Palm Hires Apple Exec - Responding to iPhone

Posted on March 10th, 2007 by John Reno


When Palm, Inc. spun off its software division as PalmSource several years ago, the company became strictly a hardware manufacturer. Palm maintained a large staff of software developers. But their efforts were limited to adding features to software created by PalmSource and Microsoft.

Two months ago, however, Palm bought back from PalmSource (now a division of Access Co.) the rights to develop the Palm operating system in a deal valued at $44 million. Last week Palm invested in former Apple Computer software engineer, Paul Mercer, and two of his colleagues. Mercer, left Apple in 1996 to start Pixo Inc., and was responsible for the system used by Apple for its iPod interface.

The large investment by Palm in taking control of the Palm Garnet operating system and in Mercer suggests the company may be launching a massive assault on rival smartphone manufactures Apple, HTC, Samsung and Nokia by developing a next generation operating system that it will control exclusively. According to the New York Times, the move is a direct reaction to Apple’s announcement of its upcoming iPhone.

Related Links

Palm Assumes Control of Palm OS Garnet

New York Times: “Palm Responds to iPhone”

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Filed under: Treo and Palm news

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5 Responses to “Palm Hires Apple Exec - Responding to iPhone”

  1. WavatarJoad, on March 11th, 2007 at 5:26 pm Said:

    Ahhh… it’s “BACK TO THE FUTURE.”

    …better late than never.

  2. WavatarTastypeppers, on March 12th, 2007 at 12:03 am Said:

    Let’s hope they can pull it off. I’ve bought 4 Treos so far. You might say I’m eager for them to do well. :-)

  3. Wavatarkre8iv1, on March 15th, 2007 at 1:32 pm Said:

    I’m glad to hear Palm did this versus selling themselves like the rumors said they were possibly going to do.

    YAY PALM!!!!

  4. WavatarJorozco, on March 15th, 2007 at 6:09 pm Said:

    Hope it still is a smart move! The disappointment for Palm hardware of the last 3 models is enormous plus Windo… ugh!

  5. Wavatarhoopaholic20, on March 21st, 2007 at 3:12 pm Said:

    or someone might mistake it for
    http://www.technotuesday.com/?p=64

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