What is PalmOne up to these days?
Plenty. For a start, the device maker is well in the black, having enjoyed five consecutive profitable quarters. It has been buoyed by rising revenues from its Treo smartphone line, which recently doubled with the introduction of the Treo 650. Compared to the 600, the 650 features a higher-resolution display, a faster processor, and Bluetooth wireless connectivity.
What's less certain, however, is its OS inclination. PalmOne is said to be considering Microsoft and Linux, diverging from its Palm OS heritage. Rumours have even linked the company to a Windows-based smartphone. If true, this marks a dramatic shift from just last year, when Palm, prior to its hardware-software split, and Microsoft were seen as fierce rivals.
At an interview in Singapore with ZDNet UK sister site CNETAsia this week, PalmOne president Ed Colligan admitted that the company has considered other software platforms and will continue to do so. Microsoft is strong in the enterprise space, he said, while Linux offers a more open platform for developers. However, he refused to be drawn into commenting about future products.
He did speak, though, about the varying successes of Samsung, Nokia and HP in the smartphone space, and reflected on PalmOne's mixed efforts in China.
Q: What brings you to Singapore?
A: A couple of things. One is meeting with some of the carriers here, and also, we're having an all-hands meeting with our Asian team. So I'm here to interact with the team, and give them a few of my thoughts.
Are you meeting the carriers for the Treo 650?
Yes. We're talking about that and our business in general here and the opportunities.
So when can we expect the Treo 650 to get to the Asia-Pacific region?
Early next year.
So it's going to be the same time frame as Europe.
Yeah. Same time frame as the US, to a large extent, at least around the GSM product. We are launching the CDMA2000 1x version right now with Sprint, but even our GSM partners in the US are pretty much early next year.
