We’re huge fans of the Palm webOS interface – we still think it’s the best mobile operating system out there, bar none, even if the platform is woefully short of apps – so we’re very interested to hear details of the next generation OS coming up, webOS 2.0.
The lack of top notch apps in Palm’s webOS platform has proved to be a bitter disappointment to Palm Pre and Pixi users, with UK users being hit particularly hard (the Brit App Catalogue is a pale shadow of the US one, with just 2,800 apps on offer and many of them pretty unexciting).
No matter how you spin it, Palm’s app catalogue is a weedy offering compared to the overflowing stocks of apps available in bulging iPhone and Android stores.
In a move to kickstart app development – and perhaps send out an encouraging sign to current users – Palm has announced that it is scrapping the $50 fee that used to be required to get apps listed in their official App Catalog.
If, like us, you’re rather keen on a physical keyboard, then Palm are hoping to entice you into their hardware QWERTY keyboard’s world of joy with their latest blog post bigging up the ‘option’ key.
Looking more like a revamped Centro, Palm’s Pixi Plus has finally arrived in the UK and is hoping to prove a tempting alternative choice in the low end smartphone market.
In a statement sure to send long suffering Palm aficionados into fresh depths of despair, Mark Hurd, the CEO of new owners’ HP is quoted as saying, “We didn’t buy Palm to be in the smartphone business.”
The UK has had to suffer its now-customary delay for Palm products released months ago in the US, but the company has finally announced the availability of its Palm Pre Plus and Palm Pixi Plus handsets in the UK.
After a lively, five-way bidding war a few weeks ago, Hewlett-Packard emerged victorious, scooping up struggling mobile phone maestros Palm for $1.2bn.
Although Palm’s Pre and Pixi handsets had been picking up positive reviews, the real jewel in the crown for HP was the handset maker’s webOS operating system.
The rumours about Palm being bought up have been circulating for months, with a succession of potential suitors mooted, but HP have now announced that they have entered into a “definitive agreement” to buy the smartphone maker.
The deal will see HP snapping up the makers of the Palm Pre and Pixi handsets – and the superb webOS operating system – at a price of $5.70 per share of Palm common stock in cash, adding up to an enterprise value of approximately $1.2 billion.
File managers may not be the most exciting thing you’re going to install on your handset, but for power users, compulsive tinkerers and folks who like to be in total control of their smartphones, they can be ruddy useful things.
Palm webOS users have been starved of file editors until now, with the release of Internalz which proudly claims to be, “the first and only file manager for the webOS. “ Also released is the custom service powering the app, FileMgr service.
The rumours have been circulating for an eternity, but Bloomberg is now reporting that Palm is putting itself up for sale.
With inside information claimed to have come from “three people familiar with the situation,” Palm is reportedly working with Goldman Sachs and Qatalyst Partners to find a suitably buyer.
Palm’s original set of videos promoting their Palm Pre handset divided opinions wildly, with comments ranging from ‘memorable’ and ‘intriguing’ to ‘weird,’ ‘spooky’ and ‘get me out of here!’
When it comes to apps, Apple’s iPhone App Store is still miles ahead of all its rivals, with a new comparison chart showing its peers trailing far behind.
The chart punished by Silicon Valley Insider shows Apple’s store to be bulging at the seams with over 170,000 apps available (according to AppShopper.com, although this figure can vary wildly).
After baffling consumers with the Spooky Woman (see below), Palm has put out a far more accessible advert which we reckon does a pretty good job selling their innovative webOS.
After checking the data in their webOS App Gallery, Palm-lovin’ website PreCentral has calculated that there’s been over thirty million downloads from the App Catalog.
Recent Comments