Foleo is Palm's Folly

It's been a very busy day.

After months of anticipation and secrecy Palm finally revealed its new device today. The gadget called Foleo looks like a small laptop and is intended as a companion to your smartphone. It will let users edit documents, email and surf the Net on the go.

Palm had been saving news of this announcement for the All Things D conference.

I did a first take that just talks about the device. When I saw the first pictures of it, my reaction was "Is this it?." My second thought: "What was Palm thinking?"

Most analysts I called felt the same.

From my second story on Foleo: Foleo is simply too limited in its use: It doesn't have a hard drive, runs the Linux operating system and falls into an in-between space, being larger than a phone and smaller than a laptop. The device basically just adds to the gadget clutter that users want to free themselves from, say analysts.

For the detailed story, click here.

I think Palm miscalculated badly with this device. I also think it is a company out of touch with reality and the only thing driving the stock now is the buyout speculation.

And the whole thing with Foleo will only make them an even more attractive buyout bait.