Palm's next-generation Nova operating system has been in the works for more than a year and is expected to be released this week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Also rumored is one more surprise -- a new smartphone using Nova.
Although the rumor of a new phone has been swirling since last month, it's expected to debut at CES on Thursday.
Jon Rubinstein, Palm's executive chairman, told Business Week that the company will launch a product that bridges Research In Motion's BlackBerry devices and Apple's iPhone. Rubinstein worked for Apple for nearly a decade.
Perfect Timing
Although analysts are seeing a downturn in mobile-phone sales, converged mobile devices such as smartphones are racking up success. Smartphones have most of the features of mobile phones, including personal information management, games, office applications, and multimedia, but a major differing factor is the operating system.
High-level operating systems -- including Android, BlackBerry, Linux, Mac OS X, Palm and Symbian -- are helping the smartphone market stand out, according to IDC.
Smartphones are expected to grow 8.9 percent worldwide this year, according to IDC. Beyond 2009, growth is expected to return to double digits faster than the overall mobile-phone market.
But will Palm have a piece of that market? Some observers are already counting Palm out, while others insist that's premature.
Palm's Future
Palm's move to release a new OS and phone could not come at a better time for the struggling company. A successful operating system will save Palm from a lot of speculation about what it has been working on in the past year.
"This will be a way for them to say you have all this money from U2's Bono and Elevation Partners -- what do you have to show for it?" said Ramon Llamas, senior analyst of mobile devices, technology and trends...

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