingly interested in "simplistic solutions". For most people they do not want to carry with them multiple specialized devices. Even though the integrated devices are _ALWAYS_ a trade off of some functions - rather than the advantages offered by a specific-ability device."

I disagree with Garmin and other "PDA doomers", I think that the "lack of interest in PDAs" myth is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Perhaps the PDA name is doomed, but the functionality given is not. Why would Nokia otherwise create its 770 Internet Tablet?. And what is it if not a PDA on steroids?. Give consumers a top-notch PDA for $150 to people who still use paper agendas, and they will embrace them in droves. Plus, why people would settle with dumb pocket video/audio players that lack the arsenal of useful third party applications like PDAs is beyond me. But manufacturers are also to blame, many insist on selling 2003 technology at $500+ prices.

I think the "death of the PDA" circle might start like this: first, companies stop releasing new PDA products or never lower prices -when was the last time Palm Inc. released an upgrade in its CPU speeds?- and cite a supposed "lack of consumer interest" as the excuse, immediately pointing at lacklustre sales the previous quarter. Industry analysts look at declining or stagnant sales and release doom and gloom predictions about the impending death of the PDA, reports which are read by executives -the same ones who started the circle who only manage to say "I told you so!". Then the circle reinforces itself, and accelerates.

Most PDA owners I know lost interest in upgrading due to either the lack of new models and the comparatively high prices compared to "smart phones". My old man is one example, with his trusty old Palm IIIc which serves his needs just fine. He's thinking about buying a new TX from Palm Inc. only after his battery died and because he misses not having Wi-Fi functionality. Is that an excuse for Palm Inc. to dump the TX because he stayed five years with his old PDA?.

A response to the Garmin argument
Back to Garmin and its argument, I certainly don't want GPS functionality in my mobile if it has a small screen where maps will be difficult to read. I'd prefer GPS functionality in a device with a big screen -like a PDA- so I can carry it with me only when I think it's appropriate, load it with additional third party software -like a PDA allows- so I can take notes, enter locations into a spreadsheet, and the like, or place it in a car cradle -and take it out when I get off the car- unlike 'fixed' car-only solutions which are useless in your pocket.

In short: I think the PDA form factor -including its big advantage of a large screen- is specially suited for GPS applications. Garmin sadly disagrees. OK, maybe it all comes down to semantics as one blogger claimed, and perhaps "Smart phones" is just another word for "PDAs with phone functionality added".

Well, in that case, I can't wait for a PalmOS based smartphone with Garmin GPS functionality and a Blackberry-esque big screen. I will just turn off the phone functionality when I don't need it, and call it a PDA -when nobody is looking-.

Or bring back the iQue3600, remove the PalmOS PDA applets, and call it the "intelligent GPS device with third party applications" if you think the word "PDA" makes customers run away in horror. I will later re-install the PalmOS PDA applets on my own, don't worry about it.

The future is more expensive
In addition to the company's own fixed-function GPS devices for cars, the firm has recently released one interesting add-on product to tackle GPS functionality to a smartphone. The Garmin Mobile 20 product sells for $300 and connects over Bluetooth to a smartphone -Treos 650 and up are supported-. It will be good news for those who already own a Treo... but it's not enticing for those with a small screen smartphone, as buying a Treo 650 would cost around $350 or a Treo 680 around $400.

Current prices for the iQue3000 PalmOS PDA/GPS

In this scenario, suddenly you will find yourself having spent $700 to get a smartphone and a GPS receiver, of which the latter is useless without the first. Whereas for $350 you can get a full GPS reader with its own LCD screen, and on which you can install and run third party applications... it's the iQue3000. And yes, it's a PDA, but only if you want to use it as one. If the PDA moniker is a problem, why not call it something else?. A Palm OS iQue can be used as a "pocket video player with added GPS", an "mp3 audio player with added GPS", or a pocket game system "with added GPS", all depending on which applications you install and run. Why not promote that angle?.

Windows Mobile no more
You can still find lots of Garmin GPS PDAs running Windows Mobile in store shelves. Garmin says that consumers do not want PDAs, but perhaps they didn't like the price of them, specially when compared to the "apparently cheap" smart phones subsidized by the mobile operator's monthly service plan fees. Even when compared to the company's own affordable Palm OS based product, the Windows Mobile ones look too expensive in comparison.

At $550 to $699, the now discontinued Garmin iQue M5 running WinMob 2003 certainly seems a bit too spicy. In contrast, the high-end, and also discontinued iQue3600 running Palm OS can still be found on-line at a price between $329 and $378 at Amazon.com.

Current prices for the discontinued Garmin PDA-GPS units running Windows Mobile

iQue3000, the lone GPS PDA survivor
Garmin showcased the iQue3000 earlier this year at CES, and described it as "an entry-level Palm Powered personal digital assistant (PDA) that offers fully integrated Global Positioning System (GPS) technology". It features a decent screen at 3 inches diagonal size and sporting 320x320 resolution, and runs PalmOS Garnet (5.2.1). It burns a $350 hole in your pocket.

The Palm OS iQue line was nice when it included high-end and entry level offerings, like the 3200 and 3600, which were cancelled. Isn't it nice when a company decides to dump its most praised product like the 3600 -currently scoring a 8.5 points out of 10 in CNet's user reviews-?. It had a beautiful 320x480 screen and SD slot, whereas the iQue3000 -which survived the axe- has a micro-SD slot and a smaller screen with lower 320x320 resolution.

The implicit message is 'Grab One While you Can', that is, before Garmin decides it was "all a big mistake", and that you should look at maps on the tiny screen in your mobile.µ

See Also
You can receive GPS indoors
Nokia 770 tablet gets useful with GPS software
European super-GPS looking good
Mio out to grab GPS market from Garmin and TomTom
The PDA is now as dead as a duck
The PDA: it's not dead yet
The PDA is dead, long live the PDA!