Handheld Learning - learning with mobile and ubiquitous technologies

Yes. but did he jump or was he pushed?

Palm have certainly navigated into choppy waters with reliance on the telephone handset business (Treo) keeping them afloat and Sony dropping Palm OS and the Clie range completely. Microsoft are certainly plowing ahead with Windows Mobile and there are new devices from many manufacturers appearing regularly and only Symbian appears to be a threat to them. It's all beginning to look like the dark days of Apple for Palm.

One could argue that the acquisition of China Mobile Systems (CMS) and the port of Palm OS to Linux might create an powerful standard for handheld computers but the thrust of this acquisition is based around telephoney devices rather than handheld computers.

Wither Palm?

 

Likewise, I think a plural environment for operating systems is good and that a dominating system will stifle innovation.

The separating out of the hardware and operating software businesses by Palm is exactly what Apple tried to do before the return of Steve Jobs who upon arrival realised that this would cannabalize the business and brought the company back into a single business that was focussed on delivering a single vision/brand. It could be that after it's initial meteoric success Palm rested on its laurels, fumbled the ball and lost its focus.

The survival of operating systems is going to be a pertinent question in the education sector as decisions are being made regarding choice of platforms to pilot projects on. Nobody wants to buy doorstops even if they're one per student.

Do you think that PalmOne will make handhelds that run Symbian or Windows Mobile?

 

I agree with you Jon and the argument about the personal nature of these devices is a compelling one but there's a couple of problems:

1) What platforms do we develop educational software for? - especially when the installed base is very low in the education sector right now. How does a publisher recoup investment after developing software for Windows Mobile (multiple versions of!), Palm OS, Symbian, Java, etc Bearing in mind that the market is flooded with free or low-cost (and unsupported) software.

2) Support issues - supporting multiple platforms is a nightmare for any organisation let alone schools or universities. It took a while before things settle down to Windows (multiple versions of!) or Apple Mac but even then the dividing line has been along application type, e.g. Windoze - general purpose desktop stuff, Mac - creative work. I'm not sure how this would split along different operating software's for handhelds in an education sector context.

Regarding PalmOne switching to Windows I found this snippet here



Even if the above came to fruition it would be adios Palm in my opinion as it totally misses the point (that Palm's outgoing management didn't understand) that Palm is Palm, it's a complete experience much like the Apple Mac is. Does anyone really believe that PalmOne can go up against, say, Sony, in the handset business?