Palm OS 2 slipping from "early 2009" to "first half" of next year?
By Nilay Patel 
posted August 20th 2008 2:58PM
posted August 20th 2008 2:58PM
The New York Times has a little puff piece on Palm to accompany the launch of the Treo Pro today, and buried between the fawning references to Jon Rubinstein's former gig at Apple and how that's affected his management style ("He made them redesign the battery panel on the back so it didn't squeak. And he asked for fixes to the software so it would lock up less frequently." -- solid work, homey) there's a little tidbit about how Palm OS II and a single new device to run the new software will arrive in the "first half of next year." Two things interesting about that: first, that's a much wider timeframe than the "early 2009" window we've been hearing for a while and could signal even more delays, and second, it's a little odd that Palm is going to debut the new OS on just one device. Launching on a single device is pretty Apple-esque, so we'll cut Rubes some slack on that, even if we don't think it's the best idea -- but at this point the only real info we're hearing about Palm OS II is news of delays, and that's not exactly out of the Jobs playbook -- remember, real artists ship.
I hear it comes with a copy of Duke Nukem Forever.
That's scary, we posted almost the same comment at the same time. Both at 3:03pm.
Lol, 3drealms would probably take another two years to develop a version for portables.
Then another 3 Years, then
This is just getting worse and worse.
Palm OS 2 will be released 10 minutes after the new Duke Nukem game comes out.
this will look good next to my phantom
So how long until this is another Foleo disaster?.
everyone hated the foleo and so palm dropped it.
but magically asus comes out with a foleo and everyone loves it and rips it off.
maybe i don't understand what the foleo was, but i thought it was a "netbook"
You don't understand what the Foleo was.
It linked with your Treo (via Bluetooth, presumably) to read email and do very basic document work and web browse. It was not an independent PC.
how was it not? it had a processor and memory and could be used via wifi to browse the internet. you didn't NEED a smartphone to use it.
Without a Treo, it could do nothing BUT browse the internet. That was the problem. Look up some old Engadget posts. They liked the idea of the Foleo as an independent device, but needing to use it in conjunction with a smartphone was lame.
The netbooks are full PCs...they can do anything a standard PC can do. That is the difference.
Anyone who has followed POS2 knows it's been 2009 for a while now, this is not news
I get it, but I just find POS2 to be a hilarious acronym.
I really don't dig the Palm OS, and Piece of Shit 2 seems like a good name for an update!
Clearly, apple is the ONLY reason that one would want to make products work better, be less annoying and freeze up less. Clearly.
Maybe it will debut along side Duke Nukem Forever...
Wasn't the Palm OS II supposed to come out in 2002 orginally? I know it was a couple of years before they were taken over by Access. I have given up on the Palm OS and about had it with the hardware too. I have a Treo700p and it for the most part was a let down from my Treo650. My next phone will probably by the HTC Diamond. I used to look up to Palm for there inovations but in recent years, they have really let me down.
Palm OS5 came out in 2002 - OS5 was meant to be a stopgap for introducing the technology for OS6 which was supposed to completely revolutionize Palm. What ended up happening was Palm split into two companies - one to focus on the software and one to focus on building hardware; that move led to OS6 eventually coming out (long delayed) but without any licensees that wanted to make a device based on it. All of that also led to Palm having to rebuy its name (going from Palm to PalmOne back to Palm) and PalmSource being acquired by ACCESS and yet another unused OS (their Palm/Linux OS which came from their acquisition of PalmSource). Now Palm's back to where they were 4 years ago before the split - they're making a new OS (based off Linux).
What confuses me why call it Palm OS2? The original Palm OS2 actually was released in '97... and they've also tried to make the switch to calling the different OS versions by names of minerals (Cobalt, Garnet, etc).
I think you meant early 2009... or you need to check your sources. :)
@stellaboy As the article Nilay linked to said "early 2009" I'm going with that was just a typo, the point is that the first half of 2009 extends beyond the boundaries of "early" in 2009 as most would think of it.
True, for a device that has violated "early 2009".
But if someone officially-PALM said the new =OS= was coming "first half 2009" then THAT'S a BIG SLIP from "end-of-year 2008".
now it is news and im gutted :(
Windows, iPhone OS, Symbian, Android, etc.
Lots of choices which is great! Find the one that works for you.
I'm a WinMo guy myself. If Palm wants to try again and make something, I say go for it.
The original Palm OS when it came out was the best out there. The first iterations of Window Mobile was to compete against Palm. Blackberry was around, but they were considered in a league of there own with dedicated fans.
I think the innovation since then (iPhone, HTC redoing WinMO, even the Samsung Instinct) has raise the bar. Palm will have to really outdo themselves. The only saving grace would be for current Palm OS users to be able and take all there apps to the new Palm OS.
you just compared the samsung instincts OS to several smartphone OS's.
while palm is in last place in the smartphone OS department... its still leaps and bounds better than any standard samsung/motorola/lg operating system.
Palm is going to have a lot of fierce competition in the form of Windows Mobile 6.1 (7 next year), Android, BlackBerry, Symbian and the iPhone.
Their second-generation OS was supposed to be here in 2004. I can recall purchasing a Tungsten E with the promise of Cobalt and Garnet, only to be disappointed for two straight years at delays. I finally resigned the aging OS (and device) to settle happily with Windows Mobile.
Palm has a lot of work to do to recapture the market. Not only will that require a solid OS, but also brilliant redesigns to enhance productivity and intuitive layout in order to capture customers from above mentioned other markets. In 1998 I'd say Palm were the company to do so--now I'd say they have little to none.
I know it sucks to wait. But I got a feeling deep inside of me that the new device packaged with the new Palm OS will be worth the wait. Like a virgin waiting for penetration, it is tough to wait and a little scary to phantom, but at the end it's worth every second.
I really do not see the difference between "early 2009" and "first half of 2009" infact the later does allow for a potential delay till end of june!
Is it based on MS WM6.1 Platform? ;)
I just wanted to comment on the camp nature of that photo. I have nothing else to add...
Certainly shows Palm knows how to lease the right buildings!
Caption for the photo there: "Ah-hahaha, yeah, we don't have any goddamn clue what we're doing anymore. KEEP BUYIN' THEM WINDOWS MOBILE DEVICES FOLKS!"
i don't care if it's ironic, an avatar of a man on the shitter just ain't cricket
@Pradster: You point out exactly what the difference is, they went from "early 2009" which suggests I'd think maybe April at the latest to the "first half of 2009" which as you note could extend through June.
I have owned about ten Palm Pilots in as many years (I used them a lot and wore em out) and was a big fan of Palm- especially in their early years when they were way ahead of the pack in innovation and features.
Palm used to make stuff that put the user experience first, as the Palm OS clearly demonstrates, but over the years they slipped farther and farther behind until now their offerings are a pale shadow of the iPhone and iPod touch.
I recently switched from my Palm Tungsten E to an iPod touch, and even thugh the iPod touch isn't supposed to be a PDA I find it to be a far more useful device.
http://www.learnucd.com/kevlar/the-web-is-dead-long-live-the-iphone
i agree, the ipod touch is great except that you have to use itunes with it and outlook sync crashes all the time. (palm is the only one that ever got sync right, IMHO). if it wasn't for the AT&T contract i'd get an iphone today!
This OS has been delayed for years, to the point that it's slowly just becoming a myth among the forums. I think I remember first reading that it would be released soon 3 or 4 years ago.
palm: our OS is great! we're now ALPS! Oh, hang on, we're Palm One. Or was that last year. No, really, come back - this is gonna be great! Our nice, friendly OS and Treos? Remember them? A bit like Apple compared to MS's WinMo? In a good way?
palm: all our new cool handsets are running windows mobile and manufactured by HTC. But we're great! We're Palm! We make them use a square 240x240 display so some WinMo apps don't work, and we have a custom socket to charge and sync our device rather than mini USB that everyone else uses!
Palm needed to pick their market 2 or 3 years ago and go for it. Trading on the feelgood factor of their OS in lieu of adding features that users actually want and can get from any other handset manufacturer (wifi, GPS but mainly bloody Wifi!) is a losing battle...
Palm's problem was that they tried to overextend themselves right after OS5 was released and everyone was making new devices based off of it and instead of developing new software and hardware tried to change their business model.
I've got a Treo... but I'm dying for the day when Palm makes a new PDA.
Releasing Treo retreads will only go so far. Palm's next big thing looks to be sliding in in to vaporware land.
Yo, I'd like to point out that PalmOS at least version 5...at least when i purchased my Sony Clie UX-40 it was something like 5.4.