PALM announced that more than 50,000 developers are registered to create third-party solutions for the Palm OS© platform - a significant milestone that highlights Palm's ongoing leadership as the platform of choice in the handheld computing market.
From Internet stock trading and package tracking to medication dispensing and travel guides, Palm OS developers all over the world are already shipping thousands of mobile applications and hundreds of snap-on hardware products, spawning an entire new industry. In addition, Palm has alliances with many of the leading corporate software providers and is licensing the Palm OS platform to some of the world's most innovative enterprise and consumer electronics leaders, including Nokia and Sony.
"Palm recognizes that our success is based not only on building groundbreaking products with a premier handheld operating system, but also on the powerful, creative and enthusiastic support of our developer community," said Mark Bercow, vice president of strategic alliances and platform development for Palm. "The incredible growth in the number of Palm OS developers, increased by more than 500 percent in the last year alone, is another testament to the vitality of the Palm Economy."
Since 1996, developers around the world have benefited from opportunities to build leading-edge custom and commercial software applications for consumers, small businesses and large-scale enterprises -- all on the Palm OS platform. Applications span mobile, wireless and web applications in financial, transportation, government, retail, automotive, healthcare and education, as well as specific solutions for key corporate tasks such as customer relationship management and sales force automation. There are also a growing number developers producing games and entertainment applications for the Palm OS platform. The more than 500 available hardware snap-ons include such products as wireless modems, mobile printers, audio recorders, as well as vertical industry devices such as a fingerprint ID security device and a blood sugar monitor.
A primary component of Palm's platform strategy includes building relationships with some of the world's leading solution providers and electronics manufacturers. Computer Associates, IBM, Oracle Corp., PeopleSoft, SAP, Siebel Systems, Sun Microsystems and Tivoli are among the leading enterprise software vendors who have announced that their applications will support the Palm OS platform. Manufacturers licensing the Palm OS platform to create products under their own brand names include Handspring, Nokia, QUALCOMM, Sony, Symbol Technologies, and TRG. Palm also has OEM relationships with Franklin Covey and IBM.
"We encouraged virtually any developer, from small projects to global licensees with an idea for taking information and making it mobile, to choose the Palm OS platform," added Bercow. "It has the reputation for being the most easily customized, low cost development platform for handheld computing, generating easy-to-use applications that require minimal training." |
