Unpredictable. Unfocused. Just like life.

Over a decade ago I spent around $500 to buy my first Palm Pilot. I travelled a lot and it was a great way to keep track of contacts and appointments, as well as providing a little bit of entertainment. Palm sold millions upon millions of the units.

Over time I used it less and less as other devices came along to provide the same functionality. My cell phone and my iPod do everything my Palm used to. Palm was passed by.

They've had a rough time lately as Om Malik notes:

The days of Palm Inc. remaining an independent company are numbered. The once promising and fast growing handheld device maker is likely to be acquired by Nokia, Motorola, or a private equity firm, reports Unstrung. The deal could be announced as soon as Thursday, and some heavyweight buyout funds are in running.

To repeat the obvious, Palm’s current state of affairs is a result of haphazard management practices and a sad tale of a company that got whiplashed by the rapid technological changes that rewarded scale more than innovation.

A good lesson to learn for any company that assumes its current good fortune will last forever.