siliconvalley.internet.com/news/article.php/941911
By Michael Singer December 18, 2001 Palm Monday says it is working with Texas Instruments to help make each company's next generation of handheld devices. The deal, which the two companies call a "multifaceted business alliance that encompasses technology, product collaboration and joint marketing," is non-exclusive but will help each other's position in the handheld space. The move is especially important to Santa Clara, Calif.-based Palm to regain momentum after the company split into two groups. The idea is to incorporate the technology of the two companies to boost performance, longer battery life and a host of new capabilities. The new Palm devices are expected to be a hybrid of TI's chips and its OMAP (Open Multimedia Application Platform). Palm also works with Motorola and Intel. Under the agreement, Palm's Solutions Group will use TI's OMAP processor platform to power a set of next-generation handheld solutions, and TI's wireless GSM/GPRS technology to enable seamless connections of Palm handheld computers. "Working together, Palm and TI can accelerate the convergence of wireless voice, multimedia, and data," says Palm Solutions Group executive vice president and COO Todd Bradley. "We believe these capabilities will be increasingly important to the growing number of mobile enterprise users." Examples of new business functions could include utilizing rich multimedia presentations or documents, or employing biometrics for security (fingerprinting); other more mainstream functions might include searching large databases, browsing the Web with rich multimedia content, playing video clips, listening to music, or playing graphically intensive, interactive games. |