We know there are plenty of Palm enthusiasts out there already, who are PDAing up a storm-- but the AtAT staff continues to take a "wait and see" approach. That's not to say that the Palm hasn't proven itself to be a useful and popular digital device; we're just patiently (well, okay, maybe not so patiently) waiting for whatever's going to come of the much-rumored collaboration between Palm and Apple. Macworld Expo came and went with no mention of any partnership, but we continue our pipe dream of a handheld that marries the installed base and sheer market force of the Palm with the best features and technologies of Apple's cancelled Newton.

Call us wacky, but we still think the signs are all there. Fact: Steve Jobs tried to buy Palm, and when that failed, he tried to buy Handspring (the Palm licensee started up by the Palm founders)-- and failed at that, too. So we know Jobs likes the Palm, and apparently wants Apple involved in the platform's development. Since the buyouts failed, a collaboration seems to be the most likely way to do that. And the glowing pro-Palm propaganda at Apple's web site seems just a little too gushingly effervescent not to be foreshadowing something big; Real News From Palm Computing at least focuses on the Palm MacPac connectivity software, but Secret of Palm's Success is a flat-out Palm commercial, with any mention of Apple or the Mac seeming purely incidental. And why did Apple refuse to sell off the Newton's technologies even after the project was cancelled?

So we keep waiting. We're hoping that what Palm gets from Apple is the Newton's handwriting recognition, which actually became startlingly accurate in later versions of the MessagePad, and which we find more comfortable and natural to use than the glyph-based Graffiti. Instead, the only innovation we've seen Palm incorporate into its devices is Apple's industry-leading use of translucent plastics: according to a CNET article, Palm is about to introduce "The Graduate," a version of the Palm IIIe whose only departure from the existing model is a see-through case. (Shades of the clear MessagePad 110, anyone?) Hey, it's a step in the right direction, at any rate. :)