Solution Providers Take Note Of New Palm OS

PalmSource

Palm's partners say OS 5, originally scheduled to ship in the second half but bumped up to an earlier development cycle, will help drive more communication-centric PDAs and streamline development of higher-end capabilities.

Among the key features of Palm's 32-bit operating system are support for ARM processors from 70MHz to 700MHz, 802.11b and enhanced screen resolution, said Steve Sakoman, chief products officer of Palm's OS division. It also offers new security and multimedia APIs and a built-in VPN client. Products based on the new operating system will be backward-compatible with older Palm applications, Sakoman added.

Palm expects to release another update for the operating system with additional features before the end of the year, company executives said.

Although partners said they are enthusiastic about the new features in the latest version, at this point they are unclear about when new devices will be available. Executives from Palm's hardware subsidiary, Palm Solutions Group, said they expect an ARM device based on OS 5 to ship this fall.

"I don't know when devices will come. But they should be rushing to get [them out as quickly as possible," said Anthony Meadow, president of Bear River Associates, a mobile solution provider in Oakland, Calif. "It's really hard to move a lot of data around quickly on current devices."

In particular, solution providers said Palm's current 16-bit operating system and slower processor is unable to handle large data queries. Palm rival Microsoft, meanwhile, has released a feature-rich and robust operating system on which they can work.

Kirk Wolfe, president of Enterprise Mobility, a Florence, Ky.-based mobile solution provider, said Palm's new hardware and software opens the door for more robust data queries and multitasking. But he also said the company's current products handle most needs.

"We've been able to do everything we need to with Palm handhelds," he said. "It's all in how you write the code."

Still, even Palm executives acknowledge that OS 5 is an important milestone in meeting increasing data access demands for the enterprise market.

"Developers have gotten incredibly good at wringing a lot of performance out of slow microprocessors," PalmSource CEO David Nagel said in a February interview with CRN. "But there are certain things you just can't do. This is an enormous shot in the arm for the entire Palm economy."

Palm's announcement comes at a time when the company is struggling to return to profitability. The company split into two subsidiaries earlier this year: PalmSource focuses on developing and licensing the operating system and Palm Solutions Group focuses on hardware solutions.

Palm's earnings seemed to be on track this year until the company announced May 30 it would not meet it projected earnings estimates or its profitability goals for the fiscal fourth quarter, citing weaker than expected demand.

Eric Benhamou, Palm's chairman and CEO, said during the company's year-end conference call in December that Palm should be offering a full complement of wireless services, including Bluetooth, 802.11, Mobitex and GPRS by fall 2002. He said CDMA-based wireless capabilities are being evaluated as well.