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PalmSource Spins Out
From Palm, Inc
Effective October 29, 2003, PalmSource stock will begin trading on the NASDAQ stock market under the ticker symbol: PSRC. In addition to the spin-off, the stockholders approved the acquisition of Handspring by Palm, Inc. That new combined company has been renamed palmOne, Inc. The PALM and HAND ticker symbols will cease to trade. palmOne's stock will trade on the NASDAQ stock market under the ticker symbol: PLMO.
"Today's stockholder vote demonstrates strong support for the spin out of PalmSource as a separate and independent company, as well as the merger of Palm and Handspring," said David Nagel, president and chief executive officer of PalmSource. "As a stand alone public company, PalmSource can focus on maximizing stockholder value by advancing the Palm OS platform into exciting new and existing markets. Our licensees, our stockholders and all of the employees of PalmSource are delighted to become a publicly traded company, and we are committed to acting quickly to realize the tremendous opportunity this represents."
The spin out of PalmSource is expected to drive the following benefits:
-- Potential to increase the number of licensees of Palm OS;
-- Increase the competitiveness of Palm OS
-- Increase the responsiveness of Palm OS to technology change and
customer needs;
-- Sharpen focus on PalmSource's businesses and strategic opportunities,
and
-- Allow direct access to capital markets.
"PalmSource's competitive position extends well beyond the strength of its brand. The company benefits from a loyal base of customers, an established Palm OS platform across multiple devices and a large, diverse community of third-party developers," said Eric Benhamou, chairman of PalmSource, Inc. "Today's stockholder vote approving the spin out brings enormous promise for the mobile device and smartphone markets, which will continue growing in quality and excellence as PalmSource and palmOne sharpen focus in their respective businesses."
PalmSource's business includes Palm OS, software development tools and applications such as personal information management applications, e-mail and web browsers engineered to enable mobile information device manufacturers to create innovate products to meet diverse customer needs. In addition, PalmSource markets and sells Palm OS software titles for Palm Powered devices through its new online store at PalmSource.com.
The Palm OS platform has attracted a large following, with over 30 million Palm Powered devices sold to date and software developers who have created over 19,000 Palm OS software titles, the largest collection of software for any mobile operating system.
To view the NASDAQ presentation by David Nagel, president and CEO of PalmSource, please go to http://www.palmsource.com anytime after 9:30 a.m. EST, October 29, 2003. PalmSource b-roll is currently available, please go to http://www.palmsource.com, for more information.
About PalmSource
PalmSource (Nasdaq: PSRC - News) is the company behind Palm OS, the popular operating system for handhelds and smartphone devices. Licensed by industry leaders -- including Aceeca, AlphaSmart, Fossil, Garmin, GSL, HuneTec, Kyocera, Lenovo, palmOne, Samsung, Sony, Symbol and Tapwave as well as Palm OS Ready Partners including ATI, Intel, MediaQ, Motorola, M-Systems, Samsung and Texas Instruments. Palm OS has been shipped to date on more than 30 million handhelds and smartphones, and given rise to a large community of users, enterprises, developers and manufacturers, who together make up the Palm Economy. More information about PalmSource is available at www.palmsource.com , http://www.palmsource.co.uk , http://www.palmsource.fr , http://www.palmsource.de and http://www.palmsource.com.cn .
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, as well as assumptions that, if they never materialize or prove incorrect, could cause our results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements include, without limitation, statements related to the trading of our common stock on the NASDAQ stock market, the expected benefits of the spin-off and the growth of the mobile device and smart phone markets.
The risks and uncertainties that could cause our results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements include, without limitation, our ability to establish certain minimum bid prices pursuant to the rules of the NASDAQ stock market, our ability to successfully penetrate new mobile device markets or the ability of new markets to grow as we anticipate, our ability to successfully operate our business separately from Palm's, our ability to compete with existing or new competitors, our ability, and that of our licensees, to timely introduce new products to the market, general economic conditions in the U.S. and abroad and other risks and uncertainties contained in our public announcements, reports to stockholders and other documents filed with and furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended August 29, 2003. All forward-looking statements in this press release are based on information available to us as of the date hereof, and we assume no obligation to update these forward-looking statements.
NOTE: Palm OS is a registered trademark and Palm Powered is a trademark of PalmSource Inc. Palm is a trademark of the Palm Trademark Holding Company. Other brands may be trademarks of their respective owners.
NOTE TO EDITORS: This press release complements palmOne's press release dated October 28, 2003: "PalmSource Spin-Off and Handspring Acquisition Approved by Stockholders."