The web is the future of mobile computing too

I’ve already blogged about Palm’s WebOS and mobile computing in general in the past, but I saw something today that really excited me. Palm announced that they are introducing a fully web-based development environment for PalmOS called `Project Ares‘. Palm has already embraced the Web full-on as their platform technology, and now they are embracing it as a development platform. This may sound cliché in this age of web-based everything, but it represents a commitment to open platform development. Contrast this with Apple’s development model for the iPhone, which requires a recent Mac running the latest OS X and their iPhone SDK. Having had to jump through all their hoops just to get an iPhone development environment set up I can really appreciate what Palm is trying to do here by allowing developers to try the environment without a serious resource commitment just to set up the required development tools.

Couple this with why I think that the Web is winning, and we have some great technology plays here. I just hope that Palm doesn’t become one of the many `better’ technology solutions that have failed in the past.