14 DAY TRIAL // According to the latest news on the Web, Palm has recently stepped up and put an end to the nice-looking TealOS, the user interface that was able to make any old Palm handset running under the Palm OS look just like the upcoming Pre with what its webOS was supposed to look like. TealPoint Software has just published a post on its official messageboard announcing the bad news for Palm OS users.
According to the post, Palm has requested the guys from TealPoint Software to stop selling or distributing the TealOS. The last day that the UI is still available for download is today, March 30, 2009. Here is what the post says:
“We really appreciate the help and unprecedented enthusiasm so many of you have shown for this product. It's been a long time since we experienced this kind of customer cooperation, and the program's success came at a badly needed time. We wish we could continue contributing to this great community.
“For those of you who have already purchased the product, your copies will continue to function, of course, but we encourage you to download the latest beta copies to insure you have a stable version you are happy with and back it up to a safe place, as you'll no longer be able to download it after Monday. We'll continue through the weekend to try to get as many bug fixes and requested improvements in as we can before then.”
The news comes as a surprise for some, and it should in a way, given the fact that Palm has put a lot of efforts into developing both Pre and its new operating system, webOS. At the same time, we also know that the mobile phone maker needs the upcoming handset to be a success, so as to regain some of the market share it has been losing lately, and the TealOS UI might have given the handset a lot of free publicity.
On the other hand, the company's move is somehow entitled, as a lot of users who owned a Palm OS-powered handset were so thrilled with the TealOS UI that they even thought about using it for a long time and not go for a Pre instead. While this was rather unlikely to affect Pre's traction among users, Palm might have seen it as such, and decided that it would be better to remove TealOS from the picture.
Given the fact that the webOS will not be here for a few weeks at least (the latest rumors suggest that the Palm Pre featuring it might get launched as soon as one month from now), those who own a Palm OS-powered handset should give it a try while they still can, just to have an idea of what should come in the near future for them.