in Stamford, Conn., took a more cautious approach, saying that the limited amount of information released by Palm prior to the start of its developers conference made it hard for him to determine whether the Palm OS would be equal to Windows CE.
Ken Dulaney, an analyst at Gartner Group Inc.
The new software release puts Palm "on par with the Pocket PC," Dewey said.
Mace also declined to speculate about when new hardware would reach the market, but he said PalmSource expects to deliver the final version of the new operating system to manufacturers and developers by this summer.īarney Dewey, an analyst at Andrew Seybold LLC in Los Gatos, Calif., predicted that hardware based on the new operating system should be on sale before the end of this year.ĭewey said Palm OS 5 should provide strong competition to Pocket PC hardware running on Microsoft Corp.'s rival operating system, Windows CE. Symbol didn't return calls for comment by deadline. Holly McDermott, a spokeswoman for Handspring, said, "We believe supporting the ARM processor is the right move to advance the OS," but she declined to say when Handspring would introduce hardware based on the new operating system. Mace added that a built-in emulator in the new operating system will allow users to run programs developed for the old operating system - and in some cases, run them faster. The sales department might need smart phones, other departments standard handhelds, and warehouse and inventory management systems another," Mace said.
"This marketplace is not like the technology market, where one size fits all. That's because Palm and PalmSource believe "diversity" is the hallmark of the handheld market, Mace said. "We're going to be more aggressive about licensing in the future," Mace said. But Mace said the number of licensees should grow as PalmSource seeks to expand its hardware base. in Holtsville, N.Y., which develops rugged systems targeted at vertical applications such as logistics and shipping. in Mountain View, Calif., which develops products for the general business and consumer market, and Symbol Technologies Inc. Palm has two major hardware licensees today, Handspring Inc. Michael Mace, chief competitive officer at PalmSource, said tailoring the new operating system to run on ARM chips provides Palm and its software licensees with the ability to develop integrated handheld computing products that can also operate on mobile telephone systems, since mobile handset manufacturers have also chosen ARM as their hardware foundation. ARM chips are licensed by Intel Corp., Schaumburg, Ill.-based Motorola Inc. Palm OS 5 was designed to run on the ARM family of chips developed by ARM Ltd. Users also want devices that provide easy, nonkludgy connections to wireless services, which the new operating system was designed to provide. The security is designed to encrypt and protect valuable enterprise data on the device, which Palm views as essential for a product that users frequently lose.