Palm OS goes Nokia N770/N800/N810

Access, the new owner of the former PalmSource, has just announced an application that will allow customers to run Garnet applications on Nokia’s maemo-powered tablets(N770 w/o sound):

TOKYO, Nov. 13 /PRNewswire/ — ACCESS CO., LTD., a global provider of
advanced software technologies to the mobile and beyond-PC markets, today
announced that it will make available a beta version of a Garnet(TM) VM
software for Nokia N770, N800 and N810 Internet Tablets. Garnet VM will
make it possible for users of the Nokia N770, N800 and N810 to enjoy
thousands of off-the-shelf Garnet(TM) OS (formerly Palm OS(R))-based
applications immediately available to enhance their productivity,
connectivity and play. Garnet VM is expected to be available by the end of
the year free of charge as a download from the ACCESS website.
Garnet VM is a “virtual machine” software application for running
Garnet OS-based applications in a Linux(R) environment, and supports over
30,000 software applications, including some of the most popular mobile
applications on the market, such as Google Maps(TM), Snappermail(R),
DateBk5 and perennially favorite games like Bejeweled(R), PacMan and
Sudoku.
……
“ACCESS is leveraging our work on the ACCESS Linux Platform(TM) which
includes Garnet VM as one of three runtime environments along with Java(TM)
and native Linux,” said Didier Diaz, senior vice president product strategy
management, ACCESS Systems Americas, Inc. “This reinforces the value of
Garnet OS-based applications to consumers and creates an all-around win: it
will allow Nokia users to access the thousands of great applications
running under Garnet OS; it will give our loyal developers a larger
installed base of devices; and it will enable ACCESS to fine-tune Garnet VM
based on customer feedback.”
…….

For more information, visit the ACCESS website at
http://www.access-company.com/products/gvm
…continued at PrNewswire

For all those of you new to Nokia’s Nxxx devices; please take a look at the Nokia N810 over at our sister site TamsS60.

For me, this latest move by Access looks like the company is trying to test ALP component by component. Nokia’s Nxxx devices have always appealed to technology freaks…many of those originally used Palm OS devices. This move could motivate many of them to undig their old apps… . This has two benefits for Access. First of all, the Garnet VM gets tested thoroughly by tablet users(anyone note the prominently displayed feedback form on the web site???) – and as an added benefit, ALP stays in the news and the minds of people.

For me, today’s big loosers are the orange-orbers(Palm). With every new VM/emulator that pops up, there is less and less incentive for people to stick with the hardware produced by the colourful boys. Customer care dipsh*tting(Ryan Rix is currently going through a load of it) and whining screens can now easily be evaded by purchasing a device from another manufacturer like my personal favorite, HP(be sure to avoid Acer though…their build quality is even worse than Palm’s).

What do you think?

Further info:
First look at the VM

Related posts:

1. Why the Nokia 770 is not intended as a PDA
2. Access updates Garnet VM for Nokia Nxxx tablets
3. Palm announces its Linux platform
4. Weird stuff: Nokia could buy Palm
5. Access launches ADN Foundry