The Palm OS may be losing its mojo with software developers.
It's been two years since the release of the last major upgrade to the Palm operating system for mobile devices, not counting the upgrade that never appeared in public.
With a brand-new version of the pioneer mobile OS not expected to appear for at least another year, some larger developers of mobile applications are looking elsewhere when launching their new multimedia applications.
Windows Mobile and Symbian are emerging as the operating systems of choice as large companies bring multimedia applications down to phones and handhelds. PalmSource, the developer of the Palm OS, can still count on thousands of loyal developers to create applications for the platform, but companies like Sling Media, Google and TiVo have held back their initial support for the Palm OS in favour of Windows or Java-based applications despite Palm's heft in the U.S. market.
In 2005, Palm OS-based devices accounted for 31 percent of the U.S. market for converged devices that can do both voice and data, according to IDC. Windows Mobile-based converged devices captured about 10 percent of that market. However, Windows Mobile held six percent of the worldwide market, while Palm OS captured only four percent.
"The Palm OS was not optimised for video and multimedia. But it has a very strong following and it's somewhat early to tell if Windows Mobile's support for multimedia is enough to entice traditional Palm users to jump ship," said Tim Bajarin, an analyst with Creative Strategies. "But they are going to have to continue evolving the Palm platform to be more multimedia-friendly" or risk such a defection, he said.
PalmSource's reliance on third parties to implement many multimedia features appears to be a factor behind the decisions of developers. But the Palm OS has also failed to keep up with the competition. New smart phones and wireless PDAs on fast networks such as Verizon's EV-DO network use Windows Mobile, and the Symbian operating system is very popular with European users of 3G networks.
As a result, some newer mobile applications that require bandwidth or Java support are not making their debut on Palm devices. Those companies eventually plan to support Palm, but they've launched their applications on other platforms.
Sling Media chose to support Windows Mobile when it extended the capabilities of the Slingbox to handheld devices, in part because the application requires a certain amount of network bandwidth to stream video, and there aren't any Palm OS devices available on fast networks such as Verizon's EV-DO network as of today, said Brian Jaquet, a Sling Media spokesman. Palm OS PDAs like the Tungsten E2 and TX have built-in Wi-Fi, but the Treos lack that feature.
"Windows Mobile has a lot of momentum, with the 3G compatibility and devices that have both 3G and Wi-Fi," Jaquet said. In addition, Sling Media was already working very closely with Microsoft in developing its applications for Windows PCs, so it was already familiar with the Windows Media Player, he said.
Mickey T
09/08/2006 11:50 PM
This is good info. My Palm Tungsten T is almost dead and I'm thinking about upgrading. I have so much invested in the Palm OS with programs etc.. and a $240 AUD portable keyboard - it's hard to turn my back on Palm. But there seems to be so many other devices in the PDA/phone hybrids these days... it's so difficult to compare apples with apples... the blogs I read about LifeDrive gived very mixed opinions.. but it does seem like Palm have stalled... I hope I don't throw another thousand bucks into the technology crapper again this year....
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aspidoras
27/08/2006 07:33 AM
alot of the comments about Palm OS not supporting this or that are not true. Google maps work great on the Treo 700p using the IBM Java app that you just hotsync to the device and a program called Kmaps that puts Google maps into a moblie version. fact is both of the previous app are also free. also a recent editorial at brighthand.com said that an inside source at Palm comfirms that garnet will support both EDGE and UTMS, for a new Treo 700 from Cingular.
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unicodemaster787
05/02/2007 11:07 PM
>> The Palm OS may be losing its mojo with software developers. Of course. Who wants to develop software for a mobile device made by a company who refuses to make it fully compatible with Windows x64 and Vista? I have a 3.5-yr-old Treo 300: voice speaker is now busted (now I must rely solely on vibration + handsfree headset); Hotsync USB cable often refuses to link to Windows 2000/XP (though I can still charge my battery with it); and with Palm Inc rejecting any plans for 64-bit OS support (even its Vista support is very lame), do you think my next smartphone will be a PalmOS device???? I doubt it; I'll switch instead to Windows Mobile (and to play it safe, it won't be the Treo 700w/wx)
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