Hardware maker Palm has signed an agreement with Access Systems giving it a perpetual licence for Palm OS, the platform used in many of its handhelds and smartphones. The move enables Palm to use the software and extend it as necessary, giving it greater freedom to develop future Palm OS devices.
The agreement, under which Palm will pay Access $44 million, brings the handheld maker full circle to where it was before its operating system division was spun off into a separate company, PalmSource, which was then acquired by Japanese wireless software developer Access in 2005.
Palm said the perpetual licence would avoid the need for it to continue to pay out millions in continued royalties to Access in future years. Having the right to extend the platform and retain ownership of any changes it makes also means that Palm effectively controls the development of its own platform again.
"This agreement gives Palm increased ability to innovate on the Palm OS Garnet base, and to effectively differentiate Palm products long into the future," said Mark Bercow, senior vice president of business development at Palm.
Palm OS Garnet is an umbrella name covering all versions of Palm OS 5, which Palm uses in handhelds and its Treo 650 and new Treo 680 smartphone models.
However, Palm said it will also continue to support Microsoft's Windows Mobile software, which powers the Treo 750v smartphone aimed at businesses, launched earlier in 2006.
"We remain committed to our very loyal base of smartphone and handheld Palm OS customers. We intend to continue delivering products that delight both our business customers and consumers. At the same time, Palm will also continue to support and add innovations to Microsoft’s Windows Mobile Pocket PC," said Roy Bedlow, vice president for Palm in Europe.
The new move casts doubts over the Access Linux Platform (ALP), a project by Access to port the Palm environment and applications to run on top of a Linux kernel.
Palm had earlier expressed an interest in using ALP on future handhelds, although not its Treo smartphones. However, these plans seem now to have been shelved. Reports in the press suggested that Access has hit delays with the development of ALP.
"Palm has no plans to adopt Access Linux Platform. Palm’s strategy is to innovate on the Palm OS Garnet base to develop future variations that will best serve our developers and customers," Bedlow said.
Palm declined to comment on how it might further develop the Palm OS platform to deliver future devices.
