Palm OS creator completes China MobileSoft acquisition
vnunet.com, 03 Feb 2005
PalmSource today promised to move to Linux after completing its acquisition of mobile phone software firm China MobileSoft.
The company expects to "leverage the work China MobileSoft has done with Linux" to develop a version of Palm OS based on the open source operating system. However, the firm stressed that it will continue to support the Garnet and Cobalt operating system software lines.
PalmSource issued approximately 1,570,000 shares of PalmSource common stock in exchange for China MobileSoft, valuing the deal at about $16m.
Jiping Wang will continue as chief executive at China MobileSoft, but will report to David Nagel, PalmSource president and chief executive.
China MobileSoft, which provides mobile device manufacturers with integrated software platforms and applications for the Chinese market, currently has 10 licensees shipping its software on more than 30 phone models in the country.
"This acquisition of China MobileSoft is part of a strategy to expand our focus and provide software to a much wider phone and mobile device market than we have addressed previously," said Nagel.
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