Smartphone Thoughts: Palm Quietly Pushes Nova Back A Few Months

Palm had originally planned to have devices ready to go as early as February 2009 running the new Nova operating system. It seems that date is now slipping as late as June 2009. The New York Times has an article on the Treo Pro and other efforts at Palm, and there was this passing mention of the OS, though not even its name "Nova" was mentioned.

"The real test of the new team’s leadership will come in the first half of next year. That is when Palm plans to announce a next generation of software - and a new device - which it hopes will make it easier for consumers to surf the Web and network with friends and colleagues."

As I've said before many times, Palm has never written an OS from the ground up. Palm OS 1-5 were all based on the Kadak developed kernel. True, Palm OS6 did see the light of day as an OS, but was never put on a single device for sale to the consumer. Nova will be based on Linux, but in all fairness, people have been putting Linux on PDAs since at least 2000 when some managed to get it running on the iPAQ 3600 series. Will Palm really be able to bring to market an OS based on Linux that will wow the consumer and save the brand, or will Palm become a device developer relying primarily on their Windows Mobile line of devices? I guess we'll know more by Q2 of 2009. By then, either leaks of forthcoming devices will be out, or the whole project will be delayed until later in the year.