1/24/2009 - Palm Pre and webOS CES DEMO

So the biggest product at the Consumer Electronics Show this year in terms of buzz was the Palm Pre (yes, that's the name). It's yet another touch screen smart phone, but this one actually has a chance to compete with the iPhone in terms of features and interface. iPhone users have been clamoring for features like a physical keyboard, multitasking, and copy/paste, and the Palm Pre actually delivers those features out of the box. And unlike recent smartphones like the Blackberry Storm, the interface is smooth and responsive, even when handling multiple applications at once.

Even though I think Steve Jobs' introduction of the iPhone is the best tech demo ever, the product should speak for itself, and that's the case with this introduction of the Palm Pre. The presenter is not a showman like Jobs, but that's not necessary when the product is so slick. It's almost as if Palm expected everybody to be 100% familiar with the iPhone interface, and they wanted to show how the Pre is different or better. I used to have a Palm PDA and I'm glad to see that they are back as a player in the consumer electronics industry.