PalmSource, now known as ACCESS Systems Americas, Inc., is a subsidiary of ACCESS which develops the Palm OS PDA operating system. PalmSource was spun off from Palm Computing, Inc.
Palm OS runs on 38 million devices that have been sold since 1996 from hardware manufacturers including Palm, Inc., Samsung, IBM, Aceeca, AlphaSmart, Fossil, Inc., Garmin, Group Sense PDA (Xplore), Kyocera, PiTech, Sony, and Symbol. PalmSource also develops several programs for the Palm OS, and as of December 2005, PalmGear claims to offer 28,769 software titles of varying genres.[citation needed] Palm OS software programs can also be downloaded from CNET, PalmSource, Handango, and Tucows.
PalmSource also owns BeOS, which it purchased from Be Inc. in 2001.
History
In January 2002, Palm, Inc. set up a wholly owned subsidiary to develop and license Palm OS,[1] which was named PalmSource in February.[2] In October 2003, PalmSource was spun off from Palm as an independent company, and Palm renamed itself palmOne.[3] palmOne and PalmSource set up a holding company that owned the Palm trademark.
In January 2004, PalmSource announced the successor to classic Palm OS called Palm OS Cobalt. However, it failed to gain support from hardware licensees.[4] That December, PalmSource acquired China MobileSoft, a software company with a mobile Linux offering. As a result, PalmSource announced that they would extend Palm OS to run on top of the Linux architecture.[5]
In May 2005, palmOne purchased PalmSource's share of the Palm trademark[6] and two months later renamed itself Palm, Inc.[7] As part of the agreement, palmOne granted certain rights to Palm trademarks to PalmSource and licensees for a four-year transition period. Later that year, ACCESS, which specializes in mobile and embedded web browser technologies, including NetFront, acquired PalmSource for US$324 million.[8][9] In October 2006, PalmSource announced that it would rename itself to ACCESS, to match its parent company's name.[10][11]
See also
References
- ^ Palm Completes Formation of Palm OS Subsidiary as Palm Powered Devices Hit 20 Million Sold, Palm press release, January 21, 2002
- ^ Palm OS Subsidiary CEO Outlines Vision For Future Of Mobile Computing, Palm press release, February 5, 2002
- ^ PalmSource Spins Out From Palm, Inc., PalmSource press release, October 28, 2003.
- ^ Richard Shim and Dawn Kawamoto, Is Linux Palm's savior?, CNET News.com, May 25, 2005.
- ^ PalmSource to Extend Leadership in Phone Software with Acquisition of China MobileSoft, PalmSource press release, December 8, 2004.
- ^ palmOne purchases PalmSource share of the Palm trademark, Palm press release, May 24, 2005
- ^ PALM: Mobile-computing Leader Adopts New Name, Ticker, Logo and Headquarters, Palm press release, July 14, 2005.
- ^ Ryan Kairer, PalmSource Acquired By ACCESS, PalmInfocenter, September 8, 2005
- ^ ACCESS Completes Acquisition of PalmSource, ACCESS press release, November 14, 2005.
- ^ ACCESS Unveils New Corporate Logo; Announces PalmSource to Change Name to ACCESS, ACCESS press release, October 12, 2006.
- ^ Ed Hardy, PalmSource Changing Its Name, Brighthand, October 12, 2006.
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