Symbol Concludes Palm OS Licensing Agreement

CRN has posted an article concerning not only the cessation of Symbol's Palm OS product line but also some key background info on Janam Technologies. It states that Symbol is now taking its last orders for its ruggedized SPT1550 and SPT1800 industrial handhelds.

Symbol's interest in the Palm OS has been on the wane for several years as its newest models, the SPT-1800 series, still run OS 4.0 with 33mhz Dragonball CPUs and 160x160 monochrome screens. In all likelihood, Symbol has likely only maintained its Palm OS license this long to service long-term contracts and the large installed device base.

Symbol has notified its customers that its final batch of Palm OS-based ruggedized industrial-style handhelds will ship in January. They claim the decision to terminate Palm OS device production was reached not only due to economic factors but Access' lack of interest in the Garnet OS in the company's long-term plans.

In September, Motorola agreed to acquire Symbol Technologies in a deal valued approximately $4 billion dollars.

Their EOL announcement is likely to shock and anger many long-time customers who need reliable and affordable solutions for inventory management and barcode scanning applications but may prove a boon to Janam as a new startup. Janam was just founded by two former Symbol Technologies executives, Ron Goldman and Harry Lerner. The company just announced a five year licensing deal for Palm OS Garnet and two new modern barcode-scanning handhelds.

CRN's article also interestingly gives rough sales figures for Symbol's Palm-powered devices over the years as well as some approximate price points for Janam's various configurations which will range from $995 to $1,295.