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    StyleTap Released for Windows Mobile SmartphonePosted By: Ryan on Friday, January 19, 2007 1:49:32 PM
StyleTap has announced that a preview version of StyleTap Platform for Windows Mobile Smartphone edition is now available. StyleTap Platform enables the world's largest base of mobile applications, the estimated 30,000 applications written to run on Palm OS, to run on some of the latest Windows Mobile Smartphones, including the Motorola Q, T-Mobile Dash and the Samsung Blackjack.
"The big problem in the mobile world is that it gets more and more fragmented as major vendors bring out more and more devices that are incompatible in large and small ways with the other devices on the market," said Gregory Sokoloff, CEO of StyleTap Inc., "Software applications that add great utility to these smartphones and PDAs tend to run on a diminishing proportion of these devices, because the developers cannot afford to re-engineer their applications for every new device that appears. The result is bad for consumers who get less useful devices and bad for developers who get smaller markets for their products. StyleTap seeks to counter this trend by enabling a diverse set of devices to run the same software applications with no re-engineering required. We already support the wide variety of Pocket PCs on the market; today we are adding the Smartphone; and in the future we intend to address other popular devices, such as those based on the Symbian OS." StyleTap Platform for Windows Smartphone enables most Palm OS applications (including multimedia applications and games) to run, unmodified, on any device running Windows Mobile 5.0 for Smartphone. The software comes with everything needed to download and run Palm OS applications, and supports cut and paste of text and bitmaps between Windows Mobile applications and Palm OS applications. StyleTap also supports the landscape screen orientation favored by many of the newer devices. It also provides a display cursor controlled by the 5-way navigation button as a substitute for a touchscreen. StyleTap Platform for Windows Smartphone can be downloaded for a free 14-day trial. The preview version is a public release intended to solicit feedback from early users on any issues or problems prior to official release. The company expects the preview period for StyleTap Platform for Windows Smartphone to be less than 60 days. Users purchasing the preview version during the preview period will get a free upgrade to the official version when it is released. The software is also available for Pocket PC based devices such at the Treo 700w and 750.
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Article Comments
12 total comments The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. PIC is not responsible for them in any way. login or register for free in order to post comments.  RE: Not again.
Cool product, especially if you are making a move from Palm to WinMob. ACCESS/PalmSource needs to borrow a few of those Apple lawyers.
I'm still waiting for the mythical color HandEra. Thinking about Vista? Think again: http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/pubs/vista_cost.txt RE: Not again.expalmuser @ 1/22/2007 5:36:02 PM #
The lawyers should already be on it. ACCESS ran compatibility studies on StyleTap in the past, and the compatibility with OS 5 SDK was amazingly good. Translation: most of your apps will really run just fine, as long as they don't do anything fancy.
The big question is, of course, whether ACCESS/Palmsource will allow this to continue. RE: Not again.
Translation: most of your apps will really run just fine, as long as they don't do anything fancy.
Yes, I've heard that this is true. Interestingly, I looked through the "certified" compatibility list below, and didn't see even one app that I currently have on my Palm. Maybe most of the apps I use will run on StyleTap, but I just thought it was interesting that none of those developers seem interested in having their apps "certified". Hmm, I wonder if it can handle Chinese OS and input systems. I suppose that might send it for a loop. That would be a show-stopper for me. RE: Not again.expalmuser @ 1/23/2007 12:47:21 PM #
What StyleTap cannot handle well is lower-level hardware stuff, such as Bluetooth communication in particular. In general, anything that doesn't map nicely from Palm OS to WinMob is a question mark. So, "normal" programs that just draw something on the screen and respond to screen taps will do just fine. If the app sends info over Bluetooth, rotates the screen from landscape to portrait, accesses SD card, you will more likely run into problems.
RE: Not again.
What StyleTap cannot handle well is lower-level hardware stuff, such as Bluetooth communication in particular. Of course the biggest hole is that StyleTap doesn't support Palm conduits for synchronizing data with the desktop. Palm probably likes StyleTap because it provides a (relatively) smooth upgrade path from Palm OS to their pricier Windows Mobile Treos. I understand that some developers have found their Palm apps perform a lot better in StyleTap on the 700w than they do if you port them to Windows Mobile. (I know of one company that spent several months porting to .NET only to find the end result completely unusable due to terrible performance.) Of course, it's really pricey to bundle your app with StyleTap to support Windows Mobile, but for certain apps some customers are apparently willing to pay. I don't think there's any credibility at all to the idea that Palm would acquire StyleTap. 
 First non-touch-screen PalmOS devices
and it had to come from its competitors ;) Surur
Developers on board to Join:
Applications that feature the Runs on StyleTap logo have been certified by their developers for use with StyleTap platform.
If your favorite application is not in the list – just try it on a trial version of StyleTap Platform or ask the developer to contact us. We’ll be happy to work with them to ensure compatibility and good performance. Stickman Software Hoops
PALM has mentioned acquiring companies in the pastSeldomVisitor @ 1/20/2007 7:53:48 AM #
Perhaps a target is being discussed.
[if this is as useful as it appears, I cannot imagine PALM not wanting control of it - do they have control of it already?]
Maybe there's eventually hope for WinceMob
The early versions of StyleTap were less than impressive - more of a neat demo. But good to see they are seriously developing it and apparently charging well for it.
If they use that $$$$ to keep improving the platform, maybe there's eventually hope for the Treo if Palm stays in business long enough to jam WinceMob down our throats. Certainly Palm isn't doing much at all to save itself or even motivate the users from over 10 years to make a switch to Wince (other than that tempting 240x320 screen that shows how well WinceMo is designed). As usual, 5 drunken teenagers (I'm guessing here) have managed to come up with and implement another clever idea that may rescue a company that apparently has just released a handheld that isn't even compatible with the tons of $60.00 cradles they have sold the past couple years. Looney.
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