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 even if it didn't launch with the App Store immediately.
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.
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.
The Palm as it was in 2007 was made of plastic, the screen was resistive touch and also made of plastic. The iPhone was made of aluminum, the screen was capacitive and was made of glass.
The iPhone in your pocket should've felt more like a polished stone than the palm.
And yet, due to the shape Apple chose, it did not.
"You're feeling it wrong" from the same folks as "you're holding it wrong". Yeesh.
Given that depending on the Palm you're talking about it had 90 degree angles on the chassis and the iPhone was completely rounded. Not only was it rounded everywhere but it was also Aluminum with a glass screen.