Palm WebOS, Palm Mojo Application Framework, and Palm Mojo SDK

http://developer.palm.com/

by inc • 18 years ago

32 20 18 years ago

developer.palm.com

eli3• 18 years ago

Hey, it's better than their last three "this'll save the company" ideas combined

dcurtis• 18 years ago

I think they're making progress, but they still don't get it. They don't understand how to make or market great consumer products.

For the Pre, their marketing materials are all screwy and confusing. The device and UI are just complete ripoffs of the iPhone. With the (R) and (C) and TM icons everywhere, and by selling something called the "Palm(R) Touchstone(TM) PreTM Backplate Adapter," they are making themselves out to be a distant corporation.

eli3• 18 years ago

It happens that I used to interact with Palm marketing execs. I specifically recall the launch of the LifeDrive, a ridiculous $500 WiFi-enabled... electronic organizer. Even in 2005 it was pretty obvious that cell phones were going to replace PalmPilots. And yet a top Palm PR exec gleefully pointed a chart showing Palm's increasing dominance of the "PDA market."

The pitch was, literally, "It's got a card reader so you can grab the pictures off your digital camera without having to take your laptop on vacation!"

But the thing is... these people really believed in it. The Palm marketing folks -- at least the ones I met -- were all True Believers. They couldn't quite grasp why they got such bad press. They really REALLY believe in Palm.

Though, that said, I don't think ripping off Apple is necessarily a bad business strategy.

halo• 18 years ago

You may criticise the branding and marketing, but I think the product's as close to the ideal as anyone on the market has managed to announce so far.

MMS? Check. Stereo Bluetooth? Check. Copy/paste? Check. Headphone jack? Check. Physical volume buttons? Check. Camera with flash? Check. Physical keyboard? Check. Exchange support? Check. Multitasking? Check. Wi-Fi? Check. Multitouch? Check. GPS? Check. Removable battery? Check. A decent web browser? Check. Decent looks? Check. Good UI? Check.

No obvious glaring flaws exist - admittedly it's missing video-calling, but I doubt many use it, and battery-life and price are still up in the air, but so far it looks pretty damn good. The fact it's CDMA-only and carrier tied is a bit of a shame, but they say a GSM version is going to appear in the rest of the world. One concern is whether applications will be developed for their platform, but that remains to be seen. I think the UI is above and beyond the iPhone's in many ways - the task switching and general lack of clutter is amazing and the cards analogy is inspired. The whole package just seems fantastic.

comatose_kid• 18 years ago

<whine>CNBC has a million dollar stock investing challenge going on. A few weeks ago, I heard that Palm was announcing Something Big at CES. Off I went to 'buy' shares, only to find that the stock wasn't available in the game...</whine>

ars2• 18 years ago

I don't want a phone, I just want an updated T|X - is it hopeless?

andrewf2• 18 years ago

Sorry: http://www.palminfocenter.com/news/9654/colligan-no-new-palm...

ars2• 18 years ago

Thank you very very much for this link. I've sort of been waiting, but it's good to have a final word. "High profit margin" indeed - I can't believe they didn't drop the price in three years.

The question now is what do I buy. I want something the size of a Palm V, and has WiFi. I would very much prefer that it runs Palm Apps, and a GPS would be great, music would be nice too. I don't need a phone. Battery should last at least a week with the device off, I don't want something I have to recharge every day. (I understand that if I use WiFi a lot I'd need to, that's fine.)

Are there any PalmOS based devices? (Or maybe linux ones?) I really don't want the Windows based ones, even though I see some that would otherwise be good.

The G1 looks cool - but pricey. And every single device I look at has a phone. Am I the only person on the planet who doesn't need a cell phone?

rudyfink2• 18 years ago

Is there a better technical description of WebOS around somewhere? It describes the OS is "windows based" on that link. I am curious if it will run regular Windows Mobile applications. Essentially, is WebOS a UI/usability layer on top of Windows Mobile?

tsetse-fly• 18 years ago

"window-based" not "Windows-based". It's built on Linux.

rudyfink2• 18 years ago

thanks much.

serhei• 18 years ago

You could conceivably port Cappuccino to this.

Palm WebOS, Palm Mojo Application Framework, and Palm Mojo SDK

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