TamsPalm – the Palm OS / web OS Blog

After having talked with independent developers, it’s now time to see what Palm’s partners think. A version DataViz’s Documents To Go has been in the ROM of almost every Palm OS 5 device shipped by PalmOne/Palm – what do they think about their future?

Please tell us more about yourself and your company!
I have been with DataViz for 10 year and enjoy the innovative, challenging and fun environment that the company has to offer. Working in the Sales & Marketing Department my core responsibilities include public relations and advertising.

DataViz has been in business for nearly 25 years. As you are well aware, the mobile industry hasn’t been around for that long but that isn’t how the company got its start. DataViz began its business developing file conversion software to enable compatibility between Macintosh and Windows computers. Since then it has expanded its expertise to providing solutions that meet the increasing demands of the mobile markets. Our award winning mobile Office suite, Documents To Go and wireless Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync client, RoadSync enables our customer to take their Office out of the office. As an industry leader in developing and marketing Office compatibility solutions DataViz products support a variety of platforms including Palm OS, Symbian OS, BlackBerry, Java, Linux, Windows Mobile, Windows and Macintosh.

Did the resuscitation of PalmGear affect your sales?
It’s a welcome to have PocketGear reopen the PalmGear store – we imagine they have a solid customer base.

Did the fast-selling Centro affect your sales?
Yes we have seen an increase of Centro customers to our Palm user base.

How long do you expect to stay in the Palm OS market?
Our priority hasn’t shifted off Palm but clearly we have extended our reach to other markets.

A few years ago our development efforts weighed heavily on Palm but in the last 5 or 6 years in order to effectively grow our top line revenue, we began shifting our development efforts to include support for additional platforms and devices including BlackBerry, Symbian, Windows Mobile, Linux, Java and now iPhone.

With each platform we add to the Documents To Go product line, we strive to deliver the same quality and rich feature set we established initially with our products on the Palm OS.

Do you plan any new Palm OS products?
As we have extended our efforts to reach other mobile platforms we are not currently developing new mobile software solutions for the Palm OS. However we are still very committed the platform. In order to remain innovative and update to date on all the latest technology we will release periodic updates on all our current Palm software solutions.

Do you see any future for Nova?
For Nova and Documents To Go, we see the future as very bright and we look forward to the exciting phase ahead.

What is your future platform of choice?
It’s hard to say as each and every platform has its strong points. It really depends on what’s important to the user. In addition to being a heavy email users who needs access to my file attachments, I personally tend to lean on platforms that offer excellent web browsing capability. I am also a huge music enthusiast. Personally I have my eyes set on giving the iPhone a try.

As for the rest of our organization, DataViz employees carry a wide variety of handsets that encompass the mobile platforms we develop for. This includes Symbian UIQ, S80, and S60, Windows Mobile, Palm, Java, BlackBerry and iPhone. By actively using devices based on these platforms it enables us as a company to stay in touch with our marketing and development efforts.

Anything you would like to add?
A mobile office suite for the iPhone?

We are currently developing Documents To Go for the iPhone and anticipate a 2009 release.
In fact Documents To Go for iPhone, is our #1 customer request due to our strong brand recognition in North America and the increasing iPhone base of users.

I would also like to mention that we will have a RoadSync version 4.0 release for Symbian S60 devices. We anticipate this product to be available on Wednesday October 22nd. The product uses the Microsoft(R) Exchange ActiveSync(R) protocol to enable secure, wireless and direct push synchronization of email, calendar, contacts, tasks and attachments with Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 and 2007.

This new version will bring the next level of Exchange ActiveSync connectivity to all Samsung, LG and Nokia S60 Smartphones.

The new features will include:
-Support for HTML emails
-Tasks
-Contact Photos
-Pop-up notifications for new emails
-Keypad shortcuts for the most common messaging functions

We also made enhancements to the following
-Mailbox subfolder support
-Font zooming
-Installation set-up
-Internet access point handling

The TamsPalm developer health survey goes on and on – now its Radoslaw Nowak’s turn. Radoslaw talks about PalmGear, the sub-prime crisis and a variety of other interesting topics:

Please tell us more about yourself and your company!
Nothing’s changed since Q3

Did the resuscitation of PalmGear affect your sales?
Rather it did, but just a little bit. Although we’re doing better on PalmGear than we did on PocketGear, it’s still 50% of sales we had on the original PalmGear…

Do you feel the effects of the American sub-prime crisis?
Mostly by the decreasing value of the American dollar. I’m getting less and less Euro in exchange for it

In General, are you (still) happy with the sales rates of your Palm OS products?
Considering the fact that Palm hasn’t released a new device for sooo long, I must say that the sales rates aren’t too bad. However, I’m already looking for new targets where my software could count on more fresh audience…

Did the fast-selling Centro affect your sales?
Yes, I think that Centro, although already old, it still keeps the software market alive. But I’m afraid this could end up with the coming Christmas…

How long do you expect to stay in the Palm OS market?
As long as possible Why not?

Do you plan any new Palm OS products?
Yes. Actually I released a new title today, TopNewRingtones, see: http://www.ranosoft.net/top-new-ringtones/
And I’m still have A LOT OF plans, most of which will never be realized, however

Do you see any future for Nova?
Now they’d have to spend millions on advertising to re-gain lots of lost Palm OS users…

What is your future platform of choice?
The one that has many users who can make use of my software. I haven’t evaluated other platforms yet, though I’m planning to do so still in this year.

Anything you’d like to add?
Sales on PalmGear+PocketGear are now higher than they were on PocketGear only (and it seems this will stay like this), but they are 50% of the sales that we’ve had just before the original PalmGear was closed. Note that on other websites our sales go steadily.