Interoperability

Remember when we first adopted technologies such as RSS feeds and publicly available Web application APIs? The design change was a shift to better interoperability for the user. The result was a better overall user experience on the Internet.

This concept is echoed all over in webOS’s design fundamentals. The recent cat and mouse game with Apple over iTunes is the most widely known and obvious example. This was never an issue for me. I use Ubuntu as my desktop operating system. There’s no version of iTunes for Ubuntu. Even if there was, I wouldn’t use it. I prefer to simply copy my DRM free music right from my hard drive onto the Pre. Increasingly, people want the media they buy to play on all the devices they own. With webOS on the Pre, it’s just that easy – without installing any additional software.

Palm introduced us to the world of device syncing a long time ago. This is how most iPhone and iPod users update their music now. Unlike these devices, the Palm does not require any additional software installations for the user. In fact, information like calendars, phone numbers, and even your facebook accounts are all kept in sync over the wireless connection.

Palm is making it a point to have webOS openly communicating in every way it can. In a way, a Pre running webOS is a well established little node of your social network. If you’re chatting with a friend over google chat and they go offline, you’ll automatically switch to sending text messages to their phone. The experience is seemless from your point of view.

Application Development

I recently installed the Palm Mojo SDK and built my first test app. With my existing CSS knowledge, I laid out a simple tile based grid with a sprite on top. I was surprised to recognize the MVC architecture of the framework. I’m familiar with MVC from building Web applications. Any Web 2.0 era developer will likely remember how things changed with MVC frameworks first came on the scene. The big difference here is that the language is javascript and the application runs on the smartphone client instead of a web server.

A significant section of the tech community criticized the SDK. It’s entirely true that developing games that take advantage of the machine’s hardware is not possible in the SDK. However, early homebrewers had 3D videogames running on the Pre before the SDK was released. The Pre and webOS have the capacity for gaming level graphics.

The Mojo SDK creates a low barrier of entry to thousands of Web developers interested in building smartphone apps. If you want a simple interface for your Web app, building it on the Pre is extremely easy.

Conclusion

If you’re like me, and you’re a fan of Clay Shirky, you might already see the formula that’s at play here. Palm opened up channels to lots of existing technology by improving interoperability in webOS. Then, Palm made it easy and inviting to come contribute to this new exploration. Palm didn’t just release a great smartphone, they created an architecture for participation. Thank you Palm.

Ars is reporting that Boxee is gaining an apps store (has a new API for Plugins!) and is getting it’s own hardware next year.

quick intro to boxee from boxee on Vimeo.

I’m sure Boxee is not the only project of this nature in the works right now. I’m also sure that there’s about to be a whole new marketing opening up in front of our televisions soon. If only I had a rich investor friend. ;)

I recently started exploring home theater computer systems such as LinuxMCE and Boxee. I had a vague sense of what I wanted before I started looking. These applications were interesting, but not the experience I was looking for. I wasn’t searching for a TV replacement. I did want to consume media, but that’s not all I wanted to do. It came to me while Nino’s mom was visiting. I fired up the Wii so Nino could show off Raging Rabbids. Meanwhile, I found myself playing with the news and weather applications. I sat there watching the view jump around a map of the earth while related news items were shown at the bottom. That was the trigger that brought it all together in my mind.

So the next gadget to change our lives (one of the next) will be an appliance that hooks up to our televisions. Like a console, it will run a custom operating system and developers will be able to create software specifically for this system. Like your home PC, it will most likely have a keyboard. However, it will also have a unique control device not entirely unlike the Wiimote.

The machine will be extremely inexpensive. The company that creates this machine will not be profiting from selling the hardware itself. Instead, the company will profit from 1) the sale of software for the machine and 2) a percentage of e-comerce transactions that occur on the machine.

Unlike a game console system, the device (probably) will not contain any kind of CD/DVD reader. All software and system updates will be installed over the Internet from an online application store. Just like the iPhone app store, Android app store, and the soon to be Pre app store – developers will be able to publish thier software entirely digitally. This same model is showing up on console systems as well.

While existing console system (Xbox 360, PS3, & Wii) are a close match technically, this revolutionary new system will not be gaming centric. There will be a wide variety of software available for the system. Some of it will support commercial transactions. App developers will have access to easy-to-use e-commerece APIs. Simple, secure, and effective microtransactions will be realized.

While this new system may include a Web browser, the Web will not be a primary focus. Much like smart phones and other mobile devices, custom apps will replace popular Web apps. You already see this method in practice; the iPhone uses custom apps to replace the Web interfaces for Google Maps and Youtube.

Here are some apps I imagine we will see:

• Media consumption (news & entertainment in video, audio, and text)
• Interactive weather – imagine updated radar loops applied over Google Earth, imagine zooming in on your city and seeing animated weather matching the weather outside your window.
• Calendar connected to all the other calendars you and your family use (Google Calendar, Yahoo, Outlook, whatever…)
• Games from casual to hardcore.
• Unique social software, well beyond what we see in app like Facebook today.
• Video phone tech that will replace the house phone.
• Home automation connected to the “smart grid” monitoring home energy usage and turning on your coffee pot in the morning.

The news and weather applications built into the Nintendo Wii are perfect examples of user interface innovation that can happen when application developers escape the limitations found inside of a Web browser. Still, the Wii feels like a toy. We can do better.

You may choose to put touch screen displays all through your house and hook them into the system. Your home security system will likely be connected (very much like LinuxMCE).

It will start as a simple set-top box that covers tasks currently performed by your home PC, game consoles, and media appliances (blue ray, dvd, etc). However, it will evolve into the “ships computer” of your home, RV, and automobile. You’ll be able to interface with the system with your wireless computing device (that we’re now calling “smart phones”)…

I can’t wait to see it when it happens.