This news was revealed by Palm CEO Ed Colligan, Microsoft chief software architect and founder Bill Gates, and Verizon CEO Denny Strigl. According to the companies, the upcoming Treo (not due until 2006) would take advantage of the Windows Mobile 5.0 platform in multiple ways-offering Outlook Mobile, Office Mobile and Internet Explorer Mobile built into the smartphone, as well as direct access to Exchange Server 2003 for mobile access to information.

At the time, Colligan emphasized that the PDA pioneer would continue to build Treo smartphones and other products on the Palm OS. The goal of the move was to draw in enterprises who have standardized on Microsoft products in addition to businesses and consumers who may like Palm hardware but want Windows software.

Since then, a number of analysts revealed Palm plans to release several Palm platform Treos in 2006. A spokesperson for the company even said that the company would focus on creating Windows Mobile smartphones, leaving its PDAs to the Palm OS alone.

Nonetheless, these assurances haven't stopped the rumor mill from conveying skepticism about Palm's commitment to its namesake operating system. To help put these rumors to rest, CEO Colligan released the following open letter today:

Dear Palm Developer,

I'm writing to you today because I'm concerned by the number of posts I've read that suggest that Palm's support of Palm OS is either wavering or short-lived. It is neither.

I thought I had made this perfectly clear with earlier statements, but let me reiterate that our announcement on Sept. 26th that we'll broaden our line of Treo smartphones to include ones made on the Windows Mobile platform is all about growing the Treo market. We want to deliver the Palm experience on Windows Mobile, strengthen our company's ability to deliver ever-more capable solutions and answer current and potential customers' requests for a Windows Mobile-based product from Palm. This is not a zero-sum game! This market is in its infancy, and if we can expand our opportunities by being a strong cross-platform provider of world-class smartphone products, then we should do so. At the same time, this does not mean we need to walk away from our existing products or technology partnerships, like Palm OS.

It's a fact that a large majority of businesses around the world use a Microsoft-based infrastructure across their IT assets. And many of those companies simply aren't open to products that use another OS. Some of our carriers also have been asking for a Treo on this platform. Finally, many end users in the world are attracted to the familiar Windows user interface. We can either answer that marketplace demand with a Windows-based product, or we can walk away from that business.

We have a rich product roadmap of Palm OS-based handheld computers, mobile managers AND Treo smartphones that we intend to deliver. Our Palm OS customer loyalty is extremely high, and we intend to continue to earn that loyalty with great Palm OS-based products. We have sold more than 30 million Palm OS-based products over the years, and it is not our intent to walk away from such a strong and loyal user base. That's why in May we extended our license for Palm OS, giving us the right to continue to make and market Palm OS-based products until 2010.

So, I'd like to ask you to look at our Windows Mobile news as a way to expand our market opportunity. We have every intention of continuing to support our Palm OS developers and to encourage the expansion of the already rich array of consumer and enterprise applications and peripherals for Palm OS. We're pleased Access has initiated the purchase of PalmSource because we believe Access has the resources to really invest in and develop Palm OS.

Net net, I believe that developing differentiated, software-rich products on a range of industry-standard platforms puts us in a unique position with customers and carriers and helps us expand the market opportunity for us, the developer community and everyone involved in the smartphone category. I hope you will agree.

Regards,

Ed Colligan
Palm, Inc. president and CEO

With the mobile market rapidly moving from PDAs to smartphones, it is in the Palm's interest to boost the number of platforms supported by its handsets, so as to attract the widest range of customers. That's especially true of the corporate market, where, for many enterprises, if it isn't a Windows or Research In Motion (RIM) BlackBerry they won't roll it out.

A multi-platform strategy means not nixing the one you built your company on. Of course, the wild card is PalmSource—the Palm OS developer, Palm spin-off and ACCESS acquisition (Palm actually wanted to reacquire its former subsidiary).

There hasn't been a major upgrade to the Palm OS in sometime. And the most recent edition, Cobalt, is all but dead in the water. The mobile world is waiting to see what PalmSource comes up with when it releases its much hyped Linux version of the Palm platform.

Of course, then we'll see if, when and how Palm implements it.