At CES last week, Palm announced the new Pre smartphone and the Web OS. For Google Android developers, the announcement might not seem too major. After all, the G1 is a popular phone and more devices that use Android are in the works. However, Palm enjoys a substantial developer base, and porting the code to Pre might not be too difficult (no one knows for sure yet). Since Apple already has a vast number of apps for the iPhone, then the Pre is competition as another upstart challenger.
The Pre interface is a mixture of slick usability and Web integration. Contacts will be listed once with all of their various phone numbers from different points of contact, such as Facebook and Gmail. A universal search feature on the device gives you one box (sound familiar?) to search the device.
The card interface is a stark departure from what Palm has done in the past. Basically, anything you do on the phone -- including photo browsing, Web travels, and sending an e-mail -- will be put onto a card. You can click a card with your finger and flip through them, which is a good mobile paradigm. It's like flipping through a deck of cards. There's also a gesture pad below the screen that lets you perform actions -- such as swipes to browse through a slideshow -- and you can invoke a ribbon menu of icons.
Think about it this way: if you are a developer, you have a choice to make: Google Android as a possible mobile OS option, or Palm which already has a massive user base.
The phone is not expected to ship until late spring. I guess that gives developers some time to decide what to do.
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