[cash7c3]

This news is a bit (infinitely) cooler than the recent prank.

Anyone here remember Palm OS? We'll if you don't I'll just tell you, Palm OS was dominate in the early days of the PDA. After years of dominance it was finally overcome by today's popular handheld systems like Microsoft Windows Mobile, RIM on the Blackberry, Symbian on many manufactures like Nokia, and of course OS X on the iPhone.



Here's the news, Palm OS and the over 20,000 apps and games available for the platform are coming to the iPod Touch and iPhone. StyleTap, a company dedicated to bringing Palm OS apps to all the major mobile operating systems has announced that they are bringing a Palm OS emulator to the iPhone and iTouch.

This is an awesome development for the iPhone and iTouch showing that other platforms can be run and hopefully run well. While there is some doubt about the usability this opens the door to further advancement, and if done well will only increase the usability and available options for you beloved Apple device. Expect StyleTap to announce their prices and more info sometime in July.

[StyleTap via iphonity] thanks FreakinBock

[b3nny]

IF this works well, and its reasonably priced, it will be very very awesome, but the key term here is "if". the pic looks kinda photoshopped to me, with some weird pixels around the icons and such. but regardless, i'll be very interested to find out... there's been a palm os emulator for windows mobile for ages. anyone know if it ever ran at decent speeds? if i remember correctly, it didn't run anything past palm os 3 or something.. yuck.

[cash7c3]

I would assume the price would be similar to the other styletap ports, about $50. Yeah I hope it ends up cool, will be a disappointment if it turns out crap

[howlett15]

Makes me want to thank the people who make sweet iPhone apps for FREE!!

So... Thanks!!!!

[rudi]

Originally Posted by b3nny

the pic looks kinda photoshopped to me, with some weird pixels around the icons and such. but regardless, i'll be very interested to find out... .

I don't think it's photoshopped, if it's a true port of the OS then believe me the resolution is low and no amount of high density resolution iphone screen is gonna polish those icons up )

Wow, I have an old Palm VX gathering dust somewhere, I must admit, there were some brilliant apps available, maybe I'll go blow the dust off and plug it in - wait I don't have a com port! hmmmm

[anmiller07]

Originally Posted by styletap.com

This is an EXPERIMENTAL version – it is NOT a product, nor is its presence here a commitment of any kind, express or implied, that StyleTap Inc. will ever release an official version of StyleTap CrossPlatform for Apple iPhone or iPod Touch.

There's a video demo as well...


Looks like they are pretty adamant in saying it may never be released.

[imnew2hu]

I have seen ports of palm os for other devices and they never seem to run as smooth as I had hoped. would like to see it run on X might get it right this time.

[tntmorgan]

Ah I remember starting out with my first three pdas being Palm devices, the latest being the Palm Lifedrive. I definitely love my iPhone now and doubt I'd go back, but this is a cool development.

[l0uisz]

wow thats sweett so far ive tried everything but palm os cant wait to give it a shot if every things successful =]

[compton,Tx]

Retro Cut...........1988! One can only hope they tweak their software, I could use some good accounting and small business software. (Assuming there software is good? I have never used it)

[powa]

hmm what's the point of porting the old apps into Iphone? i think the dev and others have been making brilliant app for iphone, and most of them are pretty darn useful nowaday and important. Can anyone list out some example of the "old apps" that worth while to download and install where the current iphone app community does not have?

[billchase2]

this could be pretty cool. i'll have to find my old handspring visor and see what cool apps i used to have for it...

[frankydabull]

Because PalmOS apps were the truth for people who actually use their phones for business. Business wise, the iPhone SUCKS. I'm just being honest. How many accounting apps are out there? Apps for expense reports? I mean, there isnt even an suite out manipulating MSOffice docs. A lot of people here are enthusiast who like to have a cool phone to play games and watch movies on but software wise in a business environment, the phone sucks.

Palm OS is whats currently on Treos. As long as a current version of PalmOS is available to be emulated, that created a lot of customers. I don't know how old most of you are, but I remember seeing people lose thier Palms and buy another one within the hour no questions asked. They were the standard for business.

[Aiyo]

Well that one guy who wanted the palm on the iphone got it!

[sh4508]

Prior to using iPhone, I was a heavy user and fanatics of Palm OS PDA. There are many useful Palm OS apps, including FunSMS, where you can send to any mobile phone even if the recipient phone SMS memory is full; RepliGo, DocumentToGo (read-write application for MS Word, Excel in native mode), AgendusPro (all necessary application to support day-to-day activities, meetings etc). Those PDAs can connect to many mobile phone using Bluetooth, and the last model that I used has 4GB internal HDD, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, besides SDIO port for external memory cards, and you can use the PDA as a USB flash 4GB flash drive.

Browsing the developer website, seems that styletap.com when ready with the emulator, they have 14-days free trial. I will test it as soon as they have released it.

It is also possible, that developers of Palm OS apps may already signed up to be iPhone developer. Those ported apps may be shown at second gen iPhone launch week (June 9 thru 16). In native iPhone Mac OS mode, the ported apps may perform even better, utilizing the multi-touch screen as well as the phone and large screen capabilities.