Palm Spins Off OS Group

In a move reminiscent of 3Com's initial Palm spin off, the handheld manufacturer has announced plans to jettison its Platform Solutions Group. By year's end, Palm Inc. will fully segregate its OS development team from the rest of the company, refocusing to include more comprehensive solutions for licensees of the Palm OS. The company's recent decision to switch to ARM chip architecture promises to extend the capabilities of its operating system, providing a more robust platform for development. It is possible a new company will be formed to counteract Microsoft's push into the wireless arena.

According to Alan Kessler, Palm general manager of the Platform Solutions Group, "This is another important step to strengthen our technology and deliver powerful and elegant solutions for our Palm OS licensees."

Citing demand for more customized solutions, Palm is promising new features aimed to take on Windows CE. With a pool of over 10,000 applications and a registered base of over 170,000 developers the company hopes to rejuvenate its core OS, which according to a press release, enjoys over 76% to 88% of overall market share.