http://www.youtube.com/v/VmjxmOtNZCk&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&feature=player_embedded&fs=1
I continue to get e-mails from readers that have already dismissed the Palm Pre for one main reason. What is it? Folks believe that you won’t be able to run applications without connectivity. Bzzzt, wrong answer… thank you for playing! Palm never said that WebOS applcations were “web apps.” They said that the WebOS appliations were built on web standards like HTML, CSS and JavaScript. In contrast, “web apps” are generally provided to you from a remote server to your web client, which would require a connection. That’s very different.
Want to see where all of this is heading? Have a peek at the above video from iPhoneBuzz that shows an experimental version of Gmail on the iPhone and G1. The application is based on HTML5, a web standard, and works offline with a local database cache.
I couldn’t find a video of the Pre working in offline mode, but let’s think about it for a second. Palm said that all of the native apps on the Pre are built using the same web standards. Do you really think that if you turned off the Pre’s radio, you’d be carrying a useless piece of plastic? Nope. WebOS is based on a Linux kernel, and you can be darn sure there’s some type of web server in it. That would allow the Pre to run apps based on web standards even when there’s no connection. Make sense?
This embracing of web standards for apps doesn’t just make it easier for web developers to create apps for the Pre. I expect a total paradigm shift in both online and offline application capability over the next few years. One that will take us far beyond today’s limitations of hunting for a wireless or mobile broadband signal.
Where does that place the competition in the smartphone market then? Let’s assume for just a second that I’m right and that mobile apps based on maturing web standards are the future. Apple, Google and Palm are all in a position to take advantage of that future. Where does that leave Windows Mobile, Symbian S60 and the BlackBerry platforms? Hmm… All of a sudden the browser engine and underlying services just became more important than ever, no?
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