[Macworld]

Post your comments for New Palm Handset and OS Coming on Thursday? here

[leicaman]

Palm who?

[flybynight]

I hope it works... There is a market of people who will not consider the iPhone - and they need an alternative to WindowsMobile.

[thebiggfrogg]

Yaawwwwwnn!

[thebiggfrogg]

There is a market, flybynight. I bought an iPod Touch.

[nmpike]

BlackBerry does NOT use Windows Mobile.... and the Storm is a viable contender to the iPhone.
We develop for Mac, PC, iPhone, Android and now the Storm.
Palm is done for I hate to say.

[JakeT]

It good to hear. My Treo has some features that the iPhone doesn't have. I thought about getting an iPhone as well, but the people in the Apple store couldn't tell me what options I have for using both with the same phone number. Can I leave the SIM in my Treo and turn it's phone off when I want to turn the iPhone on and turn the iPhone off when I want to turn the Treo on?

[dreyfus]

Hm. I might be proven dead wrong within less than four days, but still... If they would have something significant market-ready, would it make sense to lay off hundreds of people just days before? This would be a pretty unique timing.
I believe they might have a new model and that they will take the curtain off the next generation OS. But I am less confident that the new device will use the new OS already and ship immediately. I would rather expect some details on the new OS and the announcement that devices using it will ship later in the year (and maybe that the new device will support the OS once it is ready). There have been too few (if any) reports on Nova in the wild to assume it to be fully tested and ready by now. Also, if they can deliver a breakthough device on January 8 (with almost no workdays since the holiday season), what kept them from releasing it in early December and maybe sell some?!

[Blenvid]

Too little too late.

I just switched from a Palm Treo 650, which I've had the last 4 years, to an iPhone a week ago. Palm users have been complaining that they're not keeping up with the curve for years. I was wanting to upgrade with Palm as I'd invested in applications for it. The upgrade never came. Successive models came out and they never stayed with the curve.

Built in WiFi? Nope. How about a better browser? Nope. Built in GPS? Nope. Better music applications? Nope.

I'm the last of a group of friends to stick with Palm this long. Everyone else went Blackberry or iPhone. Blackberry and iPhone have continued to innovate. Palm has remained silent. It's too bad.

The only good thing the Palm has that should be learned by other companies is the keyboard. It's teh best smart phone keyboard by far, and I will miss it on my iPhone.

[Wondercow]

Blenvid said:

Too little too late. . . . Palm has remained silent. It's too bad.

Silent?! What about that fantastic Foleo idea! ;)

[GregoriusM]

The handset AND the OS have to be ready AT the announcement or within one month of the announcement, or Palm is dead in the water.
I am a LONG time Palm OS user and hope they do well. RIM, Palm, Apple, Google, and Nokia all have their place in the smartphone arena.
And I think that Palm could do just fine if the handset is better than the Android-based G1, which is almost impossible not to beat.
If the OS is what it needs to be, Palm could slowly creep up to a viable state.
But they need to to it RIGHT, and RIGHT NOW.
With Symbian going open source, and Android feeling it's way out, the competition is tough.
BUT, remember, Google doesn't make a handset.
RIM and Apple, and to an extent, Nokia, do well because of the marriage of handset and OS... most especially Apple obviously.
If Palm can do the same... marry the handset(s) to the OS, then they could do just fine.
If Palm's OS is anywhere near good enough, it could develop its own Application Store, but without the need to have a different iteration of every application for many different phones.
Make an App Store for the Nova OS apps, along with an area for the legacy apps that will hopefully run in the new OS.
Yes, Palm has a chance. A good one. But if, and only if, they have a product ready to ship within one month of CES, and with a robust OS that does have some darn good apps on it right from the start.
I do hope Palm succeeds. We need handsets that can come from more than one provider, and Palm can do that.
Long live Palm!
And Apple! :-)
Greg

[reallycrazy]

This is not about saving Palm. Palm knows they are dead. This operating system is about trying to get the company purchased by somebody bigger, who can actually ship phones with this OS, once it's completed, and can get developers behind it.
Palm is no longer a company that can do the last part.

[GregoriusM]

Well, if the latter happens, it's all good to me. Hopefully at least some of Palm's employees will go to the new company.

[Valdimar Thor H]

The new OS is the old but fantastic BeOS then? Palm bought the BeOS if I remember... If we have a full fledged BeOS on a mobile device it must be quite exciting. But yes it may be to late for Palm anyway.