Palm Background:
Mission:
To be the leading global provider of handheld computing products and to provide developers with the industry-standard platform for creating world-class mobile solutions.
Overview:
Palm Inc. was founded in 1992 and acquired by U.S. Robotics Corporation in 1995. In 1996, Palm introduced the Pilot 1000 and Pilot 5000 products that led the resurgence of handheld computing. In June 1997, Palm became a subsidiary of 3Com Corporation when U.S. Robotics was acquired by 3Com.
In September of 1999, 3Com announced plans to make the Palm subsidiary an independent, publicly-traded company. This new structure will enable Palm to focus on emerging strategic market segments for the handheld computing arena including: 1) handheld operating system licensing, 2) enterprise computing solutions, 3) wireline and wireless Internet services, 4) portal sites and 5) Palm-branded devices.
Palm is the leading global provider of handheld computing devices with a 68 percent market share of the worldwide personal companion handheld device market (International Data Corp., May 1999). Palm's products are sold in more than 35 countries. Palm is committed to continued technology innovation, best-of-breed partnerships, extensive support for software and hardware add-on developers and widespread brand awareness in the handheld marketplace.
Palm products are becoming increasingly important as the nature of information management becomes ever more mobile. Palm believes that handheld computing products are the next wave in individual productivity tools for the workforce.
The growth of the handheld computing market is in part, being driven by the transformation of the corporate environment into an extended, virtual enterprise supported by a highly mobile, geographically dispersed workforce requiring fast, easy remote access to networked resources and electronic communications. Palm continues to provide solutions to address this growing demand with products that are simple, easy-to-use and extremely portable.
The Product Family
The Palm handheld computer family is known for its unique commitment to an elegant, simple interface that is easy to use. Today the product family consists of three distinct product lines: the Palm III™, Palm V™ and Palm VII™ series of handheld computers.
These Palm products are equipped with a comprehensive suite of personal information management (PIM) software, including datebook, address book, to-do list and memos, infrared beaming capabilities, expense management software, calculator, note-taking applications, games and a backlit screen along with the Palm™ Desktop software, a companion desktop PIM, and HotSync® technology, 3Com's innovative local and remote synchronization software.
The Palm III family of handheld computers boasts the same pocket-size, seamless desktop synchronization, ease of use, and fast data access as its award-winning predecessors. At the top of the Palm III family is the new Palm IIIc™ handheld, featuring the clearest, brightest and most readable color display available today among handheld computers. The Palm IIIc product is ideal for users who color-code information, create and store images and use graphics-intensive content such as maps, games and web pages.
The Palm IIIe™ product is the lowest-priced Palm handheld computer ever offered and holds up to 6,000 addresses, 5 years of appointments, 1,500 to do items and 1,500 memos plus 200 e-mail messages or extra space for add-on applications. The Palm IIIxe™ handheld computer is designed for power users, providing a versatile and expandable option to the product family. The Palm IIIxe features extra memory to accomodate many of the nearly 5,000 software applications as well as snap-on solutions from more than 500 hardware developers including modems, voice recorders, digital cameras or global positioning systems (GPS).
The best-selling Palm V™ series of handheld computers offers a groundbreaking sleek, ultra-thin industrial design, convenient new features -- such as a rechargeable battery so the device maintains a continuous power supply -- and a full line of matching accessories. The new Palm Vx™ handheld computer offers the same popular features, plus four times the memory for users working with extremely data intensive applications such as databases or medical reference volumes.
The Palm VII™ handheld computer delivers a brand new era of connectivity to handheld devices. In addition to the full functionality of the other award-winning Palm handheld computers, the Palm VII™ product offers wireless Internet access, enabling the user to access information from the Internet, conduct e-commerce transactions and send instant messages. The Palm VII handheld computer uses web clipping technology to efficiently access information from the Internet and is supported by the Palm.Net™ service.
HotSync® Technology:
Palm's innovative HotSync technology is a robust, open architecture that allows fast and easy synchronization of data including all contact, scheduling, e-mail and other personal information between Palm OS® platform products and a personal computer, networked computer or Apple Macintosh.
HotSync technology works simply by dropping the Palm handheld computer into the small docking cradle and pressing the HotSync button. The HotSync technology, coupled with a Palm Modem® peripheral, also allows users to dial into their company's server to synchronize with a PC.
The HotSync architecture features an extensive set of application programmer interfaces (APIs) and conduit development tools, which allow third-party developers to create applications that easily take advantage of the HotSync capabilities in their own Palm OS solutions.
E-Mail:
With the Palm family of handheld computers, users also can take advantage of e-mail support for leading e-mail applications including: Eudora, Lotus cc: Mail, Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft Outlook 97, Windows Messaging and other POP3 Internet e-mail. The Palm family of products also supports Microsoft Mail, Windows for Workgroups Mail and Microsoft Outlook Express.
Palm's Strategic Partners
Palm's growing list of strategic relationships is helping take corporate connectivity to new heights. Computing industry leaders such as Oracle, Sybase, SAP, Remedy, Computer Associates and others are working to deliver mobile extensions to their business solutions for the platform.
Palm is also working with a number of companies to further handheld computing technology in the future. For example, it is co-operating with Sun Microsystems to integrate Java into the Palm OS® platform.
To further future wireless capabilities for Palm-branded products and/or products delivered by its licensees, Palm is a contributing member in both the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) Forum and the Bluetooth consortium. In addition, Palm was among the first organizations to join the GPRS Applications Alliance (GAA), a cross-industry initiative sponsored by Ericsson, the goal of which is to foster development of the mobile packet switching technology, GPRS.
The Palm OS® Platform
The Palm OS platform is the foundation for Palm's handheld family of products and other handheld computing products from Palm's strategic partners and licensees.
These include:
• Franklin Covey, whose expertise takes Palm OS products into the training and time management system fields
• Handspring, whose innovative Springboard technology adds flexibility for consumer users of the Palm OS
• IBM, whose Palm OS IBM WorkPad PC Companion is sold into the enterprise market
• Nokia, which has licensed the Palm OS for use in future product lines of its best-selling mobile phones
• QUALCOMM, which has built in the Palm OS and functionality to its pdQ mobile phone
• Sony, which has licensed the Palm OS for use in future Sony-branded consumer electronics product lines
• Symbol Technologies, whose expertise in barcode scanning and wireless LAN and WAN connectivity take the Palm OS further into vertical markets
• TRG, whose expertise in add-ons and upgrades for business applications creates options for corporations
As an open architecture for handheld computing, the Palm OS provides an ideal basis for third-party developers and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to create and deliver successful mobile computing solutions. The platform consists of five primary components:
These include:
• reference hardware design
• operating system (Palm OS® software)
• conduit data synchronization (HotSync® technology)
• platform component tools including an applications programming interface (API) that enables developers to write applications
• software interface capabilities to support hardware add-ons
With its strategic acquisition of Smartcode Technologie in February 1999, Palm has added advanced wireless communications capabilities to the Palm OS to address the market for mobile information appliances such as cellular telephones, messaging devices, data communicators and smart phones.
Enriching the platform with these new wireless capabilities will enable Palm to further extend its platform licensing strategy to a broader range of telecommunication equipment manufacturers worldwide.
Application Development
As of February 14, 2000, more than 43,000 developers had registered to create solutions for the Palm OS, while nearly 5,000 software titles and dozens of developer tools and services are already available. Developers are writing Palm OS applications in a broad range of categories, including contact and schedule management, e-mail and Internet communications, sales force and field automation, personal productivity, groupware, financial management, and games.
Leading enterprise companies, including Lotus, SAP, Oracle and Sybase have developed products that enable Palm OS customers to access critical enterprise information via their handheld computers.
The broad developer support of the Palm OS further fuels its emergence as the leading platform in the handheld computing industry. Palm continues to foster the development of enterprise solutions for the Palm OS by providing a complete range of technical and testing services, educational seminars and expanded development tools.
Executive Team:
Carl Yankowski
Chief Executive Officer
Carl Yankowski joined Palm, Inc. as CEO in December 1999. His charter is to build on Palm's worldwide leadership in the handheld computing market, including creating new markets, extending the company's existing business, ensuring operational excellence and creating continued brand value.
Mr. Yankowski brings to Palm more than 25 years of marketing and executive management expertise in growing businesses at leading companies. Immediately prior to Palm, Inc. Mr. Yankowski was CEO of The Reebok Brand, where he led the worldwide Reebok-brand apparel business, a multi-billion dollar enterprise that is currently ranked second in its industry. During his tenure there, Mr. Yankowski successfully reorganized the company for growth, streamlined operations and improved profitability.
Previously, Mr. Yankowski spent five years at Sony Electronics, Inc. as President and COO. He was operationally responsible for the development and launch of numerous successful products in growing markets and new business categories for Sony, including DVD, digital imaging and personal computers. He helped drive revenues from more than $6 billion to more than $10 billion. Under his guidance, the company was named the most-respected brand name in America in 1995 and 1997.
In an earlier position as Chairman of Polaroid's Asia Pacific Region, Mr. Yankowski led strong revenue and profit growth in the business imaging market globally and set up the company's Asia Pacific headquarters. Mr. Yankowski has held marketing and strategic leadership positions in several prestigious technology and consumer-products companies, including General Electric, Memorex and Procter & Gamble.
He holds both a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and a Bachelor of Science in Management from MIT.
Alan Kessler
COO, Platform & Products
Alan J. Kessler was named to the Palm, Inc. executive team in June 1999. As COO, Mr. Kessler's charter is to extend Palm's leadership in the worldwide handheld computing market.
A 13-year veteran of 3Com Corporation, Mr. Kessler was most recently senior vice president of 3Com's global customer service organization. His responsibilities included customer service for all of 3Com's served market solutions including Large Enterprise, Small Office/Home Office, and Consumer customers. Prior to his worldwide service role, Mr. Kessler was responsible for 3Com's worldwide Enterprise Sales and Service organization.
Mr. Kessler has held a variety of sales and marketing management positions at 3Com, including vice president of 3Com's North America System Sales, vice president and general manager for 3Com's internetworking product group, and a director of marketing with responsibility for key network communication product lines.
Mr. Kessler holds an MBA from the University of California at Berkeley and a degree in Business, with honors, from San Jose State University.
Judy Bruner
Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Judy Bruner joined Palm, Inc. as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer in September 1999. She is responsible for managing the company's global finance organization and establishing the financial systems and controls for the company. Her responsibilities also include building the financial infrastructure to move Palm from a division of 3Com to an independent, publicly-traded company.
An 11-year veteran of 3Com, Ms. Bruner held numerous executive finance management positions as 3Com grew from a $400 million to a $6 billion company. Most recently Vice President and Corporate Controller of 3Com, she was integral in executing and integrating numerous acquisitions. Ms. Bruner also spearheaded the development of treasury policies and strategies for foreign exchange, cash management and capital infrastructure. Ms. Bruner also streamlined the financial planning process for 3Com, including leading improvements in the internal systems architecture and the deployment of a company-wide SAP implementation.
Ms. Bruner has a diverse financial background, with experience at both start-up and large corporations. Prior to 3Com, she held leadership positions at Ridge Computers and Hewlett-Packard.
She graduated Summa Cum Laude from UCLA with a degree in Economics. She also holds an MBA from Santa Clara University.
Location
Palm, Inc.
5470 Great America Parkway
Santa Clara, CA 95052
(408) 326-9000
www.palm.com
Product Lines
The Palm Family of handheld computers
The Palm OS® Platform
Press Contacts
Kristen Garrigus, Jason Caskey
A&R Partners
(650) 762-2800
kgarrigus@arpartners.com
jcaskey@arpartners.com
Julia Rodriguez
Palm, Inc.
408.326.9962
Palmpr@palm.com
Palm OS and HotSync are registered trademarks, and Palm, Palm.Net, Palm III, Palm IIIe, Palm IIIx, Palm IIIc, Palm IIIxe, Palm V, Palm Vx and Palm VII are trademarks of Palm, Inc. or its subsidiaries. All other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated. |
