09:24 PM by cervezas in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

I just had an email exchange with an analyst I know that is close to Palm and has been privy to their plans in the past. He confirmed my conclusion that Palm is hedging their OS bets by making their own Linux successor to the Palm OS.

Just in case my poor little web server gets Slashdotted into a puddle of molten plastic and metal, here's the text of my my latest blog post on the subject:

Things are getting interesting at Palm Inc., the makers of the Treo smartphones but not (to date) of the operating systems they run on. First, back in November of 2004, there was a source that reported Palm was "exploring partnerships that could let it use a tailored version of the Linux OS to run on its devices ". There was some credibility because this was the same source that first leaked Palm's plans to release a Windows Mobile Treo--correctly as we now know. Other rumors of Linux devices from Palm flew about for a while, but there was nothing tangible. Then Palm went through a spate of hiring Linux engineers that seemed to start around the time they lost their bidding war to acquire PalmSource. Most recently there has been a job description posted on Palm's website for a Linux handset engineer that specifically mentions development of "a new software platform." Now I've received confirmation from someone who actually knows what's going on.

The analyst I communicated with by email has been privy to Palm's plans in the past, so I asked if he could confirm my conclusion that Palm is writing their own Linux OS. He did, and they are. He asked not to be named, but here's what he said when I asked what he knew:

We know about it. Palm has stated on several occasions than 80% of their engineers are software engineers, they are perfectly able to design their own operating system and are working on it. I know they had a prototype of a Linux Treo 650. From my discussions with management my impression is that Palm is hedging their OS risk by developing in-house systems as well as keeping relationships with Palmsource and Microsoft. I know that future Palm models will be coming out with both operating sytems in order to test market reaction.

I asked if he knew whether any of the Treos slated for later this year were expected to run Palm's new Linux-based system. He said they would run Windows and Palm OS Garnet and that the "new operating system will be introduced in 2007 (don’t know if fiscal or calendar)."

So there you have it, folks. It seems that we now have not one but two companies working on a successor to the Palm operating system: PalmSource, the company that Palm spun off in 2003 to continue the development of the Palm OS but which was recently acquired by ACCESS; and Palm Inc. itself, which own's the Palm brand and is therefore the only party that can actually name their platform "Palm OS." It's thought that ACCESS, heavily staked by DoCoMo, will be looking largely to Japan and China for its customers. Meanwhile Palm, dominant in the US smartphone market, has been conspicuously quiet about the announcement of the ACCESS Linux Platform in February. Now we know why.

We don't know anything more about this new OS other than the fact that it has a Linux kernel, but since Palm continues to affirm its strong support for "Palm OS" it's a pretty good bet that the platform will carry forward the renowned Palm OS experience. Since Palm owns the "Palm" brand we can also be pretty sure it will be called "Palm OS," too.

08:16 AM by Alexander Turcic in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

Palm Addicts has a quick write up to remind us that - only for today - Palm Europe is offering a 10% discount on any item from their store. If you happen to be from a European country and go shopping today, before you check out, use one of the following coupons (as appropriate):

102006DE (Austria and Germany)
102006CH (Switzerland)
102006UK (UK)
102006ES (Spain)
102006IT (Italy)
102006EU (Other European countries)

05:22 AM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book General | News

The anti-DRM crowd has to be encouraged by some of the latest bashing comments from researchers and thinkers. Dr. Ian Brown, Cambridge-MIT Institute senior research manager, spoke at the Changing Media Summit this week, and he suggested that DRM wouldn't protect the music and film industries, who have spent the last decade lobbying for new laws to protect their content but neglected trying to find better ways to monetize their offerings.

"Software companies have sold DRM as solving problems it can't solve... Damaging to copyright law and public's respect for it, this 'newspeak' that goes on around DRM. Industry make blood-curdling pronouncements, conflating opening up standards with protecting copyright which is very damaging... As people come to understand the technology they see that it's the business models that need to change," he said.

As an example how to commercialize music without relying on DRM he mentioned the rock band U2, who, he claimed, doesn't make their money primarily from selling music, but instead use music as a tool to successfully promote their touring and merchandise.

On Brown's website I found this older presentation which is related to what he said on the conference.

04:10 PM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book General | News

It's been a long time coming, but the e-book has finally crossed into mainstream. BBC has a story that wraps pretty up everything up we've been talking about in the past few weeks. It talks about forthcoming e-books readers such as the Sony Reader and the iRex iLiad, about the benefits of E Ink technology, the strong demand for audio books, the nasty aspects of DRM, and about iTunes-like stores for e-books. Heck, they did such a good job, they even quoted our friend Nick Hampshire from Afaics Research:

"I think we are talking about a whole new breed of author. New skills, new content, new ideas, new ways of thinking particularly, and this will be quite a wrench for some of them to make that move, but it offers new possibilities. The possibility of being able to create a book that includes audio components, moving image components that includes interactive components is something which to my mind offers enormous possibilities."

Appendum: Check out this accompaining video (Realvideo) to find out how mobile readers in Japan pass the time with e-books on cellphones (via Teleread!)

04:10 PM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book Software | Reading and Management

Thanks to the anonymous tipster who told us how you can save a couple megabytes of disk space when you install Adobe Reader on your PC. Instead of using the official download link, complete and submit the Adobe Reader Distribution Agreement to receive a link to the Adobe Reader Enterprise Edition. It's virtually the same as the standard Reader, except that it's meant for large-scale deployments and doesn't include the (rather useless) download manager and the Yahoo! toolbar.

And here is the direct download link to the current Adobe Reader Enterprise Edition 7.07 for Windows.

02:40 PM by Alexander Turcic in Miscellaneous | Lounge

CloneDVD mobile is an all-in-one Windows tool that puts your DVD home collection onto a mobile device. CD Freaks has tested it and written down their experiences in this preview. What they liked: very simple to use, high quality output, support for a number of different output formats. What they didn't like: still not free of bugs.

Use the coupon code 'cdfreaks' valid till April 2nd, 2006 to receive a five bucks discount on this app.

01:39 PM by Alexander Turcic in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

Palm Addicts writer Peter Arts had a short and sweet Q&A with two of the triumvirate behind Palm's original success, Jeff Hawkins and Donna Dubinsky (Ed Colligan, current president of Palm, was apparently too busy celebrating his company's tenth anniversary for he had no time to participate in the Q&A). Don't miss it if you want to feel like a bit on a (good!) nostalgia trip.

04:31 AM by cervezas in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

I couldn't resist working up a diagram that deduces what the Linux OS that Palm seems to be working on might look like, presuming it's being designed as an update of the Palm OS for the Treo line.

My conception in a nutshell: a system that is backward compatible with Palm OS Garnet via a Palm OS emulator, but with improved multi-tasking and 3G network support via a handful of built-in native Linux applications. Pretty modest compared to ALP. This is something that Palm could plausibly have developed for release in Hollywood and/or Lowrider assuming (a) they started working with Linux at least a year and a half ago on an R&D basis, as CNET reported back in Nov 2004, and (b) they decided to move into product-development mode around the time they lost the bid to acquire PalmSource last summer.

Here's the pretty picture:

I apologize that I don't have a Treo I can saw the antenna off of and paint like a plastic model race car to show what the Hollywood and Lowrider handsets will look like when they arrive. I'm sure that would generate a lot more discussion than my box diagram.