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Palm’s next twist: a whole new platform

Tom Clarke

Tom Clarke

  • Updated:

palm-linux-os-new-1.pngAnyone who’s tried to keep up-to-date with the saga of Palm’s various mergers, de-mergers, operating systems and strategies deserves a medal. Or a Ph.D, for that matter. Suffice to say, it’s a story with plenty of twists, the latest being yesterday’s announcement by Palm Inc. that they are currently working on a new, Linux-based mobile computing platform. And no, this is not the same as the Access Linux Platform we saw at 3GSM (which is being developed by Access, formerly known as PalmSource, formerly part of Palm).

Details are still thin on the ground but this must be good news for both Palm developers and fans. It’s especially good for developers because Palm have now stated that they plan to “evolve the Palm Developer Community to the new Palm experience”, as well as mentioning that the new platform will “innovate and improve upon the Garnet OS [Palm OS 5.0] codebase”. It looks like Palm fully recognises just what a major asset its Developer Community really is.

The new OS is to launch with new devices this year, and not a moment to soon. Apple’s iPhone, though dismissed by Palm CEO as not a competitor, will be available by then and could prove to be a major competitor. To survive the contest, Palm needs to innovate and improve its devices but at the same time protect its developer community. It would be a shame to see them fail.

Tom Clarke

Tom Clarke

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