Dan Frommer's post this morning over at Silicon Alley Insider suggests that one of the missing pieces from the competitive pie, as far as Google and Palm's mobile OS offerings are concerned, is a 3G-free & contractless device. Something, perhaps, like the iPod touch. Absent a way for consumers and developers to buy into the platform without the burden of a monthly cellphone contract, he argues, the two players are unlikely to build the critical mass of apps and app purchasers that would grant vitality and staying power in the face of the Apple/App Store ecosystem.

It's easy to see that the touch provides a great boost to the App Store juggernaut; about one-third of the 50 million-plus iPhone OS devices are estimated to be iPod touch units, and all those owners are potential app and music customers. Certainly there's an audience for Android (if not WebOS, which is more telephony-centric to my mind) on a disconnected gadget?

Unfortunately, Frommer's analysis is missing two key pieces of market data. Number one, as was adroitly pointed out by Joachim on Sunday's talkcast, there already is a contract-free developer handheld for Android, available for $399 from the Android Market... exactly what he proposes in the last paragraph of his story. There's also the new Archos 5 Internet Tablet, a consumer-grade, contract-free and phoneless Android tablet, ready for the eager Android personal media player buyers to snap up. (The equivalent contract-free Pre is a stark $899, and there is no 3G-less WebOS device that I can find.) Update: A commenter notes the Creative Zii Egg, another impending Android PMP that looks astonishingly like an Apple product.

That's where we come to the second market truth that Frommer missed, and it's a harsh one: Nobody knows, and nobody cares. Even a guy writing about this precise topic had no idea -- and apparently couldn't quickly discover from a casual search -- that these devices were already out in the field, despite frequent coverage of the Archos device on Engadget and elsewhere over the past few months. If there's any starker evidence that the market for non-phone Android and WebOS devices simply doesn't exist yet, I can't imagine what it would be.

Part of the reason for the iPod touch's success is that it clearly combined two already-successful products: the iPhone and the iPod. The 'elevator pitch' for the device ("It's an iPhone but with Wi-Fi instead of the phone") is simple and straightforward. Unfortunately for Android, there really isn't a dynamic personal media player market anymore that supports a phoneless entrant... it got eaten by the iPod.

I do think it would be healthy for the iPhone and for the portable OS market in general if developers and customers had more contract-free options on the other platforms. Still, the retroactive wish-fulfillment of Frommer's post doesn't bode well. "Oh, they already have that? Gosh."

Okay kids, this is starting to get a little out of hand now. Palm has once again pushed back at Apple, releasing webOS 1.2.1 today that "resolves an issue preventing media sync from working with the latest version of iTunes." What's that issue, you might ask? Well, I'd say the fact that Apple isn't too happy that Palm is breaking all sorts of rules to make their device appear as an iPhone.

It all started back in May, when it was determined that plugging a Palm Pre into a Mac will allow it to sync content with iTunes with no issues. This honeymoon period didn't last too long and once Apple figured out what was going on, Apple swiftly released an update to iTunes that prevented syncing from non-Apple devices.

Apparently, that wasn't good enough for Palm and it was determined that they were trying to make the Pre appear to be an Apple device when it was plugged in for syncing. Palm turned around and released yet another webOS update that fixed the sync and it worked well until the USB-IF got involved and sided with Apple, telling Palm they had to cease and desist.

Looks like Palm is back on the attack and this latest release is sure to stir up the pot once again.

Two of Apple's rival mobile platforms announced news this week at the 2009 Mobile World Congress, with Windows Mobile 6.5 on the way, and a new Android-based handset from HTC.

Windows Mobile has updated its user interface to more closely resemble the iPhone's. I can imagine the brainstorming session:

Developer 1: "It needs to look, work, and feel like the iPhone, but -- you know -- not be."

Developer 2: "Instead of putting the icons on a rectangular grid, let's do a (one two three four five six) hexagonal one!"

Developer 1: "Brilliant! Book it. Done."

I kid, I kid. I'm sure it was more complicated than that. Anyway, Windows Mobile will also feature two new services, a "My Phone" synchronization service, and a new marketplace that will sell mobile applications from both phones and desktops. It's like I've heard this song before, but can't remember exactly where.

Also at the conference, HTC announced the Magic, a handset to run Google's Android operating system. Unlike the G1, the Magic will not have a slide-out keyboard. It will first be available to Vodafone customers in the UK, Germany and Spain, among other European carriers. Cult of Mac's Ed Sutherland suspects T-Mobile will carry the handset in the U.S. because it can handle the phone's transmission protocols.

Both the Windows Mobile and Android platforms also announced they'll support Flash (along with Symbian and Palm's new webOS) in 2010. And what of the iPhone? No dice: Adobe lobs the ball back in Apple's court, saying during the announcement, "We would love to see it on the iPhone, too, but it's Apple's decision on when and how they support any new technology. So we will continue to work on it."

[Via Hardmac, MDN, and IGM.]

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has awarded Apple patent number 7,479,949 covering key aspects of the iPhone's multi-touch user interface.

The filing, with 358 pages of drawings and Steve Jobs as its first author, comprehensively describes the iPhone operating system's interface, and how hardware on the phone interprets finger movements and taps as instructions for the software. The filing makes liberal use of the word "heuristics" -- a trial-and-error-based engineering technique that reduces the calculations necessary to arrive at a solution to a problem. Heuristics may not always be correct, but good heuristics result in something at least close to the right answer.

This patent, combined with Tim Cook's statement about protecting Apple's intellectual property during their first-quarter conference call, is a shot across the bow for Palm and their new Pre smartphone. Cook said that Apple would aggressively defend their IP, and a patent covering that IP is an important shield for Apple.

AppleInsider also notes that the patent covers features not seen on the iPhone, but interestingly are critical features of the Palm Pre. For example, Apple's patent mentions a touch-sensitive area that does not display visual output: a dead-ringer for the Pre's gesture area, separate from the touch screen.

The Pre uses multi-touch gestures as part of its webOS interface. If the technologies in Palm's devices are found to infringe on Apple's patents, Palm will either have to change the way the device works, or license the technology from Apple. The likelihood of Apple granting Palm a license is slim to none.

[Via AppleInsider.]