New webOS release will gain thousands of apps, says Palm
Published: 23 December, 2009
READ MORE: Palm | Application Environment | Applications (Browser) | OS | Handset | WebOS
Palm has pinned all its hopes on its webOS software platform, and it will show off an upgraded version at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas from January 7. Release 1.3.5 will support some key features that users always demand, like more apps storage and better battery life, but will this really be enough to compensate for a system that has only 800 apps in its store, and two underperforming devices to its name?
The choice of an OS that was open Linux-based, but also vendor specific, was always a difficult one, falling between the tight control of a proprietary system like iPhone or BlackBerry, and the multivendor reach of Android. So there will be heavy pressure on CEO Jon Rubinstein to deliver something special at CES. This is unlikely to come in hardware form. Although a variant of the Pre, called Pre Plus, is rumored to be on the cards - and likely to launch at Verizon - this will only be marginally different from the existing model.
It will come with the new webOS release, which is part of what Rubinstein promises will be an "aggressive software roadmap". He promises the OS will allow users to download and store more apps, enhance processing and Wi-Fi performance, and extend battery life.
"We'll continue to deliver enhancements to our user experience on a regular basis. This includes investing heavily to make webOS a preeminent development platform," Rubenstein told an investor meeting, according to PreCentral.Net.
He claimed that CES would mark the time when Palm moved out of its early access stage and into a full production developer program, and promised "thousands of apps in very short order". He also believes webOS will come into its own as users and operators move to cloud-based services, since it is heavily oriented around browsers and open web tools like HTML and CSS. "In particular, our over the air software update capability is a powerful way to continue to evolve and improve our products even after they're in customers' hands," he said.
The Ares mobile apps development platform is now in open beta, offering an integrated set of content creation tools, all within the browser, to appeal to non-mobile web programmers.
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