Investment report hits PalmSource shares
Published: 02 Nov 2004 08:44 GMT
Shares of PalmSource, the handheld operating system developer, dipped on Monday on an investment bank's report that said key licensee PalmOne will use Microsoft's OS in its Treo line of devices.
The research note from Needham & Co. said PalmOne "tacitly admitted" it was working to make Microsoft's handheld OS available on the popular Treo line of phones. The devices currently use PalmSource's Palm OS, and PalmOne is PalmSource's biggest customer. The two companies recently split from each other, allowing them to be more flexible.
Shares of PalmSource fell $2.09 per share, or 9.32 percent, to close at $20.33. Shares were unchanged in after-hours trading.
PalmOne representatives said the report was based on a misunderstanding, adding the company is platform-agnostic and said that as policy, it did not comment on products that may or may not be under development. PalmSource declined to comment on the report. Microsoft representatives declined to comment on what they called rumours and speculation.
The report added, "We know that an announcement is virtually certain," citing comments made by executives following an event for PalmOne analysts on 5 October. However, the report said the analysts, Charles Wolf and Justin Udelhofen, did not know when a Microsoft version of the Treo would be released.
Udelhofen added that making Microsoft's OS available on PalmOne's Treo devices would render the devices more appealing to large businesses that use other Microsoft OS products. The analyst said he didn't expect PalmOne to ditch the Palm OS and that Microsoft OS support would complement the Palm OS.
Did you find this article useful?
49 out of 91 people found this useful
Digg
Slashdot
Del.ici.ous
Stumble
Reddit
