TamsPalm – the Palm OS / web OS Blog

Opera ASA, the manufacturer of various mobile browsers, has managed to gain a cult following on almost all platforms: Windows Mobile heads love the superb rendering engine, Symbian heads used to love the tabs and Palm OS and BlackBerry heads used Opera Mini to replace their crappy default browsers.

I recently had the opportunity to chat with Thomas Ford from Opera Mini on various topics ranging from tab-capable Opera Mini builds to Opera Turbo and Opera for S60 – read on for the full scoop..

Please tell us more about yourself and your company
My name is Thomas Ford. I’m a communications manager for Opera. I started working for Opera in 2005, so I’ve been pretty lucky to watch some of our more recent history unfold.

Opera is the only company in the world that makes Web browsers for all devices. So whether you have a PC, high-end smartphone, Web-enabled TV, or even a Ford F150, you could have an Opera browser there as well.

Despite what some people believe, Opera isn’t a small company. We have more than 700 employees working in our offices around the globe. I think what impresses me the most is how passionate everyone is about the business of building Web browsers. You could look, but I am confident you would not find another company of its kind anywhere.

As it stands now, mobile devices get more and more powerful by the minute. This makes native browsers more and more competitive. Don’t you think that this will squeeze OPM out of the market?
I think despite the advances in native browsers there will still be plenty of room for Opera. Native browsers are really improving on only one type of device: smartphones.

On those higher-end phones we still offer plenty of advantages to consumers, operators and phone manufacturers. For one, we offer Opera Mini and Opera Turbo to help ease the bandwidth constraints on today’s mobile networks. Creating a browser is hard work and we have the experience to make great mobile browsers that consumers enjoy using.

We’ve been doing it for 10 years and that experience gives us the ability to do things faster and more cost effectively for our partners.

At the same time, smartphones comprise less than 15% of the total phone market. By far, more phones are sold without high-end browsers natively. For these phones, Opera Mini is the ideal solution. Operators love it because a better browser translates to more data revenues, so we actively work with operators to offer the same Web browsing experience throughout their device portfolio.

Opera Mini shines on devices where the integrated browser sucks (think Palm OS Treos). As mobile web browsers get better, don’t you think that Opera Mini will fade away?
Rather than fade away, Opera Mini will continue to evolve. Consumers demand a better mobile Web experience, but not all OEMs and operators want to put their resources into making a Web browser, particularly as consumer expectations increase. We can offer Opera Mini very easily to operators they know it will work on almost all their phones, with minimal effort on their part. At the same time, it makes surfing on these phones enjoyable, so more consumers actually use it. This translates into greater revenues for operators while at the same time consumers have a good experience. By addressing both what operators and OEMs need, as well as what consumers want, I think Opera Mini will have a bright future.

I should also point out that there are approximately 1.6 billion people on the Web, but that anywhere from 50 to 60 percent of the world’s citizens have a mobile phone connection. Over the coming years more people will get online with a mobile device than ever did with a PC. I think that trend will continue to ensure both Opera Mobile and Opera Mini remain vibrant products.

What about the future features of Opera Mini? Will it ever get tab support, for instance (the beta was available some time ago).
Tab support is definitely one of the most requested features for Opera Mini. I can tell you that we listen loud and clear to the feedback we receive. Opera Mini 5, when released, will be a major step forward for Opera Mini. I think you and your readers will be quite excited.

The native version of Opera is under pressure as OS vendors improve their browsers (think IE6 mobile). Where do you see Opera Mobile two years from now, and now will it remain competitive?
I think Opera Mobile will support more platforms and will include even more server-side technologies to improve browsing on mobile devices. Due to the sheer size of the required investment, newer mobile broadband technologies are not rolling out as quickly as the newest, most advanced handsets. Opera Mobile will help bridge that gap.

I also think in general you will see more operators and OEMs looking for a single, unified browsing solution across their product portfolio. Opera is the only company that will work with operators and OEMs to create a browser that can work on all their devices. We can even include widgets, for eaiser access to Web-based applications. Our work with T-Mobile on their web’n'walk platform speaks to what we can accomplish when we collaborate with world-class operators.

A version of Opera Mobile which uses the 3d chip of some phones for scrolling has been announced some time ago. Why isnt it available for purchase yet?
Actually, we just announced a beta of Opera Mobile 9.7. It supports some of the hardware acceleration you mentioned. If you have a Windows Mobile phone, visit http://www.opera.com/mobile/download/ to give it a spin.

What about Opera for Symbian? We have heard of licensing troubles with the Flash player in the past…
Clearly consumers now more than ever want Flash on their handsets, primarily to access the wealth of Flash-based video content on the Web. Adobe understands this and we are actively working with them to find a solution.

As far as a browser for Symbian, our current focus is on the widget platform for Series 60. Expect to see news on the browser front sometime this year.

Opera’s accelerator proxy looked very promising in the demo video. When will it become available to end users, and at what price?
Right now Opera Turbo is available for free in the new Opera Mobile 9.7 and Opera 10 desktop versions. All those servers and all that bandwidth comes at a price though, so we are still studying how this affects our business model.

I suspect by the time Opera 10 reaches its final release, we will have our business model in place for Opera Turbo.

When will Opera be available for the BlackBerry?
As a BlackBerry user myself, I would be lost without Opera Mini. If you’re looking for Opera Mobile on BlackBerry that may take some time, so Opera Mini is still your best choice.

Only good things will come from more people using Opera Mini on BlackBerries. For instance, with more people testing and identifying issues, we can fix them faster. Maybe a large user base on BlackBerry will also help us in the same way that it worked for Virgin Mobile. They found a lot of their customers were using Opera Mini, so they reached out to us and we worked with them to perfect our browser on their phones.

Anything you would like to add?
Thanks for the chat. Using our browser is one way to support our goal of making the Web an open resource for everyone. I hope more people discover the mobile Web through Opera Mini.

With the Pre’s release date getting closer by the minute, it’s now time to let a few user speak about what they expect from their Pre’s!

First up is Prof. Jonathan I. Ezor, the author of an ebook on risks related to mobile computing. He states the following:

The Pre is very much the true successor to the TX: full-screen, fast and smooth Internet integration. It will enable those of us for whom the BlackBerry isn’t mandatory, and the iPhone isn’t functional enough, to do real business and manage the rest of our lives anywhere we are.

For me, the Pre will add smoother and more reliable e-mail and Web browsing, areas where the TX, for all its pluses, still struggles, along with real multitasking for background processing.

It will also make it easier and less controversial for tech-savvy individuals to integrate with office IT, since it does not require client or dedicated server software (other than Exchange Server) to connect to Outlook. For my own multi-faceted life (teaching, law practice, and kids and family), the Pre, with its Synergy multi-calendar and multi-e-mail account support and Web-based tools, makes perfect sense.

I’m disappointed, though, that Palm did not add even a microSD slot to the Pre; given that I have 16 GB in my TX (courtesy of Dmitry Grinberg’s PowerSDHC driver), I’m actually going to have less onboard storage if I switch to the Pre. (Hopefully, Palm has or will add software support for an external microUSB thumb-type drive or card reader, for expanded storage and security.)

I’m also counting on Palm to provide Bluetooth keyboard support; it’s unthinkable to me that Palm wouldn’t, given how long external keyboards have been available for the PalmOS (remember PiloKey?), but it so far has not confirmed such support. I use my Bluetooth keyboard *a lot,* and if Palm refuses to support one, it might actually prevent me from switching to the Pre.

Next up is Carla Morelli from FreyerMartin, which is a really weird (but interesting) financial agency which specializes on bill management for individuals:

I’m on my third Treo in five years. First was a Palm OS, the next two were Windows Mobile. I own an 800wx today. The Treo’s concept was so attractive that I kept upgrading hoping to get a model that worked effectively. I’m about to throw the 800 out the car window and run it over. The crunching would feel good. Office Mobile is worthless, PDFs are impossible to work with, and the phone, frankly, is a mess. I reboot at least weekly, sometimes two or three times in a row. The battery life is inconsistent – it swings between not so hot and atrocious.

I liked the iPhone, but I’m on Sprint – and I’m not wild about the keyboard. I’ve been considering a Blackberry, but am afraid I’ll miss the touchscreen. If Palm had come out with another Treo, I’d say forget it. If it’s a completely different platform, it may be worth wait to see what people say.

Finally, it’s time to look at Nathalie Chiles from MemoryMavens, who specialize on photo archive management:

I am a current Palm owner (Treo 650) and am salivating at the mouth for the Pre. I just found out today that Verizon may be carrying the Pre in the new year, and because of my husband’s employer we are a Verizon family, so I can’t WAIT to get my hands on it. I’m tired of the clunky Palm software- it’s so outdated. I’m very hopeful that the new Pre is parallel to or perhaps exceeds the iPhone, but it seems it’s been hard as a consumer to get enough info on it other than “it’s going to be way cool.” I also hope the plan isn’t too ridiculous- I’m dreaming of checking my email on my phone.

With that, let’s end this post for now – what do you expect the Pre to improve?

Peter Shankman’s HARO service is extremely useful, as it allows bloggers to reach literally thousands of users with little effort. My query regarding Palm’s Pre has led to a torrential flood of email hitting my inbox – from now on, user opinions will be posted for your enjoyment frequently.

Our first “user” is Sam Dependahl from Jarvis Communications, who has some pretty interesting ideas:

I’m excited about the Pre. I actually check all of the blogs and search Google News every day for the updates. That being said, I will not be buying a Pre any time soon. For most of 2009 I was set on buying it the day it came out, but the more I thought about it, the less sense it actually made.

I have a Treo Pro which I absolutely love, and it doesn’t make sense to give it up for a new, unproven OS. Even if the Pre is as ground breaking as the reports, it will take a long time (if ever) before it has the apps to compete with the competition.

I think it might also have a bit of an identity crisis. I don’t think it will ever have the cool “it” factor of the iPhone, and will never be taken as seriously as RIM or WM for business users. I love Palm, and I really hope the Pre lives up to the hype. I’ll give it some time to prove itself in the market before I get one.

Keep in mind, I am not a tech expert and I’m not in the phone industry.

Mobile content providers have always made me wonder about the economies of mobile computing – they run extremely expensive ads, sell very bad programs and yet don’t die off.

I recently had a cup of tea with somebody from this industry who wants to remain anonymous but nevertheless wanted to talk…here’s what our buddy had to say:

Do you sell subscriptions only?
We advertise subscriptions only. However, individual downloads can also be bought via the web sites.

Does the heavy MTV, etc advertising pay?
Well…first of all you must look at it this way. We buy huge amounts of airtime…so our total cost is much lower than what you see on the rate cards.

On average, well, we pay a few hundred thousand euros a month…and it obviously pays out for us.

What’s your average user?
Dumbphone user – no heavy-duty smartphones in here. Age ranges from 13 to about 19…and the users arent too smart. This actually makes our life easier, as piracy becomes a non-issue.

One more facet you will likely be interested in is that we have over 90 percent female users for some love or partnership related fun apps…

How long, on average, does a customer stay bound?
I don’t want to say more here as this would give my identity away…but it’s about four and a half months for all of the industry.

What happens if users are on prepaid and run out of cash?
We try to bill his card for about two months…and then give up eventually… . Our company is not too big on lawsuits…they don’t pay out for us…

Do you do native S60 or PPC apps?
Hell gee, mate. Covering all S60 boxen gets you 20 percent of the market at best. J2ME is king here…and also keep in mind that most of the sales come from music or photos.

How can an ISV do business with you?
Not at all – find an aggregator.

You have to think of it this way: we sell hundred thousand and more positions. For us, 60 items is nothing…we usually wont even negotiate with you.

Why not offer individual apps as subscriptions?
Please don’t say that I sound haughty if I say that all business models possible have been tested. The current model works best – believe me on this one.

Did the German Jamba lawsuit affect your ability to do business with minors?
I have to say that this is largely irrelevant to us, as it was limited to a single county of Germany. We sit in a different county…so no impact here.

After that, my informer was picked up by a mate…so the story ends here. Nevertheless, much of this was new to me, and hopefully was interesting!

What do you think?

Our final interview partner for the WebOS interviews is HandCase. This Brazilian company has often been parodied on TamsPalm due to their insanely written press releases. Cutting a long story short – English definitely isn’t their mother tongue.

Nevertheless, their CEO Ricardo Garay is very talkative – here is what he has to say (edited a bit by me):

Please tell us more about yourself and your company
I originally started by creating the first-ever online RPG for the Brazilian market back in 1997. We then started to grow very fast…in the last 4 years and with a portfolio of 323 products, we can be considered one of the biggest software makers for Palm OS.

What were your initial impressions after the webOS announcement?
When the entire team of developers at Handcase’s, including me, saw the minimum specifications provided, we did not like it at all. Palm did not clarify the crucial question for developers…

On the other hand, the WebOS seems to make users pretty happy…

What did you expect Palm to do? Were your expectations met?
Palm has definitely proven its success once again. All people who talked crap about Palm now have to shut up.

While developers like me are not too happy, we tend to say that the user is god. And the user apparently is very happy!

The operating system is said to be web-only. Do you think that its possible to create solid applications in such an environment?
In the case of software, just turn real software into a bunch of scripts.

Let us not forget, software is software, script is script.

But if you do good work with scripts, you can quickly adapt applications. However, you must remember that your scripts will depend on the server. Ie you will not have applications, but rather web services. With this approach began to spread that release 100 web services, based on 100 of our applications (including some not yet been released in English, and they exist in Portuguese, at least 1 year).

WebOS is not able to run old Palm OS code. Can you understand this decision?
This is no decision.

This is the only point to be resolved by Palm. When the Palm killed the PQA service, over 25% of developers closed. Palm will not be stupid, repeating the same mistake.

For us the effect would be minimal, and the small but, as will be? So who is big, has breath and can redo his apps. Small developer on the other hand… There is no arguing about what this. The legacy PalmOS, must run in WebOS. Nothing less than this.

Many have compared webOS to the iPhone, thinking that most applications will be crapware. Do you think that a solid economy will be built around the pre?
iPhone will end. I am not saying this because the Palm Pre born. Always said this. Here in Brazil, gave interviews and talked to journalists, saying this. Explico, iPhone does not have:
killer app; 95% of developers worldwide use PC, will not change from PC to MAC; no serious company, will produce a major application, to sell to 99 cents; no company will produce an application or game, to sell at a single store, where the owner let her.

Could list other reasons. Lisa, Newton were two cases that help to illustrate what I mean. Time will tell if I am right.

And yes, undoubtedly there will be a world around the WebOS. I believe that many web developers, will unite and form an army of developers to Palm.

Do you plan to develop applications for the pre? Could you give us a preview?
As I said earlier, we will develop 100 web services, which are based on our applications.

We have an advantage, as we were developing something about a year but had stopped because the web browser in these cases is crucial, and Blazer was not good enough. Now it has become feasible. We deliver the first 3 web services in each segment (personal, professional, leisure, security, medical, corporate), ie, the first 18 in the coming months.

If you could change one thing about webOS, what would it be?
Make it compatible with old Palm OS applications.

If you could ask Palm one question, what would it be? (these will be collected and sent to Palm)
When will we hear more on application compatibility for existing software?

Anything you would like to add
All the best to all Palm users and TamsPalm readers! Ah…and don’t forget to visit www.handycase.com/eng/freeware.htm…we launch a new freeware program every month!

The web OS is out for quite some time – while Palm has answered quite a few questions, many still remain open. Our intro interviews are coming to an end soon (we have one more) – but let’s now see what the fine folks at mobile-stream’s have to say!

They are in an unique position as they offer both system apps and very nice games…will the webOS suit them?

Please tell us more about yourself and your company
We are a small independent developer.

We have software for various mobile platforms (Palm, Symbian, iPhone, Windows Mobile). Our well-known Palm applications are:
Landscape – the only utility which made it possible to use Sony CLIE TH55 in landscape mode
USB Modem – USB and Bluetooth modem which allows you to tether your Palm smartphone to a Win/Mac/Linux computer;
Card Reader – USB Mass Storage and Bluetooth File Transfer for Palm devices.

What were your initial impressions after the webOS announcement?
Mixed feelings.

I’m glad that Palm did a good job. Their new device has excellent hardware. It has a modern look and feel. The market seems to have accepted it. Just see how Palm stocks went up after the announcement – a good sign.

There has been so much hype about web services and web projects lately, that it is little or no surprise that a certain company has decided to make web-only smartphones. Though I did not expect it would be Palm. Even Google did not make its Android a web-only OS.

What did you expect Palm to do? Were your expectations met?
Again, mixed feelings. Good for Palm, for Palm users and followers.

But our knowledge and experience (with USB protocols or with Bluetooth profiles) are not needed here. Either we’ll do something else or we’ll go to other platforms, there are so many nowadays.

The operating system is said to be web-only. Do you think that its possible to create solid applications in such an environment?
Lately the idea of web services has been very popular. We’ve seen many examples of that on desktop computers. Now time has come to smartphones.
It is possible to create solid web services. That’s just a very different way from an old Palm scene. Some old Palm developers will switch from Palm to other platforms, some will start to do web-based projects. New companies (mainly with web development experience) will come to Palm.

WebOS is not able to run old Palm OS code. Can you understand this decision?
Yes, I can. Sometimes attempts to maintain compatibility are too clumsy, it’s better to get rid of an old heritage at once.

Many have compared webOS to the iPhone, thinking that most applications will be crapware. Do you think that a solid economy will be built around the pre?
WebOS itself does not mean crapware. It is possible to create good and interesting web apps and web services.

You mention iPhone in your question about crapware, though it is not Web-Only smartphone.

If you ban CorePlayer or TomTom but allow all sort of Fartware – there will be crapware. If the minimum price is 0.99 – there will be crapware. In case of Palm WebOS much will depend on the business model, on how all those web apps will be distributed.

Do you plan to develop applications for the pre? Could you give us a preview?
It’s too early to say anything. We’ve not seen that JavaScript SDK.

We still hope that some day there may appear a native SDK.

If you could change one thing about webOS, what would it be?
Do not make it web-only. Allow some native app development at least in Java.

If you could ask Palm one question, what would it be?
Is there a chance we’ll see a native SDK ?

Anything you would like to add
It is not connected with the interview questions. Just in the past year we all thought that after Christmas Palm software sales would drop dramatically. It did not happen. In some cases there is a small decrease, but generally they remained constant. There are still many purchasers with Palm Centro. So for us there is still old good Palm.

Our next interview partner is Tunji Afonja from GX5. His company is famous for a variety of applications which added “coolness” to Treos – let’s see what he has to say on webOS!

Please tell us more about yourself and your company
My name is Tunji Afonja. I started Gx5 in 2005 to create software for mobile device, particularly the Treo. We are fortunate to have very good success with apps like UltimatePhone and Quick Memos. We have also developed apps for the iPhone and Windows Mobile.

What were your initial impressions after the webOS announcement?
Due to insider sources, I kind of knew what was coming, but I was very much impressed with the total execution.

What did you expect Palm to do? Were your expectations met?
Yes, my expectations were met and exceeded

The operating system is said to be web-only. Do you think that its possible to create solid applications in such an environment?
Yes, read this article http://www.tunjiafonja.com/tunjis_weblog/2009/01/palm-nova-and-3rd-party-apps.html

WebOS is not able to run old Palm OS code. Can you understand this decision?
Great decision. Don’t bring old junk into a new os. Users need not worry as all those apps they are using now will be available within the first month of release of the Pre and they will be much better.

Many have compared webOS to the iPhone, thinking that most applications will be crapware. Do you think that a solid economy will be built around the pre?
Well there are two kinds of iPhone apps.
The web apps are crapware because Apple provides no apis that allow developers to create robust apps.

There is crapware in the app store because of Apple being perceived as hostile to developers and not allow apps to be publish, thus developers and not trying to innovate on the iPhone and creating trivial apps. The opposite should happen on the Pre. Palm developers have always been one of the most innovative and with this new platform that Palm will open up, we will see the next wave of innovation

Do you plan to develop applications for the pre? Could you give us a preview?
Yes, but we have no previews yet. This is a completely brand new platform with new capabilities and thus we need to properly plan new software.

If you could change one thing about webOS, what would it be?
Flash, Flash and More Flash. Adobe Flash I mean.

If you could ask Palm one question, what would it be?
When will we have Flash support?

Anything you would like to add
We are baaaaaaacccckk!!!! And we are ready to kick butt

Please tell us more about yourself and your company
My name is Miro Pomsar and I’m working for Resco Palm Division. We produced a number of popular applications such as Resco Explorer or Resco Backup. (To name the most popular ones.)

I’ve been working with Jan Slodicka since Resco started producing PalmOS software, so I was more or less involved with every application on this platform.

What were your initial impressions after the webOS announcement?
webOS seems nice, but I hoped for a native SDK (think C, C++).

For some applications javascript might prove good enough but for anything advanced native processor power is needed. I must say I like the idea of cards and multitasking. Also the notification area is well thought out.

I’m not sure about the value of the facebook and gmail and eventual other web services integrated into the base installation. For example the Facebook community may be large, but it is stil a small minority.

Well, a difficult question – Palm bet on the web services, hence some
examples must be preinstalled…

What did you expect Palm to do? Were your expectations met?
I expected a powerful and nice device with all the common features (3G, BT, Wifi, GPS).

But this is the baseline, I expected a SDK and a clear development strategy, f.e.: how to move/port existing (PalmOS) software to this new platform, IDE, emulators, examples, etc.

To this day nothing was released, but we shall see. So right now I’m, happy with the hardware, but slightly unhappy with the software.

The operating system is said to be web-only. Do you think that its possible to create solid applications in such an environment?
As I said, for some apps this might be good enough (especially when the data crunching is offloaded to a web server).

For others such as audio, video, docs, (encryption, compression) etc. it won’t. As far I understood Palm wants to provide needed services (such as imaging) case by case based on demand.

I see this strategy as some sort of “lego” development, where Palm provides the blocks (gui controls, audio/video decoding) and programmers put these blocks together.

It will depend on the number and versatility of these blocks whether or not this strategy will be successful. In any case the creativity of the developers will be seriously undermined.

WebOS is not able to run old Palm OS code. Can you understand this decision?
On the one hand there are thousands of apps for PalmOS.
However:
- There is no way old apps would look up-to-date on this device.
- Many of the thousands of apps are no longer maintained, so even a slight modification is not possible.
- Many of those apps, are rather simple and can be replaced by web apps
right now.
So I understand that decision. (Still I at hoped for Palm to have a clear porting guide.)

Many have compared webOS to the iPhone, thinking that most applications will be crapware. Do you think that a solid economy will be built around the pre?
I don’t know for sure, but have the feeling that the developer situation will be more difficult with WebOS than it used to be in the old Palm OS era. Also part of the iPhone crapware problem is AppStore.

So we must first see what the Palm “AppStore” answer will be.

Do you plan to develop applications for the pre? Could you give us a preview?
Not right now, we will evaluate the SDK once ready. Also we would start with porting some of our apps, before creating brand new ones.

If you could change one thing about webOS, what would it be?
It is too soon to say.

If you could ask Palm one question, what would it be?
Why didn’t you contact more developers about your new platform?

Our next interview partner is Gregory Sokoloff from StyleTap. The Palm faithful expect him to deliver a Palm OS tool for Web OS, while the folks who jumped ship praise him for allowing them to keep their apps.

Let’s see what he has to say:

Please tell us more about yourself and your company
StyleTap Inc. was founded in 2000 by Robert Chew and me. At the time, Palm was completely dominating the mobile device market, and a large and successful application ecosystem was thriving around Palm. We believed that other entrants into the mobile device market, like Microsoft and Symbian, would have a very hard time ever getting so many great applications written for their new operating systems. As I’m sure you know, rewriting software is very expensive, and developers are loathe to do it unless there is a big incentive, and the more fragmented the market, the smaller the incentive for any given rewrite. So we came up with the idea of providing a runtime system that would enable binaries written for the Palm OS to run on other operating systems without any rewriting. The only problem was the very daunting technical challenge of achieving the goal we set out for ourselves–however, we did it.

What were your initial impressions after the webOS announcement?
It’s early to give much in the way of impressions because Palm is not yet actually shipping the product. So far, we have only seen the webOS in the best possible light as a part of a marketing launch. Nevertheless, I admire Palm for having the courage to be captain of their own ship. Whatever else it is, webOS will be Palm’s own creation.

I would also add, that I think there is plenty of opportunity for Palm to create a better mousetrap. Smartphones today may have a lot of functionality built into them, but they sure could improve in the area of usability. I’ll give a couple of simple examples. The first really useful function that came with early smartphones was the ability to keep all of your contacts on the phone so that you didn’t need to carry around a paper address book. And yet to this day, it is awkward maintaining these contacts on your phone: the carriers do not generally provide an automatic OTA synchronization and backup service even if the phone has client software that could take advantage of such a service (e.g. SyncML). So the hapless smartphone owner is left trying to synchronize her phone contacts with Outlook on her PC, and that process leaves a lot to be desired.

Another example is looking up somebody’s telephone number. You would think this need would have been met from the start–but no! With our new Symbian version of StyleTap Platform, we are shipping a wonderful little application called tryDA which will do a white pages lookup, and reverse lookup, of phone numbers over the air. Of course, you could just use the web browser on the phone, but this a much more awkward and slow procedure. Anyway, my point is that this kind of obvious function should have been a part of smartphone offerings from the beginning.

I have more examples, but I’ll stop there.
 
What did you expect Palm to do? Were your expectations met?
I was not surprised by the announcement.
 
The operating system is said to be web-only. Do you think that it’s possible to create solid applications in such an environment?
I’m not sure that it is web only. It seems to me that you could create standalone apps, just that they must be written in Javascript. That said, there certainly are drawbacks to this approach. A Javascript application is in source code form, and thus developers are vulnerable to giving away their assets if they deliver their products in Javascript form. Maybe this doesn’t matter so much for some applications which are web applications where most of the value is at the server end. Neverthess, it seems instructive that Apple abandoned this approach for the iPhone within weeks of announcing it, and committed to allowing developers to write native applications.

A couple of other issues are performance and API coverage. Javascript engines are getting faster and faster, but they will always be slower than the best Java runtimes, and they in turn will always be much slower than native ARM code. Palm is going out on a limb here a bit. Their competitors are all providing alternatives that should theoretically provide faster performace (e.g. Symbian, Microsoft and Apple allow native execution, and Android uses a Java runtime). I can say from our experience, the fact that StyleTap Platform supports native ARM code execution and high performance has definitely been a factor in our success.

We’ll have to see about API coverage, that is, just how much of the hardware capabilities are made available through the Javascript APIs to the application developer. This is often a big deal for developers: they don’t like to be shut out from taking advantage of everything the device has to offer. In the early days of StyleTap Platform, we used to get many requests for additional APIs specific to certain devices we supported. In response, we added what we call Native Library Support, so that developers could access their own custom DLLs from StyleTap, and thus they could get access to any native APIs they needed without being forced to completely rewrite their app.
 
WebOS is not able to run old Palm OS code. Can you understand this decision?
We’ll have to see what the situation is down the road when Palm actually ships the pre. This could obviously be a problem for Palm. With StyleTap Platform, Palm OS apps can run on Windows Mobile, Symbian and soon iPhones, but perhaps not on the Palm pre. Palm could be left with the smallest application library, instead of the largest–a position they have traditionally enjoyed.

Many have compared webOS to the iPhone, thinking that most applications will be crapware. Do you think that a solid economy will be built around the pre?
Too early to tell. As for the iPhone, I think there is a major problem with the app pricing. If the price is too low, and only a few best sellers are actually profitable, there won’t be a solid economy, and developers will get disillusioned and stop investing in new and improved products. Palm may well learn some lessons from Apple’s mistakes.
 
Do you plan to develop applications for the pre? Could you give us a preview?
We’re well aware of the situation, but don’t have anything to comment on at the moment.

If you could change one thing about webOS, what would it be?
No comment.
 
If you could ask Palm one question, what would it be?
No comment.

Anything you would like to add?
No.

Please tell us more about yourself and your company
As you all probably know, I’m the owner of RNS::, the company behind Hi-Launcher, and popular Treo utilities like TopSelecText or TopNewRingtones lately reviewed at TamsPalm. And many, many other apps for Palm OS.

What were your initial impressions after the webOS announcement?
Looks better than latest ideas from Palm (like Foleo). Perhaps it has future if it is ready to compete with its direct competitors who are much stronger (like iPhone). I like its design. Too bad Palm didn’t put Palm OS on it

What did you expect Palm to do? Were your expectations met?
I expected Palm to do what they did, but… with the old good Palm OS. Now I’m afraid they finally told “farewell” to their first child – Palm OS.

The operating system is said to be web-only. Do you think that its possible to create solid applications in such an environment?
Sure. But it depends on the definition of “web-only” system. Once the developer’s docs are released we’ll have an idea of what is possible on the new device.

WebOS is not able to run old Palm OS code. Can you understand this decision?
Yes, I understand. They just don’t care about the potential they got thanks to the thousands of third-party applications. Now, having written “PACE” (the transparent program that lets older Palm OS applications run on Palm OS 5 devices), how hard can it be to write a similar “emulator” to run these applications on Palm Pre? If they cared, they would create something like this.

Many have compared webOS to the iPhone, thinking that most applications will be crapware. Do you think that a solid economy will be built around the pre?
That’s what I’m afraid of the most: that the answer is: no. Palm is too weak now to “build its economy”

Do you plan to develop applications for the pre? Could you give us a preview?
No, I don’t plan. I plan to switch to the leading platforms, and not platforms without potential Sorry, Palm.

If you could change one thing about webOS, what would it be?
If I could turn back the time, and if I were a Palm manager, then I would not even create WebOS. The time that software architects and engineers spent on creating the new system could have been then focused on updating Palm OS, and bringing it back to life. With the modern design of Pre, I think that this would DEFINITELY bring Palm much more profit, happy customers, and developers! They had the solid ground, which they wasted.

If you could ask Palm one question, what would it be?
At first I thought that I should ask whether they will release any new device with Palm OS. But that would be a ridiculous question. Does anyone still believe they will do so?
As a result I came to conclusion that the question should be why did they kill Palm OS? But I already answered this question myself: because they don’t care about their profits (perhaps they have enough), their loyal customers, and third-party software developers.

So the most accurate question is: “Palm, how dare you not care about everyone who believed in you and helped you raise your operating system?”

Anything you would like to add
Yes Perhaps my question to Palm stated above sounds distressing, but I’d like to assure them that neither I care about their OS now. Neither Palm OS nor Palm WebOS. They are past all belief to me. And I think many Palm OS developers think the same way now. We’re switching to platforms with future, not with failure.

Please tell us more about yourself and your company
iambic was founded at the end of 1993, starting off developing solutions for one of the very first PDAs, the Apple Newton. Making it easy to do time and expense tracking while on the go was the primary focus. Later, in 1994, the company expanded its area of focus to include personal information management (PIM). As a result, Action Names was born.

Through the years, that application evolved into what is now Agendus, currently available for Palm OS, Windows Mobile, Symbian, BlackBerry, as well as Windows desktop PCs.
During the last few years, we have expanded our portfolio with the introduction of a number of titles with broader reach (from personal productivity, to vehicle management, to health & diet focused) on the popular mobile platforms being used today (BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, Palm OS, Android, and iPhone).

In a nutshell, our mission is to empower users to make the most out of their time wherever they are –on the go or at the desk–, through the creation of easy (and fun)-to-use, yet powerfully customizable solutions.

What were your initial impressions after the webOS announcement?
Mixed feelings. From a User Interface (UI) / end user perspective, its a shiny, user friendly, and touch optimized solution. Probably the only one so far that can stand next to the iPhone’s look & feel without shying away. Native apps seem well rounded and nicely tied together. However, I am a bit disappointed by the decision to abandon backward compatibility with legacy Palm OS apps, but not surprised.

What did you expect Palm to do? Were your expectations met?
I was expecting Palm to develop an in-house operating system for their next generation phone, so under that perspective yes, my expectations were met.

The operating system is said to be web-only. Do you think that its possible to create solid applications in such an environment?
My understanding from what I read around is that the applications, despite being “web only” run within the OS itself, and that suggests that WebOS carries along a small web server within which the apps will run. If this is correct, this would allow a good degree of freedom for the applications to access the innards of the device, and therefore allow solid and versatile solutions. Then of course, it all depends how flexible the APIs provided by Palm are going to be through the WebOS SDK, and what they’ll allow access to.

WebOS is not able to run old Palm OS code. Can you understand this decision?
I can understand it, and having a quite large portfolio of Palm OS applications as you can imagine I’m not super happy about it. It was certainly possible to support old Palm OS code, through for example, embedding a simulation layer similar to what Access did with their ALP. Chances are that embedding such a simulation layer would have required many more months of product development and testing to ensure backward compatibility, and pushing the launch of the Pre further ahead in the future might not have been an option for Palm. The usage model and the look & feel of the new device’s UI are much different from what used to be on 68K apps, so perhaps even if backward compatibility was supported, it would have made it for a poor user experience.

Many have compared webOS to the iPhone, thinking that most applications will be crapware. Do you think that a solid economy will be built around the pre?
Not sure what you mean with most iPhone applications being “crapware.” There are thousands of great apps for the iPhone. Then again, out of a multitude, there are always the those that can be classified as “not-that-great.” As far the economy that will be built around the Pre, it will all depend from what sort of user base it is going to attract, and how soon. It will also depend on how fun will be to develop apps for it, what degree of freedom the SDK will allow, and most importantly, how easy and streamlined the purchase process will be through the Palm App Store.

Do you plan to develop applications for the pre? Could you give us a preview?
Chances are we’ll develop applications for the Pre. At this time we are sort of pondering and looking forward to getting our hands on the SDK.

If you could change one thing about webOS, what would it be?
Sort of early to say — if there’s one thing I’m hoping to see in the Pre is support of Java development, which is not exactly as “web only” as so far we’ve read around, but I’m still hoping A hint that this might become true I got it from seeing Eclipse as being one of development environments supported. That would make our life a bit easier since Java is the language of choice for BlackBerry and Android based phones.

If you could ask Palm one question, what would it be? (these will be collected and sent to Palm)
How soon will we see the SDK? Is there going to be a simulator included? When can the Palm App Store be previewed and how hard or easy will be the process to get the app on the store? There are just a few of the questions currently puzzling me. Uh oh… you asked for one… well your pick as of which one to send to Palm

Anything you would like to add
Not at this time. Thanks for the opportunity to share my thoughts on the Pre!

Our next interview partner is Shimon Shnitzer, a long-time Palm OS developer. Some of his applications have scored rave reviews on TamsPalm in the past – in order to celebrate his success, use the discount code SHIMONISCOOL to get 20% off 2day, 4cast and TakePhone!

Please tell us more about yourself and your company
Shimon Shnitzer, owner of ShSh software.

Been developing for Palm OS for over 10 years now – first as a hobby, then made it my “day job”. I have several products for Palm OS – TAKEphONE, 2day, 4cast, 2dial…

What were your initial impressions after the webOS announcement?
In one work – WOW. They did better than I hoped they do. I do believe they stand a chance to turn things around.

They will need to setup a (new) “Palm economy” – draw as much developers on board as possible, make a GOOD applications store (on device).

What did you expect Palm to do? Were your expectations met?
I have to admit – I thought they’d bring out something new, but not that “WOW-y”.

I did expect to see backward compatibility with OS 5 apps, but seeing the device and the OS – I agree most OS 5 applications I know will not look good at all running on these cards.

The operating system is said to be web-only. Do you think that its possible to create solid applications in such an environment?
I have to admit I am no expert in web programming, but I guess it truly depends on how good/open the SDK will be (how much access they give us developers to internals), and to what extent the apps will have to be tied to existence of web connection (ability to work and save data off-line).

5) WebOS is not able to run old Palm OS code. Can you understand this decision?
As I mentioned above – I do see the point there – not sure most of the apps out there will look ok on the new OS.

I believe most of the good ones will “break” anyway – I know a lot of things I did are tied to the OS 5 internals…

There’s been a lot of talk about Palm abandoning it’s current developer’s base, but gaining the “Java crowd”.

I think it all depends on the quality of the SDK they give us, and the support that comes with it – how soon will the SDK be out, how will it emulate real devices, how easy will it be for us developers to get REAL devices in our hands.

Many have compared webOS to the iPhone, thinking that most applications will be crapware. Do you think that a solid economy will be built around the pre?
Again – I believe it depends on the depth and quality of the SDK – if all a developer can do is show an image of a beer glass – then that’s what we’ll get. But if I can access the contacts, control outgoing/incoming calls, etc. – there will be good stuff there.

Do you plan to develop applications for the pre? Could you give us a preview?
Sure – first will have to evaluate porting some of my existing stuff – 2day seems to be doomed – they did an excellent job with the built-in calendar app, we’ll see about the rest.

Of course – once I get the SDK and emulator I bet I can come up with more app ideas.

If you could change one thing about webOS, what would it be?
Start with a GSM device, unlocked, available right away…(so I can get one now here in Israel).

I don’t think I have enough info to know the “bad” things. For now it looks really great.

If you could ask Palm one question, what would it be? (these will be collected and sent to Palm)
How soon will the SDK be out ? How soon will GSM devices be out ? Will there be a “developers program” ? Will there be a “device loaner” program ?

Anything you would like to add
Congratulations to Palm – you did a GREEEAAAATTT job.

Good to have you back with us. I cant wait to start building apps for this.

Mikhail Barashkov sent me his answers regarding Web OS just 20 minutes after the email went out…which is why he and his company HandyDev get to run first. Further interviews with key people from all over the industry are in the works – stay tuned!

Please tell us more about yourself and your company
My name is Mikhail Barashkov. My company is Handydev.

I’ve been making Address XT (an address book replacement) and other software for PalmOS devices since 2004. However, now I don’t feel that I should do anything but release bug fixes and only very small improvements to my shareware products. Overall, PalmOS sales had dropped in times and I’m currently spending much more time doing contract Windows Mobile and desktop Windows development.

What were your initial impressions after the webOS announcement?
Excited, that’s all.

What did you expect Palm to do? Were your expectations met?
I’ve expected Palm to announce something already outdated, something on par with ALP.

The operating system is said to be web-only. Do you think that its possible to create solid applications in such an environment?
No, I don’t think so.

WebOS is not able to run old Palm OS code. Can you understand this decision?
Surely. Apps will need to be rewritten anyway.

Many have compared webOS to the iPhone, thinking that most applications will be crapware. Do you think that a solid economy will be built around the pre?
I surely do think so, given a decent App Store and a good native C++ or Java SDK.

Do you plan to develop applications for the pre? Could you give us a preview?
I plan to develop PIM software for Pre, once SDK will become available.

If you could change one thing about webOS, what would it be?
I can’t think of such a thing.

If you could ask Palm one question, what would it be? (these will be collected and sent to Palm)
Will there be a native SDK? Which language will it support?

The UK-based magazine Guardian has recently mentioned TamsPalm in one of their articles about Palm:

…
I think the bigger challenge is that the Palm economy has been in recession for a long time. Just read the last few posts on TamsPalm, a blog dedicated to the Palm OS. Tam believes that Elevation is “pouring money down the drain”. He links off to some posts from Palm software develper CreativeAlgorithms explaining why the Palm OS software market went into free fall in 2008. Tam is also concerned that Palm hasn’t seeded Nova developer tools to key developers so that Nova devices will launch without key applications.
…

The Tamoggemon Publishing team is very thankful for the mention!