Put your rumormonger hats on with us for a moment, although the big reveal of what we're thinking is already clear from the headline.
- As noted in the NYT article we referenced earlier, Palm Exec John Rubenstein cancelled some Treos not too long ago.
- The Treo Pro looks nothing like the Treo 800w
- The Treo Pro has a battery that's nothing like batteries Palm has used in the past. In fact, it looks an awful lot like the battery on the HTC Mogul. See a good image of the Treo Pro Battery here, and the HTC Mogul Battery here. They're not identical (the leads are in different places), but they're the same basic shape, mAh, and even have the same indentations.
- The Treo Pro sports the HTC Task Manager on the Today Screen.
Palm hasn't said who actually manufactures (the ODM) the Treo Pro, but the question we're aiming for here is who was primarily responsible for the "Thoughtful Design of the Treo Pro?" Could it be that the Treo that Rubenstein cancelled was the original Treo 850? If he did, how did Palm design the Treo Pro so quickly afterwards?
Our guess, if you haven't gathered yet: there was must have been some collaboration on design between Palm and HTC. There are still Palm touches aplenty here -- the Centro keyboard, Ringer Switch, and WiFi button prove that. On the other hand, we have an HTC-esque power button, battery, and let's be honest here: HTC's been able to design the innards in such a way as to make thin phones in a way that Palm just hasn't.
So we kinda sorta a wee-little-bit suspect that, hardware-wise, the Treo Pro is Palm on the outside, HTC on the inside.
Crazy? Crazy like a fox.
Update: Yep, HTC is indeed the ODM for the Treo Pro [via]. Sounds like another piece of confirming evidence about the design of the Treo Pro. That leaves only one question hanging out there -- what exactly did Palm order 5 million of from Compal>
