PalmSource Now Called Access

PalmSource will adopt its parent company's name, nearly a year after being acquired by Access.

PalmSource was originally the operating system division of Palm Inc., the PDA manufacturer now owned by 3Com. Access acquired it in November 2005 to complement its NetFront Web browser for mobile handsets, set-top boxes and gaming consoles.

Access will now fully absorb PalmSource, as it continues to sell the Palm OS for mobile handsets against competition like Microsoft's Windows Mobile and Symbian's OS.

It will immediately face a challenge, as PalmSource continues to feud with Palm Inc. after missing a deadline to develop a new generation of the OS called the Access Linux Platform.

Market Forces

At the same time, handset manufacturers are hustling to adjust to a changing marketplace. Consumer demand for simple PDAs has been dropping fast, while sales of smart phones continue to rise.

That shift has pushed hardware vendors like Motorola, Nokia, and Research in Motion to grab bigger slices of marketshare while Palm Inc. phases out its handheld organizers and relies heavily on sales of its higher-priced Treo smart phone. Palm Inc. is expected to launch a lower-cost version of its smart phone called the Treo 680 on Thursday to bridge the gap.