Earlier this year at the D: All Things Digital conference, Palm founder Jeff Hawkins unveiled the Foleo smartphone companion touting it as "exciting" and an entirely "new category of mobile device", but for the most part, analysts and Palm enthusiasts were not impressed.
A recent research note from Deutsche Bank's Jonathan Goldberg says that Palm has delayed the launch of the Foleo all the way to late September or early October due to bugs in the software and the inability to synchronize the Foleo with most models of the Treo. However, Palm's director of communications, Jim Christensen was quick to respond that the company is still standing by its original timeframe originally announced back in May, saying "availability for the Palm Foleo mobile companion will begin this summer," which technically gives Palm until September 23rd to make the device available.
Regardless of when Palm begins to sell the Foleo, many consider that the direction Palm is taking might not be the right one to go, saying that smartphone owners may be hesitant to carry around a second device, or to pay $499 solely for a bigger screen, more memory, and a full size keyboard.