PalmSource Joins CTIA and Announces New Wireless Services

PalmSource has joined CTIA's Wireless Internet Caucus (WIC) and Leadership Council. The company has also formed new relationships that further align Palm OS with the needs of leading wireless operators and their customers. PalmSource announced deals to bring the Qualcomm BREW platform, to enable wireless delivery of Palm OS applications and is working with Spontaneous Technology to develop secure wireless hotsync's via the sVPN solution.

PalmSource has signed a memorandum of understanding with QUALCOMM to allow over-the-air delivery of Palm OS applications to wireless Palm Powered devices using QUALCOMM's BREW platform. Furthermore, PalmSource and Spontaneous Technology will collaborate to enable secure wireless HotSync of data on Palm Powered devices via the Spontaneous Virtual Private Network (sVPN) solution.

CTIA's Wireless Internet Caucus (WIC) and Leadership Council
As a member of CTIA's Wireless Internet Caucus and Leadership Council, PalmSource will work with other industry leaders to accelerate wireless growth in the United States. WIC meets several times a year to find common solutions to the challenges facing the wireless industry and its customers. Albert Chu, vice president of business development, will represent PalmSource in the WIC Leadership Council, which serves as the organization's governing body.

QUALCOMM's BREW platform
With more than 17,000 commercial applications and 10,000 eBooks created for Palm Powered devices -- far more than for any other mobile platform -- this joint solution is a benchmark for the booming software distribution market that will benefit operators, developers and users alike. The BDS is a fundamental component to enabling a wireless ecosystem for developers, operators and handset manufacturers - managing the over-the-air delivery, billing and payment of wireless applications. This agreement enables Palm OS application developers to also take advantage of this efficient way to manage over-the-air distribution and payment for applications onto Palm Powered smartphones, while creating additional revenue opportunities for wireless operators. This powerful combination will make it much more convenient for users to buy and install Palm OS software to their Palm Powered devices.

"Enabling Palm Powered devices with the BDS will provide operators with a compelling way to differentiate their services and increase revenue, and will give them access to the world's largest library of Palm OS applications," said David Nagel, president and chief executive officer of PalmSource.

Deployments of the BREW solution continue as operators throughout the world join Verizon Wireless and ALLTEL in the United States, KTF in South Korea, KDDI in Japan, and China Unicom in commercializing BREW-based services.

Spontaneous Technology
PalmSource, Inc and Spontaneous Technology, Inc. today announced a collaboration to develop, with intent to co-market, software that enables Palm Powered users to connect to corporate computing networks wirelessly. These solutions make it easier for mobile operators to give their customers secure wireless access to enterprise applications.

SponTec's Virtual Private Network (sVPN) software will be integrated with HotSync®, the Palm OS software that communicates between a handheld and a desktop computer. This combination will give enterprise customers access to corporate applications and enterprise data behind the firewall from any wireless Palm Powered device anywhere at any time through a mobile operator's 2.5G/3G wide area data network. Because any Palm OS application that syncs can work with sVPN, wireless access can be rolled out quickly and easily. sVPN will be available in Palm OS supported languages for those companies that choose to deploy this solution to employees around the globe.

"Enabling secure HotSync for wireless users will provide mobile operators opportunities to generate new business with enterprise customers," said Albert Chu, vice president of business development, PalmSource. "Enterprise customers will experience an increase in productivity by being able to wirelessly and securely access mission-critical enterprise data via smartphones and other mobile devices.”