Following a less-than-stellar quarter, PalmSource has announced that internal development will be 100% Linux. This effectively kills Cobalt and means that we probably won't see a new OS from PalmSource for at least another year. CEO Patrick McVeigh said the company intends to move away from the PDA market and focus instead on smartphones and feature phones, incorporating technology acquired from China MobileSoft. LG Electronics has already agreed to license an upcoming Linux-based Palm OS for its smarphones. Details of the deal were not available, but PalmSource previously said that it expects to release a smartphone OS in the summer of 2006.
What does all this mean for PalmOne ("the once and future Palm")? The company has been releasing customized -- some would say kludgey -- versions of Garnet for a long time, and many Palm watchers are worried that the company won't be able to wait for a new Linux-based Palm OS. So the question is, will the next batch of Palm handhelds be running Linux, Windows, or Palm OS 5.999? - Eli