Good move!
Palm to Create Subsidiary Structure for Platform Solutions Group
Board Committee Led by Nagel to Oversee Separation
SANTA CLARA, Calif., July 27 /PRNewswire/ -- Palm, Inc., (Nasdaq: PALM - news) the leading provider of operating systems for use in handheld computers and the leading provider of handhelds, today announced it will form a wholly owned subsidiary to contain the Platform Solutions Group, separating it more distinctly from the Solutions Group by the end of calendar 2001. A committee of the board of directors of Palm, chaired by David C. Nagel, will oversee the subsidiary's establishment.
The Platform Solutions Group develops the Palm OS® platform and licenses it to makers of handheld computers including HandEra, Handspring, Sony, Symbol and Palm's Solutions Group, and smartphone makers including Kyocera and Samsung. New licensees announced this year are Acer, which plans to take the OS to Chinese-speaking customers in Asia-Pacific, and Garmin, a leader in global-positioning satellite products. More than 16 million Palm Powered(TM) handhelds have been shipped, and according to market-research firms, the Palm OS is used in 76 percent to 88 percent of all personal digital assistants.(1)
Under the new structure, the Platform Solutions Group would operate independently but would continue to leverage Palm's infrastructure and staff services.
``We're eager to foster the independence of both of our businesses, and creating a separate subsidiary for our platform activities will allow us to bring greater clarity of mission, better serve licensees and, we believe, increase shareholder value longer term,'' said Carl Yankowski, Palm chief executive officer.
``This is another important step to strengthen our technology and deliver powerful and elegant solutions for our Palm OS licensees,'' said Alan Kessler, Palm general manager of the Platform Solutions Group. ``We continue to build a large and powerful base of registered developers -- more than 170,000 of them -- with more than 10,000 commercially available applications. This is great news for the Palm Economy.''
An Advisory Council of Palm OS licensees also will be formed to consult on the subsidiary's objectives and provide a direct channel for communication with the Platform Group.
``The Palm OS software platform's leading position in the industry for ease of use, developer support and numbers of applications have led it to become the overwhelming choice for handhelds,'' Nagel said. ``The formation of this subsidiary is a further step to ensure continued leadership in this rapidly growing new industry.''
Nagel has been spearheading this initiative for several months and is chairman of the Platform Solutions Group Committee of the Board of Directors. Other committee members are Yankowski and Eric Benhamou, Palm chairman of the board.
Among the platform's milestones and accomplishments are the following:
-- Huge growth in the number of registered Palm OS developers. When the
company went public in March 2000, there were 50,000 developers.
Today, there are more than 170,000 registered developers;
-- Elegantly designed Palm OS reaches the 10,000 applications milestone.
The combination of the large installed base -- more than 16 million
Palm Powered handhelds shipped to date and the sleek, efficient design
of the Palm OS has resulted in the creation of more than
10,000 commercially available software applications. Solutions range
across enterprise, entertainment, productivity, reference, sales-force
automation and physician's decision-support.
( palmcomputing.palmgear.com );
-- New licensees and renewed contracts. New licensees this year are Acer
and Garmin. Two existing licensees signed license extensions during the
year -- Handspring and Symbol;
-- Palm OS Ready Program. Semiconductor heavyweights Intel Corp.,
Motorola Inc., Texas Instruments and ARM Ltd. extended Palm's licensing
program to silicon providers to spur wireless and multimedia innovation
in the industry. These chip leaders will develop ARM-compliant
reference designs to help licensees get products to market faster,
provide developers with additional devices on which to develop new
applications, give users more choice in devices, including smart
phones, feature phones, and handheld computers. |
