The End of PalmOS?

SLT writes "According to Engadget, PalmSource was purchased by Access, a Japanese cell phone software company known for their NetFront browser. What does this mean for the future of Palm?" More coverage at LinuxDevices and Reuters. From the Reuters article: "Japanese software developer Access Co. said on Friday it would make U.S. software developer PalmSource Inc. wholly owned in a 34.4 billion yen ($311.3 million) cash deal to strengthen its development of software for handheld devices. Access will pay cash to shareholders of PalmSource, which will be later absorbed by Access' U.S. unit Apollo Merger Sub Inc., Access said in a statement."

Sad end to a Sad story - One developer's view

[fishdan]

*disclosure -- I was laid off from Palm in 2002*

It's really too bad. Palm was a great company, with the right group of people -- actually alot of disaffected Apple folks, who had left when Jobs was pushed out. Plus the original brain trust of Jeff Hawkins and Donna Dubinsky. Those 2 recognized that Palm could not really be the nimble company they would need to be to survive if they were tied down to 3Com. They asked permission to take the company solo, and were denied by the 3Com brass -- so they started Handspring.

Then (IMHO) really just to spite Jeff and Donna, 3Com did indeed spin off Palm. The problem was with Jeff and Donna gone, leadership was missing. 3Com installed Carl Yankowski, and man who had run giant companies before, but never a nimble tech company. Carl didn't know how to run a company of 500 employees, but he did not how to run a company of 10000, so his goal was to get to 10000 as quickly as possible.

This meant massive hirings and acquisitions. Palm had had a damn fine IPO (Yankowski knew how to do that too) so they had alot of cash on hand. And they started hiring like crazy. And when I say like crazy, I mean they put no thought at all into who got the positions, merely that they filled them. This was 1999/2000 pre-bubble-burst, when anyone with half a brain in silicon valley was already working. As a result, Palm was "forced" to hire people with only a quarter of a brain. Bythat I mean managers who thought they could function as engineers, and people who knew how to play the company game.

Intense corporate infighting began betweeen divisions. When one division looked like it was gaining "power" other divisions would sabotage them. The "managers" that Palm had been able to hire were only interested in making sure that their group looked better than any other group. As a result, incredibly promising ideas, such as 100% VCal/vcard complaince got killed. Palm was going to host a free public database with vcard/vcal entries, so when you updated your info in your palm, it would spread to everyone else when they synced (I know it's *sortof* been done -- but not well by anyone, and certainly the data is not publicly accessible via soap). Palm's internet strategy was completely sabotaged by "executives" who weren't part of the internet group, and really didn't undertand anything about it.

Then the hardware disaster. One of the new Palm's was scheduled for release, and was in the final round of testing. Handspring released their new device and it was Shiny. The Palm marketing team, without really consulting with engineering announced WHILE THE DEVICE WAS STILL IN TESTING that the new Palm would be out next month. Sales of current Palms stopped cold while everyone waited for the new device. And then a showstopping bug was found. The vibrate alarm in the new device was too powerful, and after x number of alarms it shook loose something in y number of devices. So the new device was delayed. And all that time, very few Palms were being sold, because everyone was waiting for the new device. 3 months with no sales is a bad thing.

In a last ditfch effort to calm the infighting, Palm spun off the software division into Palmsource, but it was too little too late. The heart and back of a great little company had been broken.

I'm glad to see Palm still alive, and I'm actually glad to see this sale, I kept my equity this long, at least now I'm forced to get rid of it.

I believe the company has shrunk back down to a small enough size that they've attritioned off the morons acquired at the turn of the century -- unfortunately they lost alot of really good engineering talent too. Palm was more than a hardware company at one point -- now they are just a hardware company. And I don't believe a hardware company can be globally competetive if it's based in the U.S.

Definitely not

[tvf]

As I stated in my blog [blogspot.com] "traditional" Palm OS development is being done by Palm (then palmOne). PalmSource is focused on Palm OS on Linux and providing an API to improve navigation of Palm OS-based applications on non-touchscreen phones. Recent management moves had them ripe for a takeover. Access has some pretty sharp minds, which is what PalmSource is in deperate need.

Like MacOS Classic - OS X?

[mcbridematt]

Before we start rumors of Palm moving to Windows Mobile, remind yourself of the Apple migration from Classic to OS X.

Would Palm risk loosing customers trained in PalmOS with loads of applications to keep and migrate to Windows Mobile/CE?

I doubt it.

There was a post on some palm news blog recently (Palm Addict afaik) where Palm was trying to recruit Linux guys. Logically they would be going for the Palm Linux port, but who knows, does POSE come to mind? Loads of apps still run on OS 4 and even the original OS 3! (and maybe OS 3.3 since that was free)

PalmSource press release: http://www.palmsource.com/press/2005/090905_access .html [palmsource.com].

Hardly surprising.

[Z00L00K]

Palm OS is OK for small solutions, but unfortunately the development has accelerated away from it. Today it's better to use Linux or Windows CE (or whatever M$ calls it today).

Re:Th End of PalmOS?

[BewireNomali]

I go several days with my IPAQ when the wireless and bluetooth functions are turned off.

my tungsten c was a similar miser when it came to power consumption, but the IPAQ has greater overall functionality.

Re:Maybe Linux?

[Orrin Bloquy]

This canard again. PalmSource was looking at a Linux *kernel*, but the OS and the API would remain the same to your apps. PalmOS has changed kernels three times in its history without any noticeable change to apps.

The PS rep in a thread went on to say "these devices will *not* run Linux apps."

The chief reason they went this direction was because they foresaw PalmOS being embedded in a wide variety of phones and Linux is already proven in the embedded market. They don't have the time it took to collaborate with Qualcomm or develop the Treo.

Re:Why "The End of PalmOS"?

[FidelCatsro]

I believe the logic is as follows.
1: find a piece of news
2: Start thinking piece of news is perhaps not that interesting
3: Put sensationalist spin on it in an effort to drive up readership
4: reap the rewards of bad journalism

Re:the end is neigh...

[bhtooefr]

1.) Basically did not update the core OS between 1997 and 2004. Version 5.x is bascially 3.x with color and a network stack shimmed in. A lot changed over those seven years, and the OS did not evolve as well as it could have. They rested on thier laurels, much like Apple did during the Scully era at Apple, releasing new models every 8 months but not really improving the core operation.

Hmm? Version 2.1 (read: early 1997) had the network stack shimmed in, and 3.5 had color, IIRC.

Version 5.x's big leap over 4.x is the fact that 4.x- is for Dragonball, 5.x+ is for ARM. Now, yes, it's the same basic OS...

2.) They released the big new version (6.0.) in late 2003, and no devices were ever released with it. This was a huge mistake, and points to poor partnerships (ISV and others) and planning. No other company in history has released an PDA OS that was never implemented on a retail device.

3.) They released version 6.1 late last year, and again, nearly a year later, there are no devices running it. Again, big problem.

Note that 6.1 is 6.0 with better smartphone code. So, you could VERY well see a Tungsten running 6.0, and a Treo running 6.1.

As for no devices being released running it, how much could PalmSource do, at the times when they weren't merged with Palm or PalmOne? (As I understand it, Palm/PalmOne kept buying and selling them...)

Re:Witty 3com

[Goth Biker Babe]

I have a Zaurus. It spends most of its time sat in its 'shoe' and has been relegated really to an MP3 player. The Zaurus' feature is also its curse. It runs Linux and I've yet to find Linux software that is actually finished. I should not have to use a shell to use bluetooth.

Re:Witty 3com

[Eric Smith]

Compare a Palm to a Sharp Zaurus, and you will be disgusted to even touch the Palm again.

I have a Zaurus and several Palms. As a Linux user/programmer, I do have a lot of fun with the Zaurus. But the usability of the Zaurus as a PDA is terrible, mostly because Qtopia is incredibly buggy and the UI is poorly designed.

PalmOS is not as powerful, but it is much more robust and has a much better UI.