UPDATED: Palm doesn't confirm Nova launch at CES, but they may as well have
By Chris Ziegler 
posted Dec 19th 2008 12:21PM
posted Dec 19th 2008 12:21PM
[Via Phone Scoop]
Update: Sascha Seagan of PC Magazine wrote in to let us know that Nova's unveiling at CES wasn't actually confirmed on the call -- but in light of the buzz they've been drumming up, it seems certain that it'll happen. What Palm did reveal is that Nova is already in the hands of some of its development partners (anyone want to send us pictures?) and that traditional non-phone PDAs -- that is, the foundation upon which Palm was built -- will not continue to be developed as Nova comes into play. We still love the Palm V after all these years, don't you?
"Palm mentioned that it'd be bringing its top-of-the-line WinMo device to a US carrier this carrier" ... eh?
It's like "Captain my Captain" only without getting closer to my home.
Though I'm feeling mighty sick.
FIRST!
You may begin fading now.
Why do you say these things, when you know I must low-rank you?
@Loonie: Superman II references are so rare. I hope it was intentional.
Anthony: Yes, it was intentional. And now I feel old.
I'm curious as to what exactly this Nova is. Is it a completely new OS, or is it just a revamped PalmOS? Do we really need yet another mobile phone OS right now?
HELL YEAH WE DO!!
Palm has apparently been working on some form of a new OS for like five years. It is believed to be a heavily customized version of linux.. I don't believe the software stack is known.
I like how the background image is vague and nebulous just like Palm's future.
"It claims that carriers who've seen the platform are 'unversally excited' about it, which we suppose is a good start -- but the real trick, of course, is to get consumers universally excited about it as well."
To be fair, if they have the carriers excited, they've done far more than many of us expected they could do. Getting the carriers excited about yet another smartphone platform must have been difficult.
Actually, THIS:
"...As we started early disclosures to potential carrier partners, we’ve been extremely
pleased at their positive reaction to our new platform and products..."
is what Palm's CEO said.
That is, they apparently haven't shown anything substantial to carriers, and the response from those carriers is ambiguous, to say the least. IMHO, characterizing the above as "carriers are excited" is a little overboard.
[above words from the transcript of last night's earnings call]
"It claims that carriers who've seen the platform are 'unversally excited' about it..."
So then, they're not waxing poetic over the thing?
Am I the only one who's still interested in Palm handhelds? Remember? Those devices that didn't come with a monthly service charge? Anyone?
Palm sold 111,000 handhelds last quarter, so no, you're not alone, but you are in an ever-decreasing group of consumers.
Yeah, because Palm hasn't put out a new PDA in years, and hasn't put out a good PDA this decade.
Yeah that's what's been bothering me. I was a proud T|X owner and it was a really cool device to have three years ago. Now, its just falling behind the times and I've been patiently waiting for some new handhelds. Maybe Palm could instead make an internet-tablet type device comparable to the Nokia n810 with their new platform. I think that would sell.
No you're not! I've been really hoping for a better smartphone OS that plays nice with Linux and FOSS. Fingers crossed, but not holding my breath.
I carry an E2 every day. I kill cellphones quickly - I am a contractor and tools + cellphone = in-pocket doom. I've tried, and killed, smartphones - most are more fragile than flip phones because of the exposed QWERTY or bigger touchscreens. Put a smartphone in a hard case and they suck as phones. I know I'm strange but I put an old-school Palm with all my contacts and schedule info in a really tough case and a cheap flip phone (now exposed screens or keys) in my pocket every day.
(And no, I won't use a belt holster - I'm just way too cool for that.)
"I kill cellphones quickly - I am a contractor "
Woah, I didn't realize there was a market for cellphone assassins.
I have a T|X, and aside from needing an update to it's OS, it's a really good piece of hardware. I have a crappy cell phone, I don't want to buy another till it breaks, so my palm is where all the organization happens. And I love it :)
What I think we could really use is more mobile operating systems.
Considering none of the players have actually gotten it right yet, I say that yes, there is room for another mobile operating system.
WM6: Too complicated. The desktop styled metaphor doesn't work all that well on a portable device.
WM7: Seems to be attempting to compete with Apple for the touchscreen eyecandy that doesn't actually make for a better experience.
iPhone: See above.
Android: Same as WM7, concentrating way too much on touchscreen eyecandy.
Symbian: I have to admit I've never used this one and don't know much about it, so I can't comment.
Blackberry: Does email great, everything else is only average, though this is improving on the Bold.
Palm OS (Garnet): Honestly, this one came the closest to getting it right so far. The only issues are that its dated, no multitasking, no protected memory for applications.
Hopefully Nova will recall what Palm did right, and fix what Palm did wrong. I'm keeping my fingers crossed, that's for sure.
What I think we could really use is BETTER mobile operating system(s). We don't need more of them - I'm more about quality than quantity.
Well, Palm is only going to be making one, so I don't think the plurality will pose a problem for them.
Give me a nova phone just like the treo pro but with 37% more screen.
My Treo 650 is still hanging in there....
Palm Nova? Vauxhall Nova, more like!
what are they gonna do, virtual keyboard, like the storm?
or side-slide keyboard a la g1 or touch pro?
or keep the classic, tried-and-true form factor?
give me the classic palm goodness with a bold-level screen and no desert rose/puke green color options.
=)
Great they are bringing what they should have done years ago to the biggest vaporware show of all!
I listened to the entire earnings call and didn't hear Palm confirm that Nova would be launched at CES. At what point in the call was that statement made?
As you say, they did not make any such statement. The transcript is available:
http://seekingalpha.com/article/111500-palm-f2q09-qtr-end-11-28-08-earnings-call-transcript
Just because everyone and their neighbor on The Internet =repeats= something doesn't make it true.
No, but they said:
"Most importantly, we are maintaining our stride on the product development front and successfully meeting each milestone we’ve established for Palm's next generation platform and devices. Our new platform is nearing completion and our first next generation phone is set for launch in the first half of calendar year ’09 as planned."
That heavily implies that any 'Palm New-ness' that might be shown at CES will be their next generation platform, aka Nova.
No, it doesn't.
Ever since they started talking about the "new platform" they've mentioned "year end" as when it will be ready. As far as a device on which the new platform will run they at FIRST said "early 2009" which later changed to "first half 2009". One key change they JUST made last night for the FIRST TIME is they used the word "phone" rather than "device".
But repeating these words about the new platform - words that MEAN "end of 2008" not "sometime in January 2009", BTW - in no way says anything at all about CES.
So, Mr. Ziegler, does this .jpg contain some crazy secret information in the background and you had to blur it out? Or were you just trying to make everyone reading this blog feel not so special by only leaving the "by invitation only" clear enough to read?
They also mention that there will be no new Centro's coming.
I hope they release a device the size of the Centro, with the new OS. I don't give a crap what they call it, as long as it comfortably fits in my pocket.
This could have completely saved the PalmOS platform and kept the Palm brand a high profile and respected source for mobile devices... had they come out with it about five years ago. PalmOS was great at one time, but the competition kept getting better and Palm didn't. All Palm could do was add patches to an old operating system to try to keep it working with newer phones. Thus developers walked away and the OS turned into FrankenGarnet while not actually improvising.
It's too bad. Palm had a huge library of software going for it, but when you treat your developers and users like Palm has, that dries up fast.
The PalmSource spinoff ensured that they COULDN'T do anything but add patches to an old operating system.
And it was PalmSource that botched everything really, when they couldn't get Cobalt out the door, that left Palm the hardware company (then PalmOne) hanging with no other options.
For the first time in a while, with Nova they will be in control of everything. Let's just see if that's a good thing and if they can capitalize on that to make a high quality breakthrough device like they haven't done since the original Palm Pilot. (The Treo 600 was a breakthrough device, but unfortunately that was really Handspring.)
I'm excited to see what Nova has to offer. I use a Blackberry, but I wouldn't say that I'm in love with it. I don't like to tie myself down to any of these OSes.
If Nova is versatile and powerful like Windows Mobile, and easy to use like an iPhone, Palm will have a winner. If they end up having an OS that gets third parties excited, like Garnet did, we can consider Palm "back".
If it's just another locked down OS, with slim pickins for software, I'm not interested in the least, and no one else will be either.
> ...If they end up having an OS that gets third parties excited, like Garnet did, we can consider Palm "back"...
Strangely, Palm last night said just how much they've said to "developers" about the new platform...they said they had "briefed" them.
That suggests (screams out!) that they haven't released squat to developers yet.
Palm's device offering has been stagnant. They dropped their most powerful device the LifeDrive... They have not really released ay more powerful or improved devices in over a year. They could have at least released an updated LifeDrive with flash storage instead if a microdrive... Or released one that supported SDHC cards... But NOOO Not a damn thing. Ever sense Sony stopped making Palm OS devices, Palm has gotten lazy about innovation.
If any other technology industry was as slow with new devices as Palm, they would not exist anymore.
I will believe this leap in technology from palm, when the devices actually hit the market.
The *recent* stagnation might have been on purpose.
It looks like they stopped all incremental updates to focus on Nova and get it ready and good. Not a bad strategy.
They had their low end handset to bring in some cash - which it seems to have done.
It may yet be a winning strategy.
I could understand if it was months, or even a year. But it has been about 3 years sense any real innovation. And before that there was little innovation after Sony stopped making handhelds.
So they either are just being slow, or they need to release a really jazzed up handheld. It will take more than a new OS to dazzle me.
> ...What Palm did reveal is that Nova is already in the hands of some of its development partners...
They sure did NOT reveal that.
I still love my TX and really wish they updated the version with new hardware.
I really hope they have something nice.
Years ago, I loved my treo 180 then my 600.
I eventually moved to a 680, but then gave up and went to Blackberry then iPhone.
*If* they can come out with something exciting, I would be willing to give them another shot.
Palm needs at least an (possibley 2) order of magnitude improvement in their platform .. so I don't see how the hell this nova bullshit can be anything more than a pig with some cheap lipstick. They better include a webkit based browser or Mozilla Fennec.
Does anybody know whether this Nova is based on Access' Linux Platform? You know Access has acquired Palm Source years before and there may be a chance that Access and Palm are still working together.
Actually Palm is building Nova from scratch and is in no way teaming up with Access and their Access Linux Platform. Palm bought a perpetual license for Garnet OS from Access (which Access bought the ownership of Garnet wholeheartedly from Palm before) and is using that for a Garnet emulator in Nova. This ensures backward compatibility for older Garnet based Palm applications.