Saturday, January 12, 2008
Next Palm OS Codenamed Nova
Posted by Ed Hansberry in "THE COMPETITION" @ 02:00 PM
http://www.palminfocenter.com/news/9596/palms-next-generation-os-is-codenamed-nova/
"Recently the question of what to call Palm's next generation OS has been a source of confusion and commotion around the boards here at PIC. Members have so far been referring to it by a multitude of names and acronyms such as: Palm OS 2, POS II, POX, Palm's Palm OS, ALPOS, Palm's next-generation Linux based operating system and even Palm OS Mobile Professional Ultimate Treo edition. So the need to have a single, proper way to refer to the new OS is crucial. Fortunately, PalmInfocenter has recently learned of the code-name being used around Palm Inc. from a reliable source."
Urban legends about the marketing issues with the name nova aside, I wonder what the point of a new OS is at this stage of the game anyway. The current version Palm uses, PalmOS 5, was released in 2002, nearly 6 years ago. 8O Since then, they tried to release PalmOS 6, but it was dead on arrival. The sales of PalmOS powered devices to consumers has fallen to such a ridiculous level compared to its competition, which includes Windows Mobile, we don't bother to report the results of market share anymore. Palm's previously impressive portfolio of OEMs, which included Sony, Garmin Handera, Fossil and many others has dwindled to a portfolio of one - Palm. Sure, when a new Treo is released, the Palm faithful snap them up like they are going out of style. Oh, wait, they are. :wink:
I suspect developers will be a bit leery of dipping their toes back into the PalmOS environment. Some have ceased development and many others have added Windows Mobile and other mobile platforms to their offerings. Some were burned by OS6 when they started modifying their apps to take advantage of the platform that never saw the light of day on a consumer device.
Can Palm bring out a new OS that will run the existing OS5 apps while adding new features (for PalmOS) like multitasking and better support for video, 3G networks, etc., or will this be yet another platform that will surely have a fanatical following by faithful users, but make few waves in the market place, like the Yopy? Even if they pulled off a fantastic platform, the real driver in this market is the enterprise. With the RIM Blackberry and Windows Mobile devices garnering the lions share of the IT support, would they consider supporting a third platform?
"Recently the question of what to call Palm's next generation OS has been a source of confusion and commotion around the boards here at PIC. Members have so far been referring to it by a multitude of names and acronyms such as: Palm OS 2, POS II, POX, Palm's Palm OS, ALPOS, Palm's next-generation Linux based operating system and even Palm OS Mobile Professional Ultimate Treo edition. So the need to have a single, proper way to refer to the new OS is crucial. Fortunately, PalmInfocenter has recently learned of the code-name being used around Palm Inc. from a reliable source."
Urban legends about the marketing issues with the name nova aside, I wonder what the point of a new OS is at this stage of the game anyway. The current version Palm uses, PalmOS 5, was released in 2002, nearly 6 years ago. 8O Since then, they tried to release PalmOS 6, but it was dead on arrival. The sales of PalmOS powered devices to consumers has fallen to such a ridiculous level compared to its competition, which includes Windows Mobile, we don't bother to report the results of market share anymore. Palm's previously impressive portfolio of OEMs, which included Sony, Garmin Handera, Fossil and many others has dwindled to a portfolio of one - Palm. Sure, when a new Treo is released, the Palm faithful snap them up like they are going out of style. Oh, wait, they are. :wink:
I suspect developers will be a bit leery of dipping their toes back into the PalmOS environment. Some have ceased development and many others have added Windows Mobile and other mobile platforms to their offerings. Some were burned by OS6 when they started modifying their apps to take advantage of the platform that never saw the light of day on a consumer device.
Can Palm bring out a new OS that will run the existing OS5 apps while adding new features (for PalmOS) like multitasking and better support for video, 3G networks, etc., or will this be yet another platform that will surely have a fanatical following by faithful users, but make few waves in the market place, like the Yopy? Even if they pulled off a fantastic platform, the real driver in this market is the enterprise. With the RIM Blackberry and Windows Mobile devices garnering the lions share of the IT support, would they consider supporting a third platform?
