Palm Gets Good Technology

Makers of wireless handheld devices based on PalmOS will be able to provide a wireless synchronization system created by Good Technology as a result of a partnership announced Thursday by Good and Palm subsidiary PalmSource.

Good Technology will give PalmOS licensees the opportunity to support software and a service for wirelessly synchronizing e-mail and other data from a corporate server with a Palm device. The service also lets users view e-mail attachments in a variety of formats, including Microsoft Office, Corel WordPerfect, Adobe Systems' Portable Document Format and Rich Text Format.

Through its partnership with PalmSource, Good Technology will port its GoodLink and GoodInfo software to PalmOS. A PalmOS version of GoodLink should be available in the first half of next year, said Andrea Cook Fleming, vice president of marketing at Good Technology. Enterprises will be able to buy the service through Cingular Wireless LLC if service has been certified to work on that brand of device.

Also in BlackBerry

Good Technology, in Sunnyvale, California, in May announced wireless synchronization for Research in Motion BlackBerry pagers and its own G100 device, which is expected to ship soon. The GoodLink technology lets users synchronize their handhelds with information in Microsoft Exchange servers. It consists of server software for an enterprise and client software for employees' handheld devices. A service over Cingular Wireless's network carries out the synchronization. GoodInfo, not yet available, will allow users to query any Web-based application and receive responses later in e-mail form.

Using RIM's service and software, BlackBerry can synchronize e-mail and calendars continuously over the air but needs to be placed in a cradle for synchronization of other information, according to Fleming.

Since the May announcement, RIM has sued Good Technology four times, citing charges including misappropriation of trade secrets and unfair competition. [See, "RIM files fourth lawsuit against Good Technology," Sept. 19.]

Also Thursday, South Korea's Samsung Electronics renewed until 2006 the PalmOS license under which it has created a line of phones with PDA features built in. Under the deal unveiled Thursday, the company will continue making "smart phones" based on PalmOS through 2005, according to a statement from the companies.