Pre Puts Palm Back in the Game – But it’s No Game Changer

2 Comments »January 8th, 2009

Palm at last shows its hand, and it’s not holding a royal flush. There can be no doubt that today’s announcement FINALLY puts them back in the game and on the map, but based on what I’m seeing WebOS is simply Palm’s take on the iPhone – even utilizing the same browser. And I see lots of red flags that spell trouble for Palm, starting with software .

First – It’s a closed platform. Meaning you can say goodbye to any hope of seeing the same lavish apps that exist in the iPhone and Android ecosystems. Instead, WebOS relies on AJAX code enabling wed developers to build what amounts to Dashboard Widgets. Nice, but not NEARLY enough. I enjoy widgets as much as the next Mac user, but native applications they ain’t! You can only do so much under that type of limited framework before you hit a virtual brick wall and the wheels begin falling off. (more…)