PalmSource Launches Palm Powered Mobile World in China

PalmSource today launched Palm Powered Mobile World (PPMW) in China and welcomed mobile operator China Unicom NewSpace, a wholly-owned subsidiary of China Unicom Limited ("China Unicom") to the program.

With over 112 million wireless subscribers, China Unicom is the world's second largest CDMA operator, third largest GSM operator, and the provider of paging, long-distance, broadband data and mobile communications services. China is the world's largest and one of the fastest growing markets for mobile phones, with about 330 million mobile phone subscribers and about 240 million handsets manufactured for domestic use and export in 2004 (source ARC, MII).

China Unicom joins existing PPMW mobile operator partners Orange, Sprint and Telefonica Moviles Espana, in addition to more than a dozen infrastructure and middleware partners in the program designed to capitalize on the growing market.

As a member of the Palm Powered Mobile World Program, China Unicom NewSpace will work together with PalmSource in a number of areas including:

-- Collaborating to align the Palm OS platform roadmap with the product requirements of China Unicom NewSpace in order to facilitate the deployment of next generation Palm Powered smartphones; and

-- Engaging in joint marketing activities to identify and promote key third-party Palm OS applications and solutions that meet the needs of China Unicom NewSpace wireless customers.

"We are pleased to join Palm Powered Mobile World and bring our expertise in wireless voice and next generation data services to Palm Powered(TM) devices," said Song XiaoBing, CEO, China Unicom NewSpace. "We look forward to our continued collaboration with PalmSource in the PPMW program to offer our customers a wide variety of Palm Powered(TM) devices and solutions that take advantage of our high-speed data service and also deliver an enhanced user experience."

"We are committed to providing customers with an industry leading platform that includes our partnerships with leading mobile operators such as China Unicom NewSpace," said Dr. David Nagel, PalmSource president and CEO. "As a charter member of Palm Powered Mobile World China, China Unicom NewSpace is enabling us to provide a strong foundation for the Palm Powered Economy in China."

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Ten To Go?

mikecane @ 5/12/2005 5:15:17 PM # Q
Nagel last year gloated over having "eleven licensees" that hadn't previously been announced. Is this one of them? The PS DevCon is coming up -- will the other ten be announced then?

RE: Ten To Go?
hkklife @ 5/12/2005 10:30:21 PM # Q
Better yet, when will dead or dying licensees be removed from Nagel's list? I mean, it's painfully obvious who's just treading water right now and unloading excess inventory. P1 is the ONLY licensee still actively developing & *releasing* new models in any volume.

RE: Ten To Go?
Foo Fighter @ 5/12/2005 11:24:37 PM # Q
It looks even worse when you consider the dreaded M word has 40 licensees and growing market share, vs. PalmSource's declining market share and dying licensees. PalmOS may not be dead but it's starting to smell like a Florida retirement home for elderly PDA makers.

-------------------------------
Editor, http://Pocketfactory.com
Contributing Editor, http://digitalmediathoughts.com
RE: Ten To Go?
Foo Fighter @ 5/12/2005 11:28:42 PM # Q
My Zodiac is even starting to develop arthritis. :-)

-------------------------------
Editor, http://Pocketfactory.com
Contributing Editor, http://digitalmediathoughts.com
RE: Ten To Go?
benamy @ 5/13/2005 12:05:54 AM # Q
Nagel has got to go!

That would be a great signal that at least PSRC was wanting to fight and survive.

China has great potential but with the current leader of the ship flubbing up the works how can it overtake those forty M word licensees and make a real fight?

New oppurtunity needs new leadership. It could make all the difference.

Nagel has got to go!

RE: Ten To Go?
LiveFaith @ 5/13/2005 1:51:18 AM # Q
Where's Gekko to stir the pot on this one? He at least has to show up and say "Nagel's gotta Go", even if Dell, Fujitsu, HP & Motorola switched to Palm OS and dumped M$. :-D

Pat Horne; www.churchoflivingfaith.com
RE: Ten To Go?
LiveFaith @ 5/13/2005 1:53:34 AM # Q
Next PSRC conference will have the slogan "Hang Ten"!

Pat Horne; www.churchoflivingfaith.com
Nagel's gotta Go!
The_Voice_of_Reason @ 5/13/2005 2:17:05 AM # Q
Geeko can't talk right now (http://www.dennishollingsworth.us/images/dead-gekko.jpg), but if he could, I'm sure he'd say:

"Death can come swiftly to a market leader. By the time you have lost the positive-feedback cycle it's often too late to change what you've been doing, and all of the elements of a negative spiral come into play."
- Bill Gates, "The Road Ahead", Chapter 3


More "Words of Wisdom" from BubbaSteve here:

http://www.palminfocenter.com/view_story.asp?ID=7574


------------------------
Press release: CUPERTINO, California — February 11, 2005 — Apple® announced today that Steve Jobs will begin selling his own feces to Apple Cultists beginning March 1. Apple's new iPoo™ lineup is expected to easily surpass the iPod shuffle as the company's most popular product. Yes, Apple Cultists can already easily create their own iPoo™, but feces didn't seem cool until Jobs told them it was cool. Remember, kids: the ONLY cool feces is Jobs' highly individualistic, rebellious iPoo™ (coming soon in six different colors/flavors, including the red [hematochezia] and black [melena] U2 GI bleed model)

------------------------
Sony CLIE UX100: 128 MB real RAM, OLED screen. All the PDA anyone really ever wanted.
------------------------

Say hello to my little friend...

Reply to this comment

PSRC hope for tomorrow is poor CHINA and INDIA

benamy @ 5/15/2005 6:36:06 AM # Q
If the OS battleground for the handheld computer can just be successfully engaged on mainland China, PSRC can win. PSRC must make a showing that will allow Palm to be adopted widespread in the poor and rich areas of China.

If PSRC can successfully get it OS on at least a ten devices that all have wifi or cell capabilities and can be produced cheap enough that mass market adoption in poor areas of China could occur, PALM could once again rule the day.

Many rural China and Indian communities do not have the infrastructure to support desktop/laptop computers while they could support native language handhelds.

The handheld could have a mispreceived but very marketable image of being more afforadable and simpilier to use. One device with just one plug to recharge it that could do everything a computer and a phone can do that could propel the masses into China and India's new future that they are seeing on TV.

And it can all be done with local help from those that do not want the monopolies of the computer industry (MSFT) taking their business from beneath them.


Copied out of ChinaTechNews.com

Palm Powered Mobile World Begins
May 13, 2005
PalmSource (PSRC) .....and enlisted China Unicom NewSpace....

PalmSource and China Unicom NewSpace, along with Samsung Electronics, also announced that the Samsung SCH-i539 is now available........and is the first Palm smartphone available in China.

With over 112 million wireless subscribers, China Unicom......

.....China Unicom NewSpace will work together with PalmSource in a number of areas. The companies will collaborate to align the Palm OS platform roadmap with the product requirements of China Unicom NewSpace in order to facilitate the deployment of next generation Palm Powered smartphones. The companies will also be engaged in joint marketing activities to identify and promote key third-party Palm OS applications and solutions that meet the needs of China Unicom NewSpace wireless customers.


RE: PSRC hope for tomorrow is poor CHINA and INDIA
Surur @ 5/15/2005 7:24:31 AM # Q

Do people really think this is realistic though. If you are on a very limited budget the last thing you need is a PDA. The disparity between the functionality of a $200 PDA and a $400-500 desktop computer is huge. If I had to make a number called functionality units, a a POS handheld would be 5, a good pocketpc 10, and a cheap windows desktop 100. I'm sure people would argue about the exact numbers, and an expert can leverage any PDA to amazing heights of functionality, but for the average Joe a cheap desktop at double the price will do so much more.

The poor of Asia is not going to save PSRC.

Surur

RE: PSRC hope for tomorrow is poor CHINA and INDIA
mikecane @ 5/15/2005 12:25:12 PM # Q
>>>a POS handheld would be 5, a good pocketpc 10

There's no such thing as a "good PPC," so your argument is DOA to start with.

RE: PSRC hope for tomorrow is poor CHINA and INDIA
AdamaDBrown @ 5/15/2005 1:35:14 PM # Q
Mike, if you're contribute constructively to the discussion, sit down and be quiet.

The problem with the Chinese market is that it's difficult for any outside influence to break in to, and even local companies like GSPDA are put in a tight spot. The largest part of the Chinese market likes ultra-cheap cell phones, and making any kind of smartphone or converged device cheap is not easy. The high-end segment lets GSPDA get by, but it doesn't make for massive sales. If most people here in the U.S. can't afford smartphones, I doubt that the people in China are going to be able to either.

Palm won't stand a snowball's chance in he11 in CHINA.
The_Voice_of_Reason @ 5/15/2005 4:44:26 PM # Q
Don't be silly. Palm will never make a penny in China (or India, for that matter). No American companies can compete over there - the deck is too stacked against them. If PalmOS ever gets even the slightest toehold in the market, unlicensed knockoffs sporting stolen copies of PalmOS would flood the market literally OVERNIGHT, selling for 1/4 what a legitimate llicensed PDA would sell for. And guess which one Chinese consumers will buy? Don't believe me? Just ask a little company called Microsoft how difficult it is dealing with China. And Palm ain't no Microsoft.


------------------------
Press release: CUPERTINO, California — February 11, 2005 — Apple® announced today that Steve Jobs will begin selling his own feces to Apple Cultists beginning March 1. Apple's new iPoo™ lineup is expected to easily surpass the iPod shuffle as the company's most popular product. Yes, Apple Cultists can already easily create their own iPoo™, but feces didn't seem cool until Jobs told them it was cool. Remember, kids: the ONLY cool feces is Jobs' highly individualistic, rebellious iPoo™ (coming soon in six different colors/flavors, including the red [hematochezia] and black [melena] U2 GI bleed model)

------------------------
Sony CLIE UX100: 128 MB real RAM, OLED screen. All the PDA anyone really ever wanted.
------------------------

Say hello to my little friend...

RE: PSRC hope for tomorrow is poor CHINA and INDIA
benamy @ 5/15/2005 8:50:58 PM # Q
All the above points are valid and reasonable so then what is Nagel doing banking the company on China?

As I have said and will say again Nagel has got to go.

Nagel has got to go!



RE: PSRC hope for tomorrow is poor CHINA and INDIA
mikecane @ 5/15/2005 9:17:06 PM # Q
Duh 101.

China = cheeeeep labor.

RE: PSRC hope for tomorrow is poor CHINA and INDIA
benamy @ 5/16/2005 12:19:00 AM # Q
So cheap labor- duh?

So what is Nagel going to do with the product in the US? He has already lost the market to MSFT. And Symbian could take anything PSRC has as it would be like stealing from a baby.

PSRC is dead without new markets to deploy a good product that can not be marketed as the device makers are not falling over themselves to use the cheaply produced PSRC product.

So who cares about cheap labor in China if you can not sell it anywhere?

China is the market everyone is fight to win. The shift to make quality products in China has already been made and China and India have beaten the rest of the world. Now the fight is to sell products to the those that are up and coming.

If Nagels plan is just to pay cheap wages to make software with market share it is as stupid as your comment Mike Cane!
Ben



RE: PSRC hope for tomorrow is poor CHINA and INDIA
benamy @ 5/16/2005 12:26:21 AM # Q
My last sentence needed to say WITHOUT MARKETSHARE


RE: PSRC hope for tomorrow is poor CHINA and INDIA
mikecane @ 5/16/2005 8:25:52 AM # Q
I love it when you eejits froth at the mouth and in the one sentence that is supposed to deliver the "knockout punch" to me, you wind up egging your own face with an egregious typo. Keep up the stupid work!

RE: PSRC hope for tomorrow is poor CHINA and INDIA
The_Voice_of_Reason @ 5/16/2005 12:03:45 PM # Q
Vicious. Just vicious.

The biotchslapping here is getting out of control!


------------------------
Press release: CUPERTINO, California — February 11, 2005 — Apple® announced today that Steve Jobs will begin selling his own feces to Apple Cultists beginning March 1. Apple's new iPoo™ lineup is expected to easily surpass the iPod shuffle as the company's most popular product. Yes, Apple Cultists can already easily create their own iPoo™, but feces didn't seem cool until Jobs told them it was cool. Remember, kids: the ONLY cool feces is Jobs' highly individualistic, rebellious iPoo™ (coming soon in six different colors/flavors, including the red [hematochezia] and black [melena] U2 GI bleed model)

------------------------
Sony CLIE UX100: 128 MB real RAM, OLED screen. All the PDA anyone really ever wanted.
------------------------

Say hello to my little friend...

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