Ed Colligan, CEO of Palm, continues to pan the Apple iPhone calling it "a media player which happens to include a phone".

In an interview by Swiss newspaper Sonntagszeitung at the 3GSM conference in Barcelona, Colligan said, "In my opinion it looks rather like a highly developed media player, which happens to include a phone."

Colligan went on to say, "The iPhone could be interesting for people who like music and films with occasional phone use, but for businesspeople the touch-sensitive screen without a physical button keyboard will be a challenge."

Apple has supplied "nothing at all" regarding iPhone to date, according to Colligan. There's a huge difference between giving a keynote speech and actually developing and shipping the devices, Colligan said.

Colligan said,"I have great respect for Apple, but won't be easy to create a good smartphone that will functions on networks worldwide. Nokia, Motorola, and Samsung have worked on this for for 25 years and have only partially succeeded today. Our Palm Treo already has 90% of Apple's iPhone features at a much lower price. By the way, if this is an interview about the iPhone, you should talk with the Apple people instead."

It was Palm CEO Ed Colligan who back in November questioned whether Apple can develop a decent phone. "We've learned and struggled for a few years here figuring out how to make a decent phone. PC guys are not going to just figure this out. They're not going to just walk in."

Thanks MacDailyNews!