PalmSource closes in on Linux smartphones

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Feb. 03, 2005

PalmSource has stepped closer to Linux -- and smartphones -- today, completing its $16M acquisition of China MobileSoft (CMS). CMS is a successful mobile phone software startup in China that gives PalmSource a local presence as it attempts to establish PalmOS as a middleware and application stack for Linux smartphones.

PalmSource announced plans to buy CMS in December, saying that a local presence was critical to the success of foreign companies doing business in China. China represents the world's largest mobile phone market, and several Linux smartphones are already selling well there.

CMS supplies software reference designs to mobile phone ODMs (original design manufacturers) in China, with 10 customers shipping 30 phone models there, it says. The company has long promoted embedded Linux; co-founders John S. Ostrem and Jiping Wang wrote a fascinating overview about the advantages of Linux in the Chinese mobile phone market that was published by LinuxDevices.com in 2002. Wang will continue as CEO of the acquired company, while CTO Ostrem will join PalmSource as lead scientist, PalmSource says.

PalmSource says the combination of PalmOS and CMS's software products will create "one of the broadest lines of mobile software in the industry." PalmSource will market the line "at all price points in all regions of the world," it says.

PalmSource says that "over time," it will migrate its Palm OS completely to Linux. During the transition, it will support the existing Garnet and Cobalt APIs through libraries and translation layers. See the original announcement for more technical details.

PalmSource CEO David Nagel said, "Our strategy [is] to expand our focus and provide software to a much wider phone and mobile device market. We plan to offer the ease-of-use and flexibility that Palm OS is known for to all mobile phones and devices."

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