After some preliminaries about how Palm was foundering and needed to reboot, and some more preliminaries about what Rubinstein learned from Apple, we got to the demo at the D7 conference.
It started with a quick walkthrough of the Amazon MP3 Store and then jumped to the juicy part: iTunes syncing on a Mac or PC! When you plug the Pre in, a notification pops up offering to let you:
- Media Sync
- USB Drive
- Just Charge
Kara Swisher of the WSJ asks "Is Apple open to this?" Rubenstein is coy "I can't see why they wouldn't be." Ha! We like it. From Rumor to Demo in less than a day.
[image and quotes via Gizmodo]
Update: If this sort of thing interests you (and we know every darn thing about the Pre does), we have the full press release on Palm Media Sync, Twitter integration, and the App Catalog beta after the break.
Palm Unveils More webOS Details: Palm Media Sync, Twitter Integration, App Catalog
New Palm webOS Features Demonstrated at D: All Things Digital Conference
CARLSBAD, Calif., May 28, 2009 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Today at The Wall Street Journal's D: All Things Digital conference, Palm, Inc. (Nasdaq: PALM) introduced attendees to the latest features of the Palm(R) webOS(TM) platform, including Palm media sync, the integration of Twitter in universal search, and a beta version of its App Catalog. Jon Rubinstein, Palm executive chairman, and Roger McNamee, Palm director and co-founder of Elevation Partners, debuted the new webOS features, which will be available on the new Palm Pre(TM) phone when it launches June 6 on Sprint's mobile broadband network.(1)
Palm Media Sync
Palm media sync is a feature of webOS that synchronizes seamlessly with iTunes, giving you a simple and easy way to transfer DRM-free music, photos and videos to your Palm Pre.(2) Simply connect Pre to your PC or Mac via the USB cable, select "media sync" on the phone, and iTunes will launch on your computer desktop. You can then choose which DRM-free media files to transfer.
"We designed Palm media sync to be an easy and elegant way for you to take the content you own and put it on Pre, and it's just one of the ways we think you'll be amazed by webOS," said Rubinstein. "We've had an overwhelming response since we introduced Pre at CES, and with availability just days away, we can't wait to let everyone see firsthand what the excitement is all about."
Pre also acts as a mass storage drive, letting you side-load your media content. Once connected to a computer using the USB cable, Pre will appear as a drive on the computer desktop. You can drag and drop music, photos or video files onto your Pre, or drag files from your Pre to the computer. And, just like a digital camera, Pre works directly with your computer's default desktop photo software to seamlessly import photos captured with Pre's built-in 3-megapixel camera.
In addition to listening to music transferred from your desktop, you can use the on-device Amazon MP3 store to purchase individual songs or full albums over-the-air. You can search by artist, song and genre, and preview and purchase music files. You can then download purchased tracks when you're connected to a Wi-Fi network.
Twitter in Universal Search
Palm also announced that Twitter search is integrated into webOS universal search.(3) Universal search is about finding what you want quickly, whether it's an on-device contact to call, a place you're trying to get to, or a Wikipedia article for encyclopedic information. Just start typing and Pre will figure out if you're looking for a contact, an application, or even let you search the web via Google, Google Maps, Wikipedia and now Twitter. Universal search uses Twitter's search service to sort through real-time current events and news, so universal search now covers every aspect of search on the web: general info, location, encyclopedia, and news.
Twitter's ability to show what's going on right now is a perfect fit for what universal search and Pre are all about. You don't have to be a Twitter user to benefit from Twitter in universal search. It's available for all users, even if they don't have an account, so anyone can keep on top of real-time news and the latest trends.
App Catalog
Rubinstein and McNamee also gave conference attendees an advance look at the beta version of the App Catalog, which will be available on Pre at launch. The beta version will feature applications from developers such as AP News, Citysearch, Fandango, Pandora and uLocate.
"We've received excellent feedback from participants in the Mojo SDK early access program and look forward to the SDK's public release. Developers are very enthusiastic about the platform's ease of use and industry-standard development model," said Rubinstein. "We're excited to launch Pre with the beta version of the catalog, which will give a taste of how the overall webOS ecosystem will work."
The App Catalog was demonstrated at the conference using Fandango's webOS application, which takes advantage of Palm Synergy(TM), a key feature of webOS. It also uses Pre's location-based services to find theaters near you, and lets you watch trailers, buy tickets, add showtimes to your calendar and get directions to the theatre.(1) Also included in the beta App Catalog will be Pandora, which makes use of the platform's multitasking capabilities, running elegantly in the background while you're using other applications. It highlights a unique aspect of the notification bar that lets you know what song is currently playing, and control pause and play without having to go back into the application.
The Palm Pre phone will be available from Sprint on June 6 for $199.99 with a two-year service agreement and $100 mail-in rebate. More information is available at www.sprint.com/palmpre and www.palm.com.
About Palm, Inc.
Palm, Inc. is a leading mobile products company, creating instinctive yet powerful mobile products that enable people to better manage their lives on the go. The company's products for consumers, mobile professionals and businesses include Palm(R) Treo(TM), Pre(TM) and Centro(TM) phones, as well as software, services and accessories.
Palm products are sold through select Internet, retail, reseller and wireless operator channels throughout the world, and at Palm online stores (http://www.palm.com/store).
More information about Palm, Inc. is available at http://www.palm.com.
(1) Use of this device requires providing a valid email address, mobile phone number, and related information for account setup and activation. Unlimited usage data plan strongly recommended; additional data charges may apply. Within wireless coverage area only. Number of applications and actual performance will vary depending on applications used and actions performed.
(2) Compatible with iTunes 8.1.1 on Windows XP/Vista and Mac OS X version 10.3.9-10.5.7
(3) Searches web and user's applications, contacts, and dialing information. Web search within wireless coverage area only, requires data services at additional cost.
Palm, Treo, Pre, webOS, Synergy and Centro are among the trademarks or registered trademarks owned by or licensed to Palm, Inc. All other brand and product names are or may be trademarks of, and are used to identify products or services of, their respective owners.
SOURCE: Palm, Inc.
Comments
I don't own a Mac, but I'm guessing there are some Mac users out there who are tired of being left out in the cold.
Nice.
It's not just a Mac thing. It's an iTunes thing. The iPod users who haven't bought the iPhone will have no problem getting their music, videos, and photos on their Pre.
This is a feature that everyone thinks might be useful - for someone else.
?
It's useful for me.
Here's the full significance of this announcement:
iTunes has become the media synchronization center for Macs. By hooking in natively with iTunes, the Pre is better integrated with the Mac overall. This eliminates one of the tradeoff arguments people would otherwise face when deciding between the Pre and the iPhone.
Absolutely, and having these options: *Media Sync *USB Drive or *Just Charge, are huge.
Useless announcement to me. iTune sync is really nothing exciting to me, I was hoping for a 4G or something more interesting. Disappointing.
I actually didn't expect anything truly "new" at all-- and this is good news for me. I'm an iPod Classic / iPod Touch user, so my media is already sitting in iTunes-- this will make things that much more slick.
I'll likely be able to move content from any machine with iTunes to my Pre. Nice.
Right about now, I'd expect someone to say the Pre's 8GB's to be limiting for those iPod and iPhone users who are used to 16GB's or considering 32GB's.
I still hate itunes, its such a mem hog...
whatever happened to "songbird"...
I just wonder what would happen if you plug into one computer using iTunes then plug into another computer using iTunes. Will it do what it does on the iPod making it want to take out all the old music and only upload what is on the iTunes you have plugged into?
Actually, I can drop music onto my iPod Touch from a number of different machines / iTunes libraries without it trying to wipe my iPod-- it's set to manually manage music. It's only when you have it set to automatically sync whenever iTunes is open that you run into issues of it wanting to wipe the device to sync it up with the library it's connected to.
I imagine the Pre will be similar in allowing me to drop music onto it from more than one device. I suppose a full "auto-sync" might be available, but with only 7 gigs... not sure how many people would use it.
I always like the Treo's but needed to carry an iPod because of the music....then bought an iPhone to be better converged. Now - looking to win a Pre because it will be the "perfect" device that the iPhone isn't because it lacks a tactile keyboard.
Oh happy days!
Palm is back
Have people noticed that it doesn't sync DRM-encrypted files? That would include most music bought through iTunes until recently. Or am I wrong?
These days almost all of the iTunes music store is DRM Free. The Videos though are still suffering the use of DRM,
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