That's Palm's approach, and I think the public is rewarding it. Despite all the press and advertising hype for Pocket PC, the cold, hard fact is that its market share in U.S. retail is lower than it was two years ago. Sustainable advantages through software applications Some people have argued that there is no application lock-in for handheld users. No offense, but our tracking of our own customers tells a different story. The Palm applications base is a very strong factor in system purchase for more and more of our customers.
History shows that the platform with the largest software base almost always wins.
Like any emerging industry, there is risk in handheld computing. But we're very pleased with our success and momentum to date, and we think we're going in the right direction. At one time personal computing companies seemed extremely speculative too. By the time it was clear to everyone that PCs were becoming a standard, some of the biggest investment opportunities had already passed. Read his thoughts and analysis critically, just as you should with every Fool column, and make your own investment decisions.