The Palm Pre: Your Thoughts

At the D: All Things Digital conference (a conference which always seems to spend an inordinate amount of time talking about old media) more details of the Palm Pre were announced. Most tantalizingly, the Pre will sync your music through iTunes. Well done, Mr. Rubinstein! In one fell swoop, Palm avoided one of the biggest hurdles: people simply are not going to leave iTunes. If you can't beat em...

But the question is, what do you think of the Pre as we slowly approach launch date? Has Palm one-upped Apple? Is the Pre a viable iPhone competitor? Does the iTunes syncing make you more likely to give this phone a second look? Let us know in the comments.

iPhone 3.0 software proves why competition is good

I don't have any insider info on what will be in tomorrow's iPhone 3.0 preview, and unlike some unnamed Apple prognosticators out there, I don't believe in stating features that we don't know will be in future releases as fact. There are plenty of other sites to do that.

What I do know though, is Apple doesn't take competition lightly, and the Palm Pre has been on their radar from day one. As a result, tomorrow's preview will most likely bring us features that Apple was either reluctant, or outright against releasing for the phone, and we have Palm to thank.

Sure people have been talking about the lack of cut and paste for quite some time, and that would've been addressed at some point. And I would think there would be some MMS solution, even if its only for those receiving messages. The real question focus on wildcards like background processing, running multiple apps, etc. Developers have told me they expect a system for "trusted" apps to run in the background before the end of the year. Is it possible we'll see that tomorrow as Apple stays one step ahead of, or in this case, matches Palm Pre features?

I have no intention of purchasing a Pre. I'm quite happy with my iPhone. But unlike the Zune, which hasn't really pushed the iPod at all, the Pre might be one of those products like Apple's own Newton, that influences people well beyond those who purchase it. So thanks, Palm for showing why competition is good, and for most likely pushing Apple to make a better iPhone 3.0 update than would've been likely without you.

TDL Live This week: (1/26-2/6)

It was another raucous edition of TDL Live last night. We talked about breastfeeding photos, Palm Pre, femtocell, and of course all things Apple. First, a quick reminder, you can subscribe through iTunes to never miss an episode. Or you can hope its one of the weeks we remember to post it here in the blog. Don't risk it.

TDL Live and a Special Thanks

Here's this week's TDL Live. Originally airing before our "Welcome to Macintosh" documentary event, there's a live skype interview with the filmmakers in the second half of the show. We also cover the post-Macworld news. Enjoy, and don't forget, you can subscribe to the show as well:

Did Jon Rubinstein Just Save Palm and Sprint

Apple Vet Jon Rubinstein landed at Palm awhile back. I believe the collective reaction was, "good luck with that." But today, Palm unveiled the fruits of Rubinstein's labor, the Palm Pre. The name is rough, and the design is quite thick, but when you look at the features, you see a device that does everything an iPhone does, but does it without coming off as mimicking the iPhone. And there are plenty of improvements many of would like to see in the iPhone already in the Pre.

Engadget did a thorough job of blogging the Pre unveiling. Click here for a look at what could become the biggest competitor to the iPhone. And it's from Palm. Who would've thought!?

photo: engadget