Live from Palm's CES 2010 press event
We're in our seats and the show is about to start... keep reading on for all the news!
11:50AM And that's it! We're done.
11:50AM "We look forward to growing in 2010. We will continue to surprise and delight you. So thank you all!"
11:49AM "So I'd like to invite you all to see this stuff up close. As I said, we've been busy this last year, I told you Palm was back, and we meant it. The team has been working extraordinarily hard, I'd like to thank everyone at Palm. Can we have a round of applause?"
11:48AM Flash 10 beta plugin will be in the App Catalog soon... Pre only!
11:47AM webOS 1.4 -- coming OTA with new features in February.
11:47AM So the games will only be available for US Pre customers. Sorry Pixi buyers -- you're screwed.
11:46AM And, he's recapping. We won't recap, since you've got all that beautiful text we just jotted down for you. A permanent record, if you will!
11:46AM "We're all very excited about this relationship. As you can see, the teams have been really busy. Let's recap the announcements we made today."
11:45AM Jon is back.
11:45AM "We're most excited about the mobile hotspot aspect of these phones... so okay, you've heard about the phones, you've heard about the features. But how much will they cost? Well we won't be announcing that today." Ha! What!?
11:44AM Stratton is up. "We think this is a great way to kick off the new year -- these two smartphones will get new life on America's largest 3G network. So these will be available on January 25th."
11:43AM "So I'd like to share a message from John Stratton from Verizon. We recorded this a few hours ago due to some bad weather."
11:43AM "We're also announcing a new applications... Palm Mobile Hotspot -- it takes tethering to a new level. Just download this app, install it on your device, and you can use your device to connect to the internet... up to five different devices can connect."
11:42AM "Now Katie talked about how important it is that people have choices. We know it's important you can choose carriers... these two new phones are available exclusively on Verizon wireless."
11:41AM Oooh, new back covers. Colors. Handsome. Bright.
11:41AM "Second. Pixi Plus. It's incredibly thin and lightweight... and it features built-in WiFi." You don't say?
11:40AM "So as you can see, we've been hard at work building new products. In fact today, we're announcing two new products. First, the Pre Plus. We've removed the navigation button, doubled the internal memory, 16GB of flash memory."
11:39AM Jon... is... back!
11:39AM "Thank you very much, I'd like to invite Jon back."
11:39AM "Look for that update coming in February. It will have more improvements, and it will have that new video functionality Paul demoed. So all of today's announcements... are great examples of our commitment to providing freedom and choice to users."
11:38AM Katie is listing off all of the improvements the Pre and Pixi have gotten over the air. "It's fitting the icon is a gift box, because it always makes your experience better."
11:37AM "I'd like to talk about OTA updates. They're really awesome." Awesome? Well, we don't know if we'd say they're awesome. They are badical though.
11:37AM "Awesome games that integrate with webOS. Software updates that provide a new video experience for customers. And last but not least -- Flash plugin for the Pre browser." No Pixi then? Not surprised. Back to Katie.
11:36AM New notification bar functionality -- tap on a YouTube notification to get a new menu to share. Pretty cool idea.
11:35AM Now Paul is showing off Flash on the Pre. Avatar trailer. It looks a little stuttery -- not bad, but certainly not something we'd want to watch all that much. Frame rate was not super high.
11:34AM "Let me answer mark. Now back to fishing -- we go back exactly to where we were. Now Mark wants to go to a movie, so my game pauses." Nice to see multitasking in full use here.
11:33AM "I'd like to show you how games integrate into webOS. Let's look at Sims 3. I have this character that I've taken to the park. One of the things you can do at the park is go fishing. Now, fishing is one of these accelerometer based mini games. Now see this text? it's a message from Mark. Let's head out to card view... the game pauses."
11:31AM "This great new experience will be available to all webOS customers in Feb. No new hardware required." Pixi is getting it too!
11:31AM Share options from a menu up top -- MMS, YouTube... etc.
11:30AM "I'm going to show you how to record, edit and share on webOS." Demo time! "Here's the video we just took. Let me show you how easy it is to edit video." A timeline with handles on either end. It looks A LOT like the iPhone editor.
11:30AM "Today I'd like to talk to you about a new feature. Video recording."
11:29AM "Hi everybody. Can I get a pose for the camera." He came out with a Pre shooting... looks like video!
11:29AM Katie is back. "That's awesome. But that's not all. We have more exciting things to share with you. Please welcome Paul Cousineu."
11:29AM "So a bunch of other games will be available today. Thanks!"
11:28AM They kicked on turbo. Big applause!
11:28AM Need for Speed looks really quite good. Frame rate is totally solid.
11:27AM Wow, again. Graphics look tight here. Really nice. Pre users, it's a good day for you.
11:27AM "The next game is Need for Speed. It really shows you what you can do."
11:26AM This is really impressive. Anyone wondering if the Pre could handle these kinds of titles will definitely have their answer. It's about time guys!
11:26AM Really smooth -- iPhone smooth.
11:26AM Demoing Sims 3 now. Wow, looks great. Full 3D.
11:26AM "Some of this got out..." Ha! A commenter calling fake.
11:25AM "When Palm asked us to participate on the PDK, we jumped at it. It has great capabilities. And it has great performance. They're up and running on the device at a great frame rate. We have some complex games -- they push the limits of the device. They were up and running in a matter of weeks."
11:24AM "We're known for our world class games. We have something for everyone." Looks like they're about to do some demos.
11:24AM Travis Boatman from EA is up!
11:24AM "Available in the US today in the App Catalog."
11:23AM PDK... it will be incorporated into the SDK over time. "We'll be releasing the PDK at the Game Developers Conference. We've been working with partners to develop games for the Palm. Today we will have hot new titles that take advantage of the PDK. Need for Speedm Sims 3." Wow! Real games!
11:22AM "Now that's not all. We know devs always want more. That's why today we're announcing the Plug-on Development Kit. Devs can include C and C++ plugins into their applications."
11:22AM "We know this will make our developers better. Today we're also starting the Hot Apps bonus program... the best reviewed and most downloaded app developers will be rewarded."
11:21AM Katie is showing off Project Appetite. You can shop for apps and install to your phone OTA. By clicking onto buy / install, it sends the app to your phone. Pretty cool idea.
11:20AM A tool that let's you build custom ways for people to get software? This is intriguing.
11:20AM "Why wouldn't we leverage the tools on the web for distribution? We're opening up our application database to all of our developers, the entire web community. Starting today, you can build directories, create widgets...."
11:18AM "Now you heard me mention freedom and choice for devs. With our launch today, we're taking a completely new approach to app distribution."
11:18AM "Apps are no longer siloed, they share content, they share data. If you're using LinkedIn, or Facebook, you can integrate those contacts. Baseball fans follow their teams and integrate game schedules into their calendar. We're proud to bring these experiences to users."
11:17AM "Project Ares... create apps entirely in the browser. We think the future of mobile is going to be built on the web. We look forward to growth in our App Catalog this year."
11:16AM Katie is discussing the benefits of working with Palm as a developer. "We incredibly thankful to those who helped us get here... especially those in the homebrew community." That's pretty cool. Nice tip of the hat.
11:16AM Katie is up. "Thanks Jon, and hello everyone. I'm hear to talk about two things. The developer program and some new product developments. First, we're formally opening our dev program to everyone. We look forward to working with you."
11:15AM Jon is back. "Let's get back to some products. I'd like to bring out Katie Mitic, VP product marketing."
11:14AM "Thank you for listening... I have to get back to france... we have strong pressure from Palm!" Heh.
11:14AM "Why did Palm choose us? We have 800 shops, we sent over 1b messages to our customers. We can provide our partner with a strong go to market strength. We are telling our sales force that we're committed to Palm."
11:13AM "Last but not least, we believe that we share the same philosophy, it's not just about selling devices. It's about the consumer experience."
11:12AM "We go with the best smartphones." Really? That was the only factor? We'll have to do a little research on this!
11:12AM "Our objective is to have half of our customers equipped with smartphones by 2012. We want to give them the best phones in the world. We started negotiating for smartphones in Cupertino... we ended in Sunnyvale." Ha! Big laughs.
11:11AM "Who are we? We are 12 billion euro company. Owned by Vodafone. We have 25m customers. We have 20m mobile customers, 5m on broadband. Half of the French population. We were the first to introduce 3G in the market. We invented multilayer plans. We're deploying fiber to French households."
11:10AM Jean Marc Tessetto from SFR is on stage now.
11:09AM France! Congratulations French humans. You can buy a Pre soon.
11:09AM "It's been an exciting time for us. We've been working hard in Europe. Today we're announcing a new Euro partner... an obvious choice for us was France... we found an excellent partner in SFR."
11:08AM And the video is over. Jon's back.
11:08AM "One of the most important things is, we're choosy about who we create relationships with." "We try to be focused on the individual user." This is nice... we guess. We certainly hope this leads into some new partner announcements. We're guessing it will.
11:07AM "We need to be a global player... we're going to be in Europe for a really long time."
11:06AM "Ubiquity is really there from a data point of view... we're seeing the death of the PC." From the video.
11:06AM Video time! Europe!
11:06AM "From our growing family of products, we move to our growing family of partners. First was Sprint. The Pre can be found in 7 countries worldwide. Here's a video of the countries in Europe that have been introduced to these phones."
11:05AM Jon is talking about the Touchstone now. This guy loves the Touchstone.
11:04AM "Get em while they're hot."
11:04AM "Here's our first family of designs. Pretty cool, huh?"
11:04AM "Now we know how much people like to have choices -- we worked with artists to create the Artist Series back covers..."
11:04AM "At last year's show we introduced the Pre, a refined and elegant package. Now we have two devices in our growing family. We introduced Pixi in November. It's the thinnest full QWERTY phone on the market."
11:03AM Notifications, cards, etc.
11:03AM He's going through how webOS helps Palm rock your world, generally.
11:02AM "At Palm we care about two things: keeping you connected, and making sure you never miss a thing. That's what drives us at Palm."
11:02AM "We're opening development to the public, today."
11:01AM He's touting all of the benefits of webOS "We even have some devs in the audience today."
11:00AM He's listing all of the accolades they've gotten over the last year. "And even geek of the year." Ha!
11:00AM "What an amazing year it's been for Palm."
11:00AM Okay, here we go! Jon Rubinstein is out! "Good morning everybody. Thanks so much. It's great to see you back here."
10:59AM Okay, the music is pounding now -- MGMT -- and it looks like we're set to start. At least that's what the announcer guy claims.
10:57AM Okay, this is snug. Palm has provided some stylish chairs for us to camp out in. Thanks!