Palm to debut Nova OS at CES

In just a few weeks time, Palm will be unveiling its new operating system, code named Nova, at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. At the same time, the fledgling company will also unveil a new line up of smartphones that run on this operating system.

The entire development effort is the brainchild of Jon Rubinstein, and could well determine if the once mighty PDA and smartphone pioneer will make it or break it. With multiple missteps, such as the canceled Palm Foleo and Linux-based Palm smartphone that never came, its funds are dwindling. Formerly from Apple, Rubinstein was brought aboard specifically to lead product engineering efforts at Palm. Rubinstein previously led the development of products such as the iMac and the iPod, which was largely credited with saving Apple from oblivion.

Despite the availability of divergent digital devices from iPods, to smartphones, to Kindle e-book readers, Palm believes that no single product is able to satisfy the needs of the consumers. As such, it has been working to build a platform that is flexible enough to support a wide range of customer desires. Rubinstein noted that Palm is aiming for the "fat middle of the market."

Sentiments exist that Palm is betting on a miracle that is already too late in the making. As reported by BusinessWeek, Global Crown Capital analyst Pablo Perez-Fernandez noted of Palm, "There are so many issues, it's not clear even Jon Rubinstein can turn it around."

Yet with a billion cell phones sold each year, even a sliver of the market will be an enormous win, with a tremendous upside on its share prices. Certainly, private equity shop Elevation Partners and the four others that own more than 70 percent of Palm are unlikely to sell. Let's wait and see what happens in January.

To read more on the article:
- check out this article from BlackBerry Cool
- check out this article from BusinessWeek

Related Articles:
Palm Foleo canceled!
Palm Linux smartphone coming soon
Palm news from FierceMobileIT