The images of a Centro running “WebOS” were quickly classified as fake by both my knowledge and a friend of mine at Palm’s – and indeed, they were part of a well-done POR gag by long-time TamsPalm supporter TealPoint Software.
They have created a product called TealOS, which emulates the WebOS look and feel on all recent Palm OS devices. A video of the product in action is below:
Teal OS costs 15$ and can be purchased at the URL above – stay tuned for a review in the near future!
I haven’t posted all I saw at the MWC yet, but am happy to inform you of the next event covered on the Tamoggemon Content Network: look forward to the FH Hagenberg’s NFC Congress.
While most university-hosted tradeshows are pathetic, the FH Hagenberg has managed to attract key players of the industry – which means that almost everybody who has something to say in the European NFC world will be there.
In case you are new to the technology: NFC, short for Near Field Communications, is a technology which powers transmitters embedded into everyday objects like business cards. These can then be used for purchasing things, granting access to locations in an iButtonesque fashion, to buy stuff and much more. For example, the MWC tickets were NFC-based…which meant that they contained a chip with visitor information which could be scanned wirelessly by booth attendants wanting to find out more or stay in touch.
Further information is upcoming shortly – stay tuned…
Hutchison and Vodafone have recently ganged up in Australia – while carriers ganging up is nothing new, this particular acquisition was interesting because of the 3LikeHome service which allows customers to use their handsets at the same price in all of Hutchson’s networks.
I am happy to report that there will be no changes whatsoever. Hutchson 3G customers from all over the world can still use their mobiles on the joint network in Australia without any extra cost according to Tanya Bowes, press head of the joint company.
The images below were provided to us by an industry source without any further information:
I can offer the following two theories ordered by their likeliness:
We are looking at a WebOS skin
The final version of Palm’s Pre lacks a Global Find button (the original Compal design still had one, which means that Palm failed to complete it in time) and has different application icons. Thus, we are likely looking at the first images of a product which emulates the WebOS look&feel on existing Palm OS devices.
We are looking at a WebOS Centro
The Centro’s form factor is one of the few successes Palm has had as of late…which means that they are very unlikely to give up on it. A WebOS Centro is thus very likely in the works as I type this (the OS can be tested on current-gen hardware except for the multitouch) – the question is if the images above are the real thing…
Either way, this is cool news – stay tuned for further info as we get it!
The folks at Palm’s have always felt that they are something special – which is why I was surprised to see them step down to the level of actually getting a booth at the Mobile World Congress. But was there anything interesting to see?
Amusingly, their booth is right next to Access Systems:
Entering it was not easy – Palm folk looked carefully at each person and furthermore took business cards of each and everybody who wanted to get in…
Unsurprisingly, the oddities continued once inside. While all other manufacturers had the brains to just set up a few boxen and let folk handle them, Palm still stuck to its hands-off policy:
Three demo booths were set up where a Palm employee showed off the pre – the device was furthermore projected to a screen on the wall:
In the end, the open culture praised by my colleagues obviously hasn’t reached the European department of the company, as they are haughty as always. However, they paid a high price: their booth didn’t attract too many visitors…
Palm has recently released some fresh information of the Mojo SDK and development of webOS applications:
The first chapter of the official resource for programming the new webOS platform, “Palm webOS: Developing Applications in JavaScript Using the Palm Mojo Framework” is now available. The book is written by Palm Vice President and Software Chief Technology Officer Mitch Allen along with members of the webOS development team and is being edited and distributed by O’Reilly Media.
O’Reilly is also hosting a webinar with Mitch Allen on February 25 at 10 a.m. PT to offer developers a preview of the webOS operating system and development environment, followed by a Q&A session. A link to register for the webinar will be available here on Monday February 16th.
[Link added by editor]
The book is currently nine pages long, and provide new insights and screenshots of webOS and what development on this platform will be like! Among the information given is information about the notification area, how Cards — the webOS method of displaying what applications are active and what they are up to — are handled and displayed. even some small snippets of UI code are given:
Typically, you would declare the widget within a scene’s view file, then direct Mojo to instantiate the widget during the corresponding scene assistant setup method using the scene controller’s setupWidget method:
// Setup toggle widget and an observer for when it is changed.
// this.toggle attributes for the toggle widget, specifying the 'value'
// property to be set to the toggle's boolean value
// this.togglemodel model for toggle; includes 'value' property, and sets
// 'disabled' to false meaning the toggle is selectable
//
// togglePressed Event handler for any changes to 'value' propertythis.controller.setupWidget(‘my-toggle’,
this.toggle = { property : ‘value’ },
this.toggleModel = { value : true, disabled : false });this.controller.listen(‘my-toggle’, Mojo.Event.propertyChange,
this.togglePressed.bindAsEventListener(this));
Development Tools
The Palm Developer Tools (PDT) are installed from the SDK and include targets for Linux, Windows (XP/Vista) and Mac OS X. The tools enable you to create a new Palm project using sample code and framework defaults, search reference documentation, debug your app in the weOS emulator or an attached Palm device, and publish an application. Chapter 2 includes more details about the tools in Palm’s SDK and third-party tools, but you’ll find a brief summary in Table 1-1
The introductory chapter of the webOS programming guide can be found here.
What do you think about these new revelations on the webOS front?
Hey! You there!
In case you are on your way to the Mobile World Congress: be sure to be at the Symbian Foundation booth 10am sharp tomorrow!
Tamoggemon Software will unveil its first-ever S60 app there. Look forward to LocaNote, for it will revolutionize the world of note taking!
See you there!
Tam
P.S. Sorry for being a little slow with updating these sites recently…it will get better very soon!
I just had to pay 50 cents for a download SMS in order to get my hands onto the mobile event guide for the MWC 2009 – it is a little program which contains a map and an exhibitor list which can be installed onto a variety of mobile phones.
In order to save you the SMS fee, use the download link below:
http://mg.velti.com
In the smartphone business, selling one million devices is considered a major feat. The figures and quotes below are intended to put all of it into perspective…:
Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCEI) today announced that the cumulative worldwide sell-in units of PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) handheld entertainment system (PSP-1000, 2000 and 3000 series) reached a total of 50 million units(*1) as of January 2009.
* Total LTD shipments of Nintendo DS hardware were 96.22 million worldwide, along with more than 533 million games.
* Total LTD Wii shipments reached nearly 45 million worldwide, along with over 312 million games.
So much about smartphone growth by taking market share away from competitors. IMHO, the company which manages to break out of the traditional niche will be king – what do you think?
Dear Readers,
please visit me at the Symbian Foundation booth at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona – I will demonstrate a new application for the S60 touch platform called LocaNote on Monday at 10am local time.
I will speak for approximately 15 minutes, with a Q&A session afterwards.
At the moment, all I can tell you is that LocaNote will revolutionize the way you take notes: forget everything you have ever seen before. Location, media and note taking combined – it will rock your world!
Image: Wikimedia Commons / baikonur
The boys who put together iPhoneDevCamp in July 2007 to prepare applications developers to develop using the iPhone SDK are putting together an event specifically for Pre developers.
The event, dubbed preDevCamp is hsoted by @whurley @giovanni and @dancrumb (all they provide are their twitter handles) and events are being set up all across the world, including yours truly’s home town Phoenix, Arizona.
The dates of these events, since they are not officially affiliated with Palm, Inc, are being held a week AFTER the Pre is released. These events will give developers much needed time on these devices, even if they are not able to get their own from Sprint/Palm for development purposes.
See here and here for information of preDevCamp, and here for registration information — you’ll need to select your particular city.
Handango has just released its latest YardStick – this time, they cover the whole year of 2008. As usual, the most important things are represented graphically below – the full scoop can be had in the PDF files linked under further reading!
New content providers
The chart below compares the number of new content providers and new applications across all platforms:
Average application price
The average Application price makes for an interesting metric: the higher the average price, the more money individual developers have for improving their products:
Average number of apps/order
While this metric may sound uninteresting at first glance, power users often buy more than one app at once. So: the closer this figure is to 1, the “dumber” the users:
Best-selling devices
Here is a list of best-selling devices across all platforms monitored by the Tamoggemon Content Network – we have used the “by-revenue” figures:
BlackBerry
1. BlackBerry 8830 World Edition
2. BlackBerry Curve
3. Verizon BlackBerry Pearl 8130
4. BlackBerry Pearl
5. Verizon BlackBerry Curve 8330
6. BlackBerry Curve 8330
7. BlackBerry Curve 8310
8. BlackBerry Curve 8800
9. BlackBerry Pearl 8130
10. BlackBerry Bold 9000
Palm OS
1. Palm Treo 700p
2. Palm Treo 755p
3. Palm Centro
4. Palm Treo 680
5. Palm Treo 650
6. Verizon Palm Centro
7. Verizon Palm Treo 700p
8. AT&T Palm Treo 680
9. Verizon Palm Treo 755p
10. Sprint Palm Treo 755p
PocketPC (WM)
1. AT&T Tilt
2. HTC TyTN II
3. Verizon XV6800
4. HTC Touch
5. Verizon Samsung i760
6. Samsung i760
7. HTC Mogul
8. HTC Touch Cruise
9. Samsung Omnia i900
10. HTC Touch Diamond
Windows Mobile Smartphone (WMS)
1. Motorola Q (5.0)
2. Samsung BlackJack II
3. Verizon Motorola Q music 9m
4. T-Mobile Dash
5. Motorola Q 9h
6. Samsung BlackJack
7. Verizon Moto Q 9c
8. Motorola Moto Q 9c
9. Verizon SMT5800
10. HTC S620/621
Symbian
1. Nokia N95 (S60 3rd Edition)
2. Nokia E90 Communicator
3. Nokia E71
4. Nokia E51
5. Nokia N73 (S60 3rd Edition)
6. Nokia E61i
7. Sony Ericsson P1
8. Nokia N82
9. Nokia E65
10. Nokia E61(S60 3rd Edition)
Best-selling apps
Here is the top-10 list for all our platforms:
BlackBerry
1. Ringtone Megaplex (ringtones) – $19.95
2. VoiceControl (voice command) – $6.00
3. Colour Your Trackball (trackball customizer) – $4.95
4. BBSmart Email Viewer (email viewer) – $29.95
5. eOf ce 4.5 (attachment viewer) – $29.95
6. SplashID (information security) – $29.95
7. The Weather Channel 3 Month (weather monitor) – $12.99
8. IM+ for Skype (IM consolidator) – $29.95
9. Voice on the Go – Monthly (voice command) – $5.99
10. Pimp My Pearl (trackball customizer) – $4.95
Palm OS
1. SplashID Desktop (information security) – $19.95
2. VoiceControl (voice command) – $6.00
3. PocketMirror Standard (Outlook synchronization) – $29.95
4. SplashID (information security) – $29.95
5. Agendus Desktop Edition (Outlook synchronization) – $39.95
6. Agendus Professional Edition (Outlook synchronization) – $39.95
7. SplashID for Desktop (information security) – $19.95
8. Traf c for Treo Smartphones – One City (traf c monitor) – $4.99
9. TouchLauncher (app manager) – $6.99
10. Ringo Pro (ringtone library) – $29.95
PocketPC (WM)
1. Spb Mobile Shell 2.1.4 (today screen plug-in) – $29.95
2. MobiTV (streaming television) – $9.99
3. Spb Backup 2.0.1 ( le backup) – $24.95
4. Spb Pocket Plus 4.0.2 (today screen plug-in) – $29.95
5. Pocket Informant 8 (today screen plug-in) – $29.95
6. Spb Phone Suite 1.3 (phone features) – $19.95
7. eWallet (Professional Edition) (PIM manager) – $29.95
8. Spb Keyboard 4.1 (keyboard) – $14.95
9. Spb Wireless Monitor 3 (data usage monitor) – $19.95
10. SOTI Pocket Controller-Pro V6 (remote control) – $35.95
Windows Mobile Smartphone (WMS)
1. MobiTV (streaming television) – $9.99
2. Ringtone Megaplex (ringtones) – $19.95
3. SBSH Facade 1.4 (home screen plug-in) – $14.95
4. eWallet (Professional Edition) (PIM manager) – $29.95
5. PocketStreamer DELUXE (streaming media) – $21.95
6. Jeyo Mobile Extender for Outlook (SMS manager) – $19.95
7. HandiTV (streaming television) – $21.95
8. Documents To Go Premium Edition (document manager) – $29.99
9. SmartphoneNotes (note manager) – $17.95
10. Ringo Mobile (ringtone library) – $24.95
Symbian
1. Pro Mail (email viewer) – $31.99
2. Handy Weather (weather monitor) – $24.95
3. Advanced Call Manager (call manager) – $25.50
4. Quickof ce Premier 5.0 (document manager) – $49.00
5. X-plore ( le manager) – $11.00
6. Handy Safe Pro (personal ID manager) – $44.95
7. IM+ All-in-One Messenger (IM consolidator) – $29.95
8. WorldMate Professional (travel assistant) – $49.95
9. Ultimate Voice Recorder (voice recorder) – $14.95
10. LCG Jukebox (music player) – $27.99
Remarkable quotes from the press release
The press release I received contained a few further interesting quotes which are below for your enjoyment:
Following the trend from the first half of 2008, the Games category continued to experience double-digit growth. Games accounted for 11% of top category sales in 2007 and grew to 19% of top category sales in 2008. Handango has been aggressively expanding its high profile games offerings through strategic partnerships with top mobile game publishers including EA Mobile, Capcom Interactive, Glu Mobile, Digital Chocolate and iPlay among others.
BlackBerry was the big winner in 2008 – seeing dramatic growth in smartphone application purchases and accounting for five of the top ten devices adding content. BlackBerry 8830 World Edition and the BlackBerry Curve took the top two positions respectively. In 2007, Blackberry accounted for 18% of apps sold and increased to 31% of apps sold in 2008. BlackBerry had the most new content titles in 2008 adding 3,365 applications to the Handango catalog. Personalization was the #1 category, while six games made the top 25.
Windows Mobile® Professional (Formerly Pocket PC) WMP had the most new content providers of any platform at 382 and remains the largest platform by units. Samsung’s Omnia and the HTC Touch Diamond were two new devices in the list of top ten smartphones adding content.
Windows Mobile® Standard (Formerly Smartphone) Video made up 17% of top ten category sales, which was the highest of any platform. Additionally, Games category sales grew from 10% to 21% year over year.
Palm® OS
PIM and Games accounted for over 54% of the top 10 category sales during 2008. Games category sales grew from 12% to 18% and PIM made up 36% of sales which is higher than on all other platforms.Symbian®
GPS was the #1 search term on for Symbian devices up from #3 in 2007 showing the growing demand for GPS products in the smartphone marketplace. Nokia’s N95 made the top ten list of devices downloading content. Symbian developers added 2,198 smartphone apps to the marketplace and 283 new content providers.
Further reading (PDF!!)
http://assets.handango.com/marketing/Yardstick/Yardstick_2008_YearEnd.pdf
http://assets.handango.com/marketing/Yardstick/Yardstick_2008_YearEnd_Palm.pdf
http://assets.handango.com/marketing/Yardstick/Yardstick_2008_YearEnd_PPC.pdf
http://assets.handango.com/marketing/Yardstick/Yardstick_2008_YearEnd_SP.pdf
http://assets.handango.com/marketing/Yardstick/Yardstick_2008_YearEnd_Sym%20(2).pdf
http://assets.handango.com/marketing/Yardstick/Yardstick_2008_YearEnd_BB.pdf
Sprint has just updated its Palm Pre teaser page with some new technical specs of the box – while most of the information is not particularly interesting, the information that tethering is supported could interest some:
Even though the Palm OS is dead for good, we should nevertheless keep in mind what it did to the mobile phone market – almost every cellphone maker has at least one “Treo killer” in its lineup. Our sister site TamsPPC recently had the opportunity to test Samsung’s i780 – and had huge issues with it.
Here is the full final verdict – fingers off…
Samsung’s i780 has been in our labs for some time, and was tortured in every possible fashion – in case you missed one of the parts, feel free to catch up via the links below:
Samsung i780 review – unboxing
Samsung i780 review – size
Samsung i780 review – physical
Samsung i780 review – screen
Samsung i780 review – softwareBut: can the device make a person used to a Treo or similar QWERTY device happy? In short, the answer is no. The keys are too small, the screen is too small, the stylus is too weird and the OS is too sluggish and badly configured. Even though Samsung has implemented many sweet gimmicks and furthermore has accelerated the device quite a bit with recent firmware updates, the glaring hardware issues and the 312MhZ processor remain.
I have talked with a few i780 users who have had the device since day 1, and are dissatisfied – slowness, short battery life and tiny keys are complains I have heard over and over again.
In a market where QWERTY devices are available in droves, the i780 unfortunately can not stack up any more. Samsung’s list price of 400 Euros is laughable at best, the device woulg IMHO be fairly priced around 250 Euros at the most.
Nevertheless: these boys have potential. If Samsung takes the feedback provided by analysts and keeps it in mind when designing the i780′s successor, a true Treo killer could be born. But as it stands now, the device has no chance and can not be recommended under any circumstances…
Content, RSS
Twitter
