Palm Getting Ready for Something New.....

I think that many of us have been predicting the fall of Palm for some time now. But a few sources are exclaiming that Palm is not quite done yet. Palm has apparently been working quietly on its new linux operating system NOVA. Additionally, they have had a very influential person in the design team for at least a year now. The designer of the Helio/Sidekick, Matias Duarte has been on board and is thought to have been brought over by Jon Rubinstein, the co inventor of the iPod.

This is very important news, because it means that Palm is betting the farm on NOVA. If this thing doesn't work, it could be lights out. It remains to be seen whether they will make a clean break or land in the world of Microsoft's Windows Mobile problem - trying to support legacy software. But for those of us sitting on the sidelines wondering whether we should jump ship to the Apple camp, this could be the twig that makes us sit up and take notice.

Again, for those of you not excited by this, this is big news. It means a complete overhaul of the Palm computing platform and more importantly a radical shift in the User Interface - maybe keyboards that can actually fit a real person, mmgh. I would say that if Palm can just keep on schedule, we may be looking at one of the greatest comebacks in the technology field. (Remember Palm ---- Lots of onboard memory, multitasking, wifi, gigabytes of extended memory and you'll do alright).



Resources:

Engadget.
Electronista.
Matias Duarte's blog.
Matias's Resume (pdf file).

Pictures: The Helio - Top Left.
The Sidekick - Bottom Right.


LDD.