The events after the cancellation of the Foleo have brought Palm’s new, Lijnux-based operating system back into public interest and view. People began to wonder WHEN Palm OS II ships, and on which devices.
First of all, the time frame. Ed Colligan recently admitted that it will still take 12 to 18 months until OS II is ready. The media slashback caused him to retract his prophecy, now claiming less time due to the Centro team supporting OS development(I want to see circuit designers doing software…ResistorOS maybe?). Anyways, even Ed’s latest statements indicate that Palm OS II won’t come until 2008.
Sounds good..l.but obn’t forget that even just half a year can be a very long time in the mobile industry. Time runs twice as fast if developers and users flee the platform, and having extremely strong competitors gives an extra multiplicator. Insiders state that Palm now makes 50% of its overall sales via Windows Mobile, compared to 80% at the CeBit last year.
After the Foleo debacle, developers will not be motivated to invest manpower into a platform lacking a huge installed user base. However, users will not purchase a device that doesn’t have loads of software available(OS/2, anyone).
Sounds less good for Palm. However, not all hope is lost. Palm still has a pretty big installed user base in the form of existing Garnet Treos like the 680, 700p and 755p. Many of these are not very satisfied with the performance of the Palm OS(multitasking, anyone)…and will probably accept a free upgrade to Palm OS II. Also, a rehash of the TX with more memory, a faster CPU, a microphone and Palm OS 2 will probably find quite a few friends…
In the end, Palm IMHO depends on its own operating system to set itself apart from other manufacturers. Adjusting Windows Mobile alone will not cut it for Palm – other companies like HTC or HP have more manpower and more experience with intense competition.
Ed Colligan has well understood the importance of Palm OS II. If Palm manages to get a nice bunch of Palm OS 2 devices out into customer”s hands, the future could look great…
Do you think they will make it?
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I think Palm should release details and development tools if they don’t want people to flee…
I hope they hurry up. Lately I’ve been daydreaming about writing a PalmOS emulator in ARM native code to run on original PalmOS just so crashes won’t cause a reboot.
You could just write a hack to intercept SysFatalAlert to exit the application, but that may cause instability…
Palm needed this a long long long long time ago. I’m not sure how solvent the company can hope to be in another year and a half. And if they can’t deliver and face major setbacks or bugs (not uncommon in a new OS) then they are toast.
I really don’t see why they don’t just license the ALP. It runs Palm software and is already in existence.
By looking at what Access says about it, it seems ALP is its own smartphone targeted Linux distro with ARM POSE on it.
Wasn’t Palm OS II supposed to come out the end of this year? Then it was pushed to “early” 08, now end of 08. I don’t know if POS2 will ever come out…. and really I don’t care. Nokia has stated that they will continue production of their Nxxx series, and since I don’t want a smartphone, the Nokia’s are looking good, or maybe even one of those UMPC’s….. Point, NOT Palm.
Palm is wedded to the carriers and should stay in stealth mode. The brand has lost credibility and the buzz factor so they can afford to go under the radar. Palm OS II shouldn’t be rushed. They need stable execution and a supportive developer base. It is a sheer pity with all the developers who backed the Palm Economy that we find the novel iPod touch out PR the more functional Palm TX with the fickle gadget loving public.
Plays video and mp3s, check, has word processor, check, has Wifi, email client and bluetooth, check, reads pdf, doc, xls, etc, check, lack of marketing, customer education, check…
Give me back my Foleo, damnit.
Go Palm Go
Best,
tony
Actually, if anything, I think the multiple delays are proof that Ed Colligan doesn’t understand the need for a “Palm OS II”. If he actually understood the need for one, Palm would have released one long ago.
My advice to palm about keeping their platform somewhat solvent is to get some good middleware support. Most importantly J2ME. The Websphere runtime they have now is terrible. It’s so damn slow and doesn’t support the latest implementations of MIDP.
Get a really efficient, stable, low-level implimented Java runtime. Even maybe a compile-and-run based system and then at least the platform will have some more software choices, even when/if developers for PalmOS completely jump ship.
Adding support for Flash 7.0, FlashLite, FlashCast would help add content and applications too. Even consider adding stuff like BREW support to CDMA phones