PalmSource Working to Make Palm OS Cobalt a Better Gaming Platform

PalmSource has announced plans to build the OpenGL ES Application Program Interfaces (APIs) into a future version of Palm OS Cobalt. This will help developers create high-end games and other applications that need advanced 3D graphics.

OpenGL ES is a low-level, lightweight, and open API standard for displaying 2D and 3D graphics on mobile devices. PalmSource will offer its own software implementation of the OpenGL ES APIs, which will help its licensees include OpenGL ES-compliant hardware in future Palm OS handhelds and smartphones.

"We've been dreaming about something like this for a long time," said Scott Corley, CEO Red Mercury. "We believe platform support for OpenGL ES will position PalmSource as a strong contender in the Mobile Gaming community and Palm OS as the killer mobile game and graphics development platform. Today's announcement is certain to get the attention of software developers who just want a platform to do cool things on."

Standardized Graphics Model

Palm OS Cobalt already includes rendering technology, much of which was created by former developers of Be, Inc. PalmSource will introduce a standardized graphics driver model for Palm OS Cobalt that will accelerate both the application-level OpenGL ES APIs and the 2D graphics operations performed by Cobalt's built-in rendering technology. This will allow chipset vendors to concentrate on a single, standardized set of acceleration specifications, and allows Palm OS Cobalt to take full advantage of the growing number of graphics chipsets that support the OpenGL ES API.

PalmSource has joined the Khronos Group, the industry consortium responsible for the ongoing development of OpenGL ES. More information about OpenGL ES is available on the Khronos Group's web site.

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