One criticism of handheld devices is that they are great for things like email and storing telephone numbers, but they are far behind the curve for things like multimedia and streaming video.

Firepad Inc. Friday announced it released the first streaming video server for PalmOS. The Mountain View-based company says it can now provide video on an Internet connected handheld device without audio.

"I think this means a lot to the Palm economy," says Firepad Director of Business Development Mike Grenier. "Video is ten times more difficult than audio to engineer. We decided it made more sense to tackle the video first because the Palm speaker is only capable of a few beeps and chimes."

The company says it does this by using FireViewer (a download for the PalmOS) to convert, share, and download content and FireProducer (desktop application) to allow you to stream video to Internet-connected PalmOS handhelds.

Depending on a Palm user's Internet connection speed, Firepad's software can display color video at up to 25 frames per second. Grenier says Firepad is able to stream live video or existing video files over any type of TCP/IP network connection, analog or digital, wireless or wired. Companies like EncodeThis! and Loudeye is helping Firepad with its IP video management and delivery.

The lack of audio means that watching your favorite movie or music video on your Palm (Nasdaq: PALM)or Handspring (Nasdaq: HAND) Visor is somewhat pointless. However, Grenier says there is still a great market right now for video-only on a handheld.

"We are marketing it for surveillance and military purposes, as well as corporate intranet video," says Grenier. "Let's say you are a new guy on the job at a power company and you are up on a tower and you forgot the next step in a repair. With our servers, you could tap into the company's video database and find your answer."

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Grenier says the system was demoed back in June and released today after a few final touches were added last month.