> Considering practically every smartphone to this day is derivative of the 2007 glass slab hardware design (and software UX), I'd say they were on to something

Lowest cost of production is what that formfactor provides.

Palm's devices, by contrast, felt like a polished river stone in the pocket. I know which I prefer.

> Lowest cost of production is what that formfactor provides.

Maybe, but to compete with the iPhone everything else that goes into the production of a smartphone would have been way more expensive. More compute requirements, better screens, way more software engineering headcount.