Palm Inc.'s new product might be too little, too late, judging from a statement from one IT research company. As Palm unveils its latest wireless device, The 451 Group in New York contends that the "mobile office" space is about to undergo some serious consolidation, and few companies other than Research In Motion Ltd. (RIM) will continue "to be a significant direct diver of mobility deployment activity in the enterprise....451 analysts believe the opportunity has gone (or is going) for the technology ‘pure plays'."

Primarily, the researchers argue that the enterprise market is too small and too RIM-addicted to support many other players. "Is this enough of a marketplace to generate sufficient revenue for the existing mix of vendors? We don't believe so," says Tony Rizzo, a 451 research director.

On May 30 Palm announced the Foleo, a smartphone companion for word processing, spreadsheets and other documents that are difficult to view and manipulate on standard smartphone platforms. It includes a Wi-Fi radio for Internet connectivity, and a Bluetooth connection synchronizes changes made on the Foleo with its accompanying smartphone. Although designed to work with Palm's Treo smartphones, the company says Foleo should also work with any Microsoft Corp. Windows Mobile device, and even devices sporting RIM and Symbian operating systems, "with a modest software effort."