Rob Scoble published an opinion piece on why he thinks Palm, in the face of the release of iPhone OS 3.0, knows it can’t beat Apple to be number one; but that’s okay.  Instead, Palm may be seeking to simply rise to the number two slot for smartphone marketshare, using webOS devices to beat out RIM’s Blackberry OS, Microsoft’s Windows Mobile and Google with their Android platfom.

With Apple’s recent announcement and leaked reports of a new iPhone coming out this summer, the excitement and anticipation for a devastating blow against Apple’s hold on the market is dying down.  Many felt Palm would be in a prime position to overtake Apple’s year-old device with the new and feature-rich webOS platform.  Apple is not one to idle for long, and with the announcement of the 3.0 software came many of the features the iPhone was originally criticized for lacking.

Since the Pre no longer has the upper hand on features such as cut, copy and paste, or MMS, Palm may be resigning itself to an attempt at simply not failing completely with the new OS and phone.  Google, RIM, and Microsoft are easier targets, and Palm is in a better position to convert their marketshare into Palm users.  If Palm is able to accomplish this, and avoids a failed device launch, it has a good chance of gaining a large percentage of users from other devices, maybe even some users unhappy with Apple or AT&T.  That means Palm could take the number two spot in the rankings, but you know what, that’s ok.

[Via Scobleizer.com]