Palm's Last Stand

I love how the iPhone has been driving innovation through competition.  A while ago I also pointed out what I believe to be the biggest Achilles heel of the iPhone and how that might provide an opening to beat the iPhone.  Well the first contender for the role of Paris has shown up and it is Palm.  Palm?  Yes, Palm unveiled the Palm Pre at CES.

The Pre does exactly what I suggested, which is to use the standard Javascript, HTML, CSS model to program the entire device.  Apparently the apps that come with the Pre are all written using the same approach.  This tremendously lowers the barriers for app development, which are quite steep for the iPhone.  It also will allow for a much more fluid back and forth between apps and the web.  I am very curious to see their security model around letting Javascript access the core functionality of the phone and also how different Javascript apps can extend or modify each other.

This is still a long shot, not just given Palm’s damaged reputation following many stumbles over the last years, but also the fact that Apple has so many complementary things going for them (e.g., music distribution).  Still, this appears like a meaningful attempt and it is worth keeping in mind that Apple at one point had also been written off.