PalmSource is to create a new version of the Palm OS with Linux at its core, the company said today after announcing a plan to buy Chinese phone software company China MobileSoft (CMS). With the device market becoming increasingly phone-centric, and with the Chinese market offering a far greater opportunity to device vendors - and their suppliers, like PalmSource - than Europe and North America, it's not hard to see the OS developer's interest in the region.
PalmSource already has a smart phone OS, but it believes CMS code will allow it to extend its reach further down-market into more basic voice-oriented models. CMS has built a phone platform, mfone, on the back of a home-brewed, ARM- and MIPs-oriented embedded version of Linux, mLinux, and a selection of the usual comms and PIM apps. All these components will be the Palm OS look and feel - and, crucially, data compatibility - over time. What's planned is no mere GUI swap - more the replacement with PalmSource code of CMS' application and that part of the OS sitting above the Linux kernel. Some CMS technology, particularly in the telephony area, may well find its way into the Palm OS.
News source: The Register
