Filed under: iPod Family, Found Footage, iPhone
Palm emulation for iPhone/iPod touch demonstrated
StyleTap produces software for Windows Mobile devices that allows them to run Palm OS applications. Now they've apparently produced an experimental build of the CrossPlatform Palm emulator for the iPhone / iPod touch, as you can see above. StyleTap makes clear that this is "NOT a product, nor is its presence here a commitment of any kind, express or implied, that StyleTap Inc. will ever release an official version of StyleTap CrossPlatform for Apple iPhone or iPod touch." In other words -- don't ask for a copy, no it's not in beta, and you can't have it. Nonetheless, this proof of concept is quite intriguing. So the question is: would you like to be able to run Palm apps on your iPhone or iPod touch?
[via Digg]
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
phil said 3:11PM on 2-23-2008
Why, o, why would you ever want your iPhone/iPod Touch to look like that? That's like running Windows 3.1 on a MacBook Air.
Reply
Grog said 3:43PM on 2-23-2008
Because there are millions of people who use Palms professionally. In medicine our only choices are Palm and Windows Mobile. I'd sure like an excuse to buy an iPhone. :)
Grog said 3:43PM on 2-23-2008
Because there are millions of people who use Palms professionally. In medicine our only choices are Palm and Windows Mobile. I'd sure like an excuse to buy an iPhone. :)
Ryan Trevisol said 6:30PM on 2-23-2008
One Word. Isilo.
Zic said 8:16PM on 2-26-2008
Dude, people *do* run Windows on the Air; they need it to run legacy applications. Some of us care more about getting our jobs done than our coolness factor.
Jim C. said 3:13PM on 2-23-2008
Heck, yes I'd like to run PalmOS apps on my iPod touch / iPhone!
I've been using various PalmOS handhelds/phones since 1998, and have a *huge* backlog of third-party apps which I consider essential. I'm sure that eventually we'll see iPhone native apps post-SDK, but that's going to take some time, and having a PalmOS virtual machine would speed my willingness to ditch my Treo and go full-time with an iPhone.
I really hope StyleTap puts this out...
Reply
Paul said 3:25PM on 2-23-2008
While I happily dropped my Tungsten T into the abyss of the dead gadget drawer and never looked back, it is really funny to see how much better Palm OS apps run on the iPhone than Palm hardware!
Reply
Bob S. said 3:25PM on 2-23-2008
Absolutely. Internet hipsters like the first commenter may sneer, but the Palm platform has a staggering library of high-quality, well-refined software. Relatively speaking, it would be much more useful on the iPhone and iPod touch than Boot Camp is on the Intel platform.
Reply
phil said 4:12PM on 2-23-2008
Wasn't really trying to sneer. I know tons of people rely heavily on their Palms and 3rd party apps... Now, if they could only make those apps look 1/2 as cool as those on the iPhone.
Gimme hip AND practical.
Jim C. said 5:09PM on 2-23-2008
@phil: Palm apps have often been short on "the pretty" simply because they don't have the built-in storage capacity. With the exception of one model - the Palm TX - all current PalmOS devices have 64MB of on-board memory or less. The pretty graphics you see in most applications are TIFFs, JPGs, GIFs, or PNGs... and take up valuable space in memory, especially compared to ASCII data and window-draw calls to the built-in OS.
My "prettiest" PalmOS app is Palmary Clock - a world clock alarm clock / stopwatch / currency converter. It's also one of the largest apps on my device at 1.2 MB, and far less functional than other apps I have like the most excellent calendar, DateBk6. Style is nice (hey, I'm a Mac user, too!), but few people using PalmOS devices would sacrifice eating up all their on-board storage to lose functionality, and room for storing other apps and data.
Palmary Clock (if you wish to see a "pretty" Palm app):
http://www.palmarysoft.com/products/clock/standard/overview/
George Kirkaldie said 3:41PM on 2-23-2008
Yes, I'd love to use Palm software on the iPhone. I don't want, and have never wanted a Treo, and the iPhone is very limited in what software is available (for now), so having 1 device would be perfect. The main application I want is having a fuel mileage tracking program, which is what I have on the Palm using Automobile from Linkesoft. If that was available on the iPhone, that'd be great, but it isn't.
Reply
JGuest said 4:13AM on 2-24-2008
Sean Harber did one in iApp-A-Day.
niza said 3:46PM on 2-23-2008
I agree that if all you care about is how your iPhone/iPod Touch looks like when it is on then this would seem ridiculous. Some of us want a one of these as a tool not just a fashion accessory! This would easily be one of the best PDA's out there if this was true. The amount of productivity software and (for me) medical software available for palm would make this device an absolute must. I really hope this is actually released as a product. Please!!!!!!
Reply
DaveF said 4:00PM on 2-23-2008
This is a big deal. As BootCamp (and Parallels) made switching to a Mac risk-free, so could a Palm emulator make switching to an iPhone risk-free.
Though it's rarely discussed, the iPhone still isn't an adequate replacement for someone who uses 3rd-party apps on a Palm.
Reply
Naren Hazareesingh said 4:03PM on 2-23-2008
OMG! IF this is ever released, I'll ditch my Palm and buy an iPhone. Gimme.
Reply
Stephen Lang said 4:18PM on 2-23-2008
Now that a video is out demonstrating a pretty good emulator (with soft keyboard support), it's only a matter of time before a emulator comes out.
This is great news, many people have legacy Palm apps that don't have a functional equivalent on iPhone/iPod Touch. Heck, you can even copy and paste!!!
The only issue I can see is somewhat less precise touchscreen (fingers vs. pointy stylus). But with the soft keyboard support, I don't think it will be that big of a deal.
Reply
Mo said 4:24PM on 2-23-2008
It's a nice idea, but to be honest I'd rather go without than run the PalmOS apps on my touch (and I loved the Palm platform—my iPod touch is the first serious contender I've found to my old Tungsten T3)—the two are worlds apart. Just like I *can* run Windows applications on my MacBook, I tend to live without it unless there's really no alternative.
Hopefully, the SDK will be pervasive and the old PalmOS developers will emerge from the woodwork to build native versions of the cool apps. The PalmOS developer community had a lot in common with the Mac indie scene as it is now, though it mostly died out when PalmOne went all Windows Mobile. There were some *very* cool apps, though.
Reply
Tony said 4:45PM on 2-23-2008
Unless the release of the SDK gives me direct replacements for some Palm apps I use *every day* on my Treo 755p, then YES, I would be very interested. Most importantly I need an encrypted password manager with a desktop client. (I'm currently using Passwords Plus from DataViz, but there are others like SplashID...) This is the #1 reason I haven't even considered an iPhone (2nd being it's on AT&T only right now...)
Reply
Abder said 5:46PM on 2-23-2008
It's already here. Have a look at 1Password.
Tony said 7:40PM on 2-24-2008
"It's already here. Have a look at 1Password."
1password is close, but not really the same thing. Passwords Plus is far more flexible, allowing you to save *anything* with fully customizable field names. Not just web stuff. I store all of our work servers info, for example. DNS info, IPs, FTP account info, etc.