I haven't been to a regular PalmSource for comparisons, but PalmSource Europe is much smaller. My biggest surprise was how enterprise oriented the show was. I knew that there was a track devoted to enterprise issues, but I wasn't prepared for the overwhelming percentage of people interested in enterprise solutions. This was also apparent from the vendors at the show. Of the twenty or so vendors with booths, four were solutions that allow you to sync large databases, Microsoft Exchange servers, and other large business-oriented information. There were two different companies focusing on security, and an automated testing environment for the Palm that starts at $40,000.
This focus was also obvious in the main keynote address on February 1. Even if it hadn't been obvious, it was explicitly mentioned several times. 80 percent of all Palms are hotsynced at work. 40 percent are paid for or reimbursed by employers. Cross venue (both home and work) solutions were mentioned several times.
They see creating custom applications for individual businesses as an exploding market for Palm developers. Palm has created a new group, Palm Ventures, to help fund companies interested in participating in this new Palm economy fueled by these enterprise needs.
The goal is to take everything you do and make it more efficient. Today's applications will become tomorrow's services providing realtime information for the mobile individual. For example, hook airline databases into the Palm for realtime flight updates or update appointments on the fly from a central calendaring system.
It is in this enterprise market that Microsoft PocketPC devices provide the most competition for Palm OS devices. The third party solutions for syncing to Microsoft Exchange Server and traditional databases like Oracle and Sybase that will help immensely in this market.
There was also a lot of attention paid to mobile technology. Several GSM phone sleds for Palm V were demonstrated. Such wireless connectivity is essentional to the service-based model mentioned above. Realtime updates aren't useful unless your Palm is actually connected. As part of this wireless effort, there was also a push to use Palms as tools for eCommerce including mention of possible eventual incorporation of Smart Cards.
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