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Palm extends Handspring's software license
Amid speculation that Handspring may turn to another operating system, the handheld maker said Wednesday it has extended its licensing agreement with Palm through April 2009. Under the previous agreement, the license was set to run through 2003.
Amid speculation that Handspring may turn to another operating system, the handheld maker said Wednesday it has extended its licensing agreement with Palm through April 2009.
Under the previous agreement, the license was set to run through 2003. However, neither the old deal nor the new one is exclusive--allowing Handspring to use more than one OS.
Donna Dubinsky, Handspring's chief executive, and Jeff Hawkins, its chief product officer, have said recently that the company could explore other operating systems if the alternatives allowed them to introduce features that they couldn't offer with the Palm OS. However, company representatives have also said that no such features exist yet.
Palm's only significant OS rival is Microsoft's Pocket PC. --Richard Shim, ZDNet News