PalmSource has announced at its developer seminar, currently under way in Munich, that Palm OS 6, code-named Sahara, will be complete by December 29th. The new version will focus on wireless technology standards, security and multimedia.
Developers will also be able to write fully ARM native applications. With OS 5 developers have had to use armlet’s, or snippets of ARM code, to speed up applications to take advantage of ARM processors. OS 6 will also include Multi-processing/threading features, web services (XML/SOAP), a reference Java VM and the PalmSource proxy-less web browser.
Assuming the first devices to be native are released in the spring – a somewhat usual delivery timeframe for PalmOne, will existing OS 5 devices be upgradeable?? I really like the idea of the Treo (with possible SDIO WiFi), but don’t want to be too locked in, though upgrades and trade-ins always work.