Palm pulls off impressive Nova launch, but can it execute?

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Palm pulls off impressive Nova launch, but can it execute?

By CAROLINE GABRIEL

Published: 9 January, 2009

READ MORE: Palm

Continued ...

And there is still the huge question of how well Palm will execute on a whole range of Web OS-based products. Beyond looking good, there are few details and no real world tests of Nova, nor how well its handsets will work on carrier networks and in terms of end user experience. "I liked the operating system a lot," JPMorgan analyst Paul Coster told the Reuters news agency. "If they don't execute, somebody's going to buy them" - in order to save the years of work that have gone into creating the OS. Though perhaps Palm has missed its moment even here, since Android is gaining maturity and could provide an even simpler route to the web optimized mobile OS market, and the promise of a huge developer base.

For all the attractions of the OS and device, Palm's challenges in surviving downturn and product transition, and in increasing market share during a period that favors volume and consolidation, remain hardly reduced. But the company has certainly revamped its line-up and its image and instilled new confidence in its creative abilities - even if that confidence merely serves to increase its acquisition price down the road. Now it needs to prove that it still has executive abilities too, and it needs to extend beyond the US and the Sprint deal. But for now, let Palm enjoy its unfamiliar moment in the sun, and the feeling, echoed by so many observers - "Palm is back".

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