Palm Shares Vision for Near-Term, Including New Version of The Palm OS

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NEWS FLASH 2000 - 46 (Dec. 2000)
(Updated on Dec. 20, 2000)

TECHNOLOGY

Palm Shares Vision for Near-Term, Including New Version of The Palm OS

Feeling the competitive heat from the likes of Microsoft’s Pocket PC and RIM’s Blackberry, Palm, Inc. used the PalmSource2000 conference to release a beta version of the Palm operating system, which it hopes will transform its electronic organizers into robust devices for wireless voice and data communication.

Carl Yankowski, chief executive officer, released details of version 4.0 of the Palm OS. The new version supports the following:

16-bit color
Bluetooth wireless connectivity
USB connections for easier PC syncing
Advanced security capabilities
Wireless telephony

According to a press release issued by Motorola, Palm has taken steps to port its operating system from Motorola Dragonball chip, which is at the heart of its current handhelds, to chips based on designs from Intel's ARM Holdings. ARM processors, which are used by Palm’s competitors, will provide the power required to run the next generation of applications built on such platforms as Java. Motorola, meanwhile, has a faster Dragonball processor for Palm. This implies multi-platform microprocessor support for Palm.

Furthermore, Yankowski said that next year Palm handhelds will be able to access most of the major wireless standards, including CDPD, CDMA, GSM, GPRS, PDC, and Mobitex. Also, they expect to support J2ME - Java development environment for small devices from Sun.

Highlights of Palm’s Short-term Vision

Net PIM: Creation of MyPalm™ portal, which would be shipped in a beta version by the end of the year. The portal will include wireless e-mail, on-line calendars, and browsing.
Communication Phase I: In 2001, the company will extend its e-mail solution to include message notification, instant messaging and access to Microsoft Exchange.
Communication Phase 2: Initially, adding voice via telephony then incorporating voice as data into the Palm OS for the next generation of smartphones.
Security Phase I: Handhelds to be used as passkeys and to function as a wallet for storing confidential data such as the user’s driver’s license, passport, and credit cards.
Security Phase 2: Palm devices will be used as e-wallets for conducting secure transactions.

Other Directional Statements and Product Announcements
Focus on enterprise development tools to support business productivity. ThinAir Apps demonstrated an application that lets users access corporate data and then print it wirelessly on a printer via Bluetooth. Metrowerks Inc. of Austin will release a version of Code warrior for Pam Version 7that will support Mac OS X operating system. AppForge Inc. of Atlanta announced support for Visual Basic for Palm OS.

For more information:
www.prnewswire.com/
www.corporate-ir.net/ireye/

Mobileinfo Comments and Advisory: PalmOS and hardware supported by PalmOS must move beyond the role of an outstanding organizer for the professional to an outstanding handheld device for the enterprise. We think that this will be a task that will require many fundamental changes in the device, application software support and its acceptance by line-of-business workers. What works in a horizontal application does not necessarily work in a vertical industry application. Their continuing success in messaging and associated applications is more certain than in enterprise industry applications. Palm executives must not be complacent and may have to learn from many different sectors including its competitors.

Note: This news release may contain forward-looking statements. Readers should take appropriate caution in developing plans utilizing these products, services and technology architectures.

All trademarks used in this summary are the property of their respective owners.

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