The controversial Palm Pre Theme!!

I like the Palm Pre…Maybe it’s because I like crap.

Palm’s phones were killer enterprise demons before the world went iPhone crazy and every company had to release a competitor.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great phone and everything, but I can’t help but compare it to the BlackBerry Storm…another example of an enterprise heavyweight trying to make something for the fat-fingered consumer to smear with his jelly-stained digits.

Palm tried to break into the consumer market with the Centro and really scored a hit,  but at $99, the Centro’s margins were paper thin and  an iPhone Killer* was needed.  So we’ve got the Pre, equipped with WebOS.

And What better way to celebrate it than by creating homescreen skins that copy the design?  The iPhone’s got one, and Android’s got one.

Well, yeah, see…it won’t be for long Palm apparently hit the designer of the “Palm Pre Android Theme” with a cease and desist order ,  so naturally I ran over to the Android Market and grabbed it.  It’s free, why not?

Better Android Palm Pre theme

So here it is,  not too shabby, eh?

The theme’s designer posted Palm’s C&D order in its entirety, and within it, Palm said:

“Without further investigation, Palm is willing to assume that you did not use Palm’s copyrighted images or adopt the Palm Pre Android Theme name with the intention of infringing Palm’s copyright rights or trading on the goodwill that Palm has developed in its valuable PALM and Palm Prē marks. Palm would prefer to resolve this matter amicably and without the need to resort to other legal remedies. However, we must receive written confirmation by [date redacted] 2009 that you will cease using the Palm Pre Android Theme name, as well as any other Palm or Palm Prē-based names for current or future software products, and that you will cease use and distribution of the Palm Prē user interface. Your failure to provide the requested written confirmation of this request in a timely fashion would suggest your intention to willfully infringe Palm’s trademark and copyright rights and could subject you to significant damages.”

So I advise you to go and pick it up, it’s not even that great of a theme, really…you could do a lot better.  But what the hell, it’s kind of funny, it’s most likely going to go away (at least in name), and it’s MUCH BETTER THAN THE iPHONE’S VERSION.

*If you’ve ever read my writings on Betanews, you’ll know that I fucking hate the term “iPhone Killer,” almost as much as I hate the terms “Kerfuffle,” and “Perfect Storm,”  but I’ll be damned if this hasn’t been turned into the name for all touchscreen devices designed with high consumer engagement but low enterprise value.