Nokia Said To Pick Palm OS
Associated Press Online - October 12, 1999 20:59
By DAVID E. KALISH
AP Business Writer
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) - Nokia, a world leader in mobile phones, is expected to license the software used to run 3Com Corp.'s popular Palm devices to run a future generation of portable phones that let people browse the Internet, industry sources said Tuesday.
The move could give a big boost to 3Com's ambitions to expand its Palm software business beyond electronic organizers. Finland-based Nokia, for its part, gets an operating program for its mobile phones that is already familiar to software developers and millions of users of Palm's popular hand-held gadgets.
An announcement was expected as early as this week, said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
While only a tiny fraction of the world's 300 million mobile phones currently give users Web access, the market is expected to quickly grow as companies forge alliances and new technology. By 2005, a whopping 1 billion people are expected to use mobile phones, letting more and more users get the latest news, trade stocks and even pay for purchases no matter where they are.
Analysts say Nokia could be hedging its bets by adding another operating system to its existing arsenal of programs for handling the basic functions of retrieving and viewing Internet-based information.
Nokia already is part of an effort with two other mobile phone makers, Ericsson and Motorola, to develop an operating system for smart phones. The wireless group, Symbian, uses an operating system called Epoc from Psion PLC of Britain.
But few software developers have written applications for Epoc, in contrast to the scores of applications that have been written to enable users of 3Com's Palm to organize information and notes and even play games.
Microsoft Corp. also is vigorously pushing its Windows CE operating system to mobile phone makers and is a formidable rival, but the company's program has attracted fewer applications than Palm, though more than Symbian.
Attracting new applications is seen as crucial to drawing people to a new generation of mobile phones that let people perform a variety of Internet-based functions.
"Epoc has been a poor performer in the application area, and applications are critical for success," said Kenneth Dulaney, an industry analyst with the Gartner Group research and consulting firm, which is holding its annual gathering of technology managers here this week.
"The Palm OS has a rich set of application developers."
Spokespeople for Palm parent 3Com, based in Santa Clara, Calif., declined to comment. Nokia could not be reached late Tuesday. Messages left with Ericcson and Motorola were not immediately returned.
Palm is aggressively trying to shift its business to become more of an operating program developer, much as Microsoft licenses its Windows operating system to makers of personal computers and hand-held gadgets.
Palm already licenses its software to Qualcomm, a mobile phone company, as well to Handspring Inc., which sells a $149 personal digital assistant that is a less expensive rival to the Palm computer.
More than 5 million Palms have been sold since they were introduced in 1996, becoming a sort of mobile badge for on-the-go professionals seeking a convenient way to store contacts, appointments and notes. 3Com plans to launch an initial public offering of the Palm unit early next year in a deal that could value the new company anywhere from $5 billion to $10 billion.
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