July 27, 2009, 7:29 pm
From my view in the cheap seats, Palm has come out swinging with its new mobile operating system, webOS. The platform is “connected” and targets the sweet spot of a mobile consumer or professional who loves powerful simplicity, though one could make a strong argument that webOS comes up a bit short as a gaming device — for now. In many ways the webOS is simply “Palm-like” — hearkening back to the days when our expectations for a mobile device were formed by the popular Palm Pilot. Strong on usability, the webOS integrates multiple accounts, calendars and social media such as Exchange, Google, GMail, and FaceBook to work the way you do. Do you have multiple monitors on your desk at work (or home?) — if you’re like me you very well do. In fact, I have two monitors at home and at the office I’ve got two external monitors — one for my Dell laptop and one for my MacBook.
We live in an age where multiple inputs are common place, content is king and notification-driven messaging is the norm. Why do we think that our mobile experience should be different? I‚Äôm thinking it really isn‚Äôt though we‚Äôve been constrained to what our mobile devices can deliver. webOS supports a paradigm very similar to the multi-monitor world with its easy to navigate ‚Äúdeck of cards‚Äù approach. It delivers on this multi-tasking need but without the noise and obstacles of a traditional Windows mobile device where it seems as though you click and click forever to accomplish even something simple. With webOS, Palm has brought the ‚Äúgood‚Äù of how we work on the desktop but left the headaches behind. Have a look at this image of webOS running three applications: Google Maps, Messaging client, and the mobile PIM staple the “honey-do list…”
