ACCESS Systems Americas, Inc. (formerly PalmSource) is a subsidiary of
ACCESS which develops the
Palm OS PDA
PDA may refer to:
Science and technology
* Patron-driven acquisition, a mechanism for libraries to purchase books
*Personal digital assistant, a mobile device
* Photodiode array, a type of detector
* Polydiacetylenes, a family of conducting poly ...
operating system and its successor, the
Access Linux Platform, as well as
BeOS
BeOS is an operating system for personal computers first developed by Be Inc. in 1990. It was first written to run on BeBox hardware.
BeOS was positioned as a multimedia platform that could be used by a substantial population of desktop users a ...
. PalmSource was spun off from
Palm Computing, Inc.
Palm OS runs on 38 million devices that have been sold since 1996 from hardware manufacturers including Palm, Inc.,
Samsung,
IBM, Aceeca,
AlphaSmart,
Fossil, Inc.
Fossil Group, Inc., is an American fashion designer and manufacturer founded in 1984 by Tom Kartsotis and based in Richardson, Texas. Their brands include Fossil, Relic, Michele Watch, Skagen Denmark, Misfit, WSI, and Zodiac Watches. Fossil ...
,
Garmin,
Group Sense PDA (Xplore),
Kyocera, PiTech,
Sony, and
Symbol
A symbol is a mark, sign, or word that indicates, signifies, or is understood as representing an idea, object, or relationship. Symbols allow people to go beyond what is known or seen by creating linkages between otherwise very different conc ...
. PalmSource also develops several programs for the Palm OS, and as of December 2005, PalmGear claims to offer 28,769 software titles of varying genres. Palm OS software programs can also be downloaded from
CNET
''CNET'' (short for "Computer Network") is an American media website that publishes reviews, news, articles, blogs, podcasts, and videos on technology and consumer electronics globally. ''CNET'' originally produced content for radio and televi ...
, PalmSource,
Handango, and
Tucows.
PalmSource also owns
BeOS
BeOS is an operating system for personal computers first developed by Be Inc. in 1990. It was first written to run on BeBox hardware.
BeOS was positioned as a multimedia platform that could be used by a substantial population of desktop users a ...
, which it purchased from
Be Inc.
Be Inc. was an American computer company founded in 1990. It is best known for the development and release of BeOS, and the BeBox personal computer. Be was founded by former Apple Computer executive Jean-Louis Gassée with capital from Seymour Cra ...
in August 2001.
History
In January 2002, Palm, Inc. set up a wholly owned subsidiary to develop and license Palm OS, which was named PalmSource in February. In October 2003, PalmSource was spun off from Palm as an independent company, and Palm renamed itself
palmOne. palmOne and PalmSource set up a holding company that owned the Palm trademark.
In January 2004, PalmSource announced the successor to classic Palm OS called Palm OS Cobalt. However, it failed to gain support from hardware licensees. That December, PalmSource acquired China MobileSoft, a software company with a mobile
Linux offering. As a result, PalmSource announced that they would extend Palm OS to run on top of the
Linux architecture.
In May 2005, palmOne purchased PalmSource's share of the Palm trademark for US$30 million
and two months later renamed itself Palm, Inc.
As part of the agreement, palmOne granted certain rights to Palm trademarks to PalmSource and licensees for a four-year transition period. Later that year, ACCESS, which specializes in mobile and embedded web browser technologies, including
NetFront, acquired PalmSource for US$324 million. In October 2006, PalmSource announced that it would rename itself to ACCESS, to match its parent company's name.
[Ed Hardy]
PalmSource Changing Its Name
Brighthand, October 12, 2006.
See also
*
List of Palm OS Devices
References
{{Reflist, 2
External links
PalmSource Historical SEC Filings
Electronics companies of the United States
Companies formerly listed on the Nasdaq
Palm, Inc.