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Technology Stocks : Qualcomm Incorporated (QCOM) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: CDMQ who wrote (12146)	7/9/1998 12:30:00 AM
From: CDMQ	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 152472

The "Q" in the EE Times again. Posted: 3:00 p.m., EDT, 7/8/98 Jeff Hawkins' startup to license Palm OS By Rick Boyd-Merritt SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Palm OS, the systems software behind the PalmPilot handheld computer, has a new and high-profile licensee: its developer. Jeff Hawkins, chief technology officer at the Palm division of 3Com Corp., has announced that he is leaving 3Com to form a startup that will license the Palm OS and develop consumer products based on it. Donna Dubinsky, the head of the division, will join Hawkins in the new venture. Market analysts rate the PalmPilot as the best-selling of the current crop of handheld computers, including devices based on Microsoft's Windows CE and Psion's EPOC operating systems. Hawkins said his decision to leave 3Com was an amicable one based on his desire to build a new company and pursue consumer products. "I want to take more of a consumer focus," said Hawkins. "There are products I want to build that don't fit in well here at 3Com." 3Com deals intact To date, 3Com has struck licensing deals for the Palm OS with IBM Corp., Symbol Technologies Inc. (Holtsville, N.Y.) and Qualcomm Inc. (San Diego), which are generally building handhelds aimed at business users. Hawkins said his departure will not affect those deals or a number of PalmPilot products being prepared by 3Com. "There are multiple product families under development at Palm with strong senior people designing them," said Hawkins. "What impact I have here is on products that are 18 months out." Janice Roberts will head the Palm division of 3Com in the wake of the departure of Dubinsky and Hawkins. Hawkins said he has yet to complete negotiations for a license to the Palm OS, which he developed. He has also yet to draft a business plan or gain financial backing for his new company, which still lacks a name. Getting funding is not expected to be a problem. The Palm Pilot had sold more than a million units as of last fall and commanded the lion's share of its market segment, according to Dataquest Inc. But Palm's success is under attack on two fronts. Microsoft has helped companies such as Casio and Philips design Pilot-like products based on Windows CE. And the three largest cellular-phone manufacturers-Ericsson, Nokia and Motorola-recently disclosed that they were backing Psion's EPOC-32 operating system for handhelds, and formed a company called Symbian Ltd. to manage the software. Yet Hawkins claims to be unperturbed. "We don't feel like we are behind the eight-ball at all," he said. "I still think the Palm OS is my best shot at building a big new business." Hawkins specifically denied that the launch of Symbian or the prospect that the world's top cell-phone makers would not use his OS had contributed to his decision to build his own company. "Symbian had nothing to do with this," he said. "The fact that Ericsson, Nokia and Motorola lined up behind EPOC is like when so many companies lined up behind General Magic. It looks impressive, but the fact is you can't build products by consortium." Although the Palm Pilot was primarily a success in packaging simple components, including its Motorola DragonBall processor, Hawkins said his new products will tap some emerging technologies. "There are some interesting technology trends in the consumer area I want to take advantage of, but I am not willing to say what they are," he added. "We will likely drop out of sight for a while while we develop these new products."