Handspring Inc. said Wednesday it has extended its license to use the Palm OS
operating system on its Net devices.
The revised agreement enables Handspring to use the Palm OS through April, 2009. The
companies did not disclose financial terms of the revised agreement.
Handspring, which launched its Visor handhelds in late 1999, was started by Palm founders
Donna Dubinsky and Jeff Hawkins. Since then, it has taken a roughly a 20 percent market share
largely out of the hide of Palm-branded handhelds.
Palm has been a willing partner, however, stating repeatedly that it wants to grow its platform
licensing business.
“Handspring is a great platform partner,” said Alan Kessler, general manager of Palm’s Platform
Solutions Group.
“Extending the license ensures that we can continue to build great Palm OS based products for
many years to come,” said Hawkins, Handspring’s chairman and chief product officer. “It also
guarantees that Palm and Handspring will continue to work together to refine and enhance the
Palm OS so that it will meet the needs of the rapidly changing mobile computing market.”
