Palm unveiled some additional details about the webOS platform at the D: All Things Digital Conference. These additional features comprise of Palm Media Sync, the inclusion of Twitter in universal search and a beta version of App Catalog. The webOS platform debuts with the upcoming Palm Pre phone.
The Palm Media Sync feature of the webOS is compatible with Apple’s iTunes store. It will enable the phone to manage activities related to music by connecting Pre to the computer or Mac by using a USB cable. This function can also be used to perform other activities like transferring DRM-free music, photos and videos to the phone. With the Media Sync, the Pre also enables a simple way to side-load media files by connecting it to a computer using a USB cable. Users can also drag and drop content onto the phone as Pre shows up as a drive on the computer’s desktop.
Jon Rubinstein, Palm executive chairman stated, “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. 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.”
He added, “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. 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.”
Owners of Pre can also get individual songs or full albums via the phone from the Amazon MP3 store. While having a connection to a Wi-Fi network, users can download the purchased content too. Besides, the photos clicked by Pre’s 3 megapixel in-built camera can be imported directly using the default desktop photo software.
In addition to this, Twitter has also been incorporated into the webOS Universal Search. It can search almost everything that a user may be looking for. Pre will start searching the phone and the internet both, as soon as the user types the subject on the phone. This complete search feature looks after every aspect of the search on the web like general information, searching location, encyclopedia and even real-time news.
The other important feature on the webOS platform announced in the conference was the beta version of the App Catalog. This application assists the user to find theatres, buy movie tickets and also insert show time to the calendar. It also enables the user to watch movie trailers.
The Palm Pre handset with the webOS platform will be in stores from Sprint for a price of $199.99 on June 6, 2009.