The Palm Pre can best the iPhone in terms of hardware and software, as long as the developer community pulls through. How is the Pre going to accomplish this? Synergy and location-based applications. We already saw Chris Davies take on the Pre’s secret weapon, but after seeing Fandango pull of a simple additional step by creating a calendar appointment after a movie ticket purchase, I realized how much more the Pre has going for it than the iPhone.
Synergy in the Pre is really referring to the ability of the contact application to pull down information from multiple sources, such as GMail, Facebook and Exchange. Looking at the broader application of the word, I realized Synergy was referring to the ability of the applications to talk to each other. Yes, an iPhone can send a map link over to Google Maps, and you can look up a location, or YouTube knows to launch, but the Pre is special. The applications are talking to each other and executing commands based on user input and interaction. Sure, we saw the calendar appointment being placed into the user’s schedule by Fandango, but what if BEFORE you made the purchase, Fandango took a look at your schedule and realized you have a meeting during the time you’re trying to buy the ticket? It could come up with a warning, asking you if you realize that you have a schedule conflict. That would be the best feature ever! Well, maybe not, but it would be awesome regardless.
The simplicity of my phone being able to tell me my schedule and determine when I have conflicts before I spend $14 on two movie tickets is surprising. Why hasn’t anyone thought of this before? All of the information is there, and all it took were some open API’s and two applications talking to each other with a simple exchange of information. The Pre has the potential to prevent simple mistakes such as over-committing myself in my schedule, or even just reminding me that I work too much and need to relax sometimes to go to a movie.
Check out the video below (which to our knowledge is the only one) and see for yourself. Although it was a little slow in getting the lock, due to being indoors and practically below ground in an undisclosed nuclear fall-out shelter (just kidding), it eventually gave us what we were looking for.
More Palm Pre videos from CTIA 2009 and MWC 2009 for your viewing pleasure!
Tim Pettitt demo Palm Pre @CTIA09
Sprint Palm Pre calling features demo @ CTIA09
Palm Pre classic application demo
Tim Pettitt demo Amazon store on Palm Pre @ CTIA09
Fandango demoed on Palm Pre at CTIA 2009
Tim Pettitt demo FlightView Palm Pre @ CTIA09
Sprint Palm Pre calling features demo @ CTIA09
Palm Pre: 26-minutes live demo!
Palm Pre demoed on Sprint Webcast 03/12/09
Due to technical difficulties, the audio portion of the video did not get captured.
Palm Pre Calendar Synergy Live Demo at MWC09
Palm Pre gestures demo in slow motion
Vic Gundotra Demo HTML Google Map Palm Pre at MWC09
