While talk of Microsoft entering the smartphone arena is everywhere, one of the early innovators in the field is on its way out the door.
More than twelve years after Palm introduced its first phone, the President and CEO of the company Ed Colligan announced that the Palm was going into retirement. This announcement comes after the much-touted debut of the Palm Pre in January, which seemed to be a success for the company.
Prior to the release of the Pre, Palm’s last phone was the Centro, released in 2007. The Centro seemed to be a hit, but Palm had trouble getting around the negative press regarding the ill-fated release of the Foleo.
With the The Palm OS now considered to be behind the curve, the company’s president announced there would be no more Palm OS-based products and that all efforts of the company would be poured into developing its new web OS.
The company intends to continue to support Microsoft Windows products as they make the transition to web OS as their core OS.
The fate and future of the Centro is till a bit ambiguous. The company indicates it would like to continue support of the Centro over time, but they fell short of saying the Centro would support the new web OS.
Web-Based Business Moves
Palm Says Adios to Phone OS in Favor of New Web OS
Trend Themes
1. Building Web-based Operating Systems - Palm's retirement from Palm OS and its shift into building a new web OS presents an opportunity for businesses to develop their own web-based operating systems.
2. Transitioning From Legacy to Web-based Systems - Palm's shift from Palm OS to its new web OS presents an opportunity for industries to reconsider their legacy systems and consider transitioning to web-based systems.
3. The Future of Smartphones with Web-based Operating Systems - Palm's new web OS presents an opportunity for businesses and industries to reimagine the future of smartphones with fully web-based operating systems.
Industry Implications
1. Mobile Technology - Palm's shift from Palm OS to a new web OS presents an opportunity for the mobile technology industry to explore further web-based operating systems.
2. Software Development - The shift from a Palm OS to a new web OS presents an opportunity for software developers to create and innovate new web-based applications that can be used with the new operating system.
3. Consumer Electronics - Palm's retirement from Palm OS and its shift towards a new web-based operating system presents an opportunity for consumer electronics companies to rethink their approach to creating operating systems for portable devices.