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Gabor Torok's Forum Nokia Blog
Thoughts on Palm Pre
tote_b5 | 14 January, 2009 11:19
Of course, I've seen Palm's keynote from CES 2009. I've also read quite a few blogs, comments on the topic and now would like to share my impressions about it.
- Is that allowed to sell a very similar device with some enhancements? I'm pretty sure that Apple patented a lot of things and I'm surprised to see the same multi-touch functionality to be present in Palm Pre, for example.
- Is that nice? Does it make good to Palm's reputation that everyone knows that "iPhone was the first"? I'm pretty sure, though, that Palm will not feel sorry if it's profitable and legally okay.
- Will this strategy work at all? As Michael Mace greatly puts it: "... Pre is a better e-mail device than the iPhone and a better consumer device than a Blackberry ... [but] it's probably a worse entertainment device than the iPhone (because it doesn't have iTunes) and probably a worse e-mail device than RIM (because it doesn't have RIM's server infrastructure)." The thing is that we don't know too much other than a technical specification. How much will it cost? What services will be available for the user? In general, why users will want to buy Pre instead of other competing products? And lots of other questions, partly covered below.
- Multi-tasking, i.e. being able to run more than one application in parallel. Everybody is keen on that and points out that how great it is compared to the iPhone. And then what? I think it's not an innovation at all - I would say that what's the innovation in the 21st century of NOT being able to do that. Damn, Apple was better again in doing that. :)
- Card-system. Everyone who's seen the keynote or any preview can tell that it's about accessing simultaneously running applications: different apps are shown in a list as playing cards and can be manipulated in a very intuitive way. No doubt, it's a great idea and I'd be happy to use it on other phones, too.
iPhone, Symbian, Palm |
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Comments
Development - it was badly communicated then
tote_b5 | 14/01/2009, 13:14
Well, there was no reference in the speech that there would be other way for development. Since there was nothing mentioned about it, it doesn't exclude it, either. Nevertheless, I'd say that we add other support for development at a later stage then IF we really intend to.
It's exactly what they did on iPhone though
Sorcery-ltd | 14/01/2009, 13:32
Why commit to releasing a native SDK before you know if the platform will take-off?
Plans are plans - no commitment is needed
tote_b5 | 14/01/2009, 13:37
Well, iPhone's case is different compared to Palm's: Palm has an existing user and developer-base. If they promise full compatibility-break then they can easily lots of users. A plan (if they really have one) is just a plan - no commitment is needed. But it would be great to tell people that hey relax, we're taking care of you, don't worry - just everything in time.
I think almost all the existing Palm developers have moved on already
Sorcery-ltd | 14/01/2009, 14:29
It's been such a long time since there were any new and interesting Palm devices. This new OS release has been in the works for years, probably about 2 or 3 years too long.
"you simply can't solve everything with the HTML/CSS/JavaScript trinity"
jack44 | 14/01/2009, 15:27
Well, the Palm gives you a JSON-based message bus to tap into a wide range of device services, including contacts, calendars, and location.
Please also note HTML5(!), Flash and the others ;-) We need to wait for SDK to judge this...
When I find more time, I'll write a new post, because I see it in a different way ;-)
Looking forward to your article :)
tote_b5 | 14/01/2009, 15:33
Hi,
Thanks for your comments, Jack! I'm really looking forward to your article, because - as I've mentioned - I'm not a Palm developer, but still eager to hear other people's opinion possibly those, too, who do have experience in developing for Palm.
I have heard of that it would be HTML5 support included, still I can't see how that will help in developing such applications that I have listed above.
Palm Touchstone
aleksanfr_trufanov | 14/01/2009, 18:59
As for me, Palm Touchstone is much more interesting then whole Palm Pre. I'm sure future belong to wireless charging system and Nokia should look (hope they already working on that) in that direction too...
My colleagues didn't buy the idea of Touchstone
tote_b5 | 14/01/2009, 22:01
Well, I talked about the idea of Touchstone with my colleagues and interestingly their first reaction was that it's both inefficient and unnecessarily pollutes its surrounding. I remember that I was not too good in physics ...
Re: Thoughts on Palm Pre
aleksanfr_trufanov | 14/01/2009, 22:21
But we already have wireless inductive PC mouses on market, which charged from their pad. I concede what that technology is not perfect right now, but sure it's become better in future. After all, even now we can make microwave-like charger which can charge devices inside and does't pollute environment. I'm not good in phisics too, but hope Palm have some significant progress in that field so they sure enouth to present touchstone to market.
Re: Thoughts on Palm Pre
korsun14 | 22/02/2009, 12:13
the "revival" of the palm is a very good news, because palm PDAs always were very quality and not very expensive
Re: Thoughts on Palm Pre
korsun14 | 22/02/2009, 12:13
the "revival" of the palm is a very good news, because palm PDAs always were very quality and not very expensive
Re: Thoughts on Palm Pre
korsun14 | 22/02/2009, 12:14
sorry for the second comment, some error of opera9.6
Re: Thoughts on Palm Pre
Sir Pulse | 06/04/2009, 06:52
You are right about patented things, as described in this news:
http://osnews.com/story/20826/Apple_Hints_at_Legal_Action_Against_Palm
Legal issues
Sorcery-ltd | 14/01/2009, 13:04
I assume that either Palm think they've found a way around the Apple patents (slightly different implementation not covered by the patent) or they've licensed them from Apple.
Personally I expect the Pre to be a bit of a flop, particularly with the exclusive Sprint deal (with Sprint still losing subscribers last time I checked).
I also expect, if Palm survive that long, for the "web apps only" thing to be temporary, just like it was on iPhone. It'll just buy them some more time to get an SDK and some documentation together. However, I see very little reason for non-web developers to support this platform - we really don't need another one, it's unlikely to be licensed by anyone else since most of the other platforms are free and so likely to have a small user base. Basically Palm are too late to the party with this effort and, sadly, this was probably their last chance.
Mark