Palm to use Linux

Hi Folks:

Linux now to be used on Palms.

Tony

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Palm unveils 'a new foundation'
April 11, 2007 - 9:27AM

Smart phone maker Palm said on Tuesday it would use a
new platform based on Linux to help the company
compete better.

Palm officials announced the new operating system
platform during a meeting with analysts in New York,
where they also discussed the company's business
strategy and refused to talk about recent rumors of a
possible buyout.

Palm has long used its cornerstone Palm operating
system and last year broadened its customer base by
debuting Treo smart phones based on Microsoft's
Windows Mobile system.

The upcoming Linux-based platform, which Palm had been
developing quietly for several years, will join the
product mix as "a new foundation," Palm Chief
Executive Ed Colligan said.

He said the platform will take the Palm software and
"modernise" it.

The Sunnyvale-based company doesn't own the Palm OS
and spent $US44 million last year for a permanent
license to use it.

Although the Palm OS had set an industry standard for
ease of use in handheld computing years ago and
attracted millions of Palm devotees, some industry
analysts have criticised the ageing platform as
lacking in significant improvements, especially in
handling multimedia applications.

Colligan did not give specific product details but
said the Linux platform, which will give the company
control again over its own operating system, will help
the company lower costs and reduce the time spent to
bring products to market. He said Palm will introduce
Linux-based products later this year.

The Linux platform is part of the company's new
strategy to deliver multiple reference designs -
rather than a single product design - to its
manufacturers and carrier partners, allowing them to
more quickly introduce customisable products with more
varied designs, features and pricing.

The changes come as the Treo maker faces intensifying
smart-phone competition from deep-pocketed rivals,
such as Nokia, Motorola and Samsung Electronics, which
churn out dozens of new mobile phone models each year.

Smart phones - handsets that combine mobile phones
with e-mail, web browsing and other multimedia
capabilities - are moving into the mass market,
Colligan said.

"We think there is a big wave coming in this whole
mobile computing revolution," he said, using a surfing
analogy, "and we're lining ourselves up."

Speculation of Palm getting acquired by either a
larger gadget maker or a private equity firm has
circled on Wall Street over the past few months.

Shares of Palm fell 27 US cents to close at $US16.91
on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

AP

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Received on Wed Apr 11 07:23:23 2007