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Apple men move into to boost PalmThe private equity firm founded by Bono of U2 fame, Elevation, has taken a quarter share in Palm. Simultaneously it has parachuted in two former Apple execs. But to what purpose? Let's face it, if a VC buys into a firm it is only because it believes there is loads of dosh to be made. But Palm doesn't presently possess a model range to die for. Elevation must therefore be plotting to do something big with the Palm name – which in the US market at least is synonymous with portable devices. The direction in which Palm is heading is already indicated by the arrival of the Foleo which is described as a 'smartphone companion'. That's still not radical enough to cause a big stir. Elevation must therefore be hoping that former Apple executives, Jon Rubinstein and Fred Anderson can bring the iPod magic to Palm. And come up with the iPalm, naturally. What were looking for is the kind of radical innovation that the introduction of the mouse gave to desktop computing. What the iPalm must do is outclass the iPhone. And blend cellular communications with portable computing in a desirable new way. The iPhone doesn't support 3G. But an iPalm could integrate 3.5G (with technologies such as HSPA) into a portable computer that could genuinely communicate in any place at any time at relatively high data speeds. Of course, the three new Elevation execs now on the Palm board could be planning absolutely anything. As Roger McNamee said, "I'm a kid in a candy store right now."The full Inquirer story ... The iPalm is the natural Elevation
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