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The winds of change blew through the mobile computing world today when, as expected, Palm, Inc. announced, during a joint press conference with Microsoft and Verizon Wireless , it had licensed the Redmond-based software giant's mobile operating system (OS) for an expanded line-up of Treo smartphones.

This news was revealed by Palm CEO Ed Colligan, Microsoft chief software architect and founder Bill Gates, and Verizon CEO Denny Strigl. According to the companies, the upcoming Treo (not due until 2006) will take advantage of the Windows Mobile 5.0 platform in multiple ways—offering Outlook Mobile, Office Mobile and Internet Explorer Mobile built into the smartphone, as well as direct access to Exchange Server 2003 for mobile access to information.

Palm will continue to build Treo smartphones and other products on the Palm OS too. Verizon, the number two mobile operator in the United States (behind Cingular Wireless) already carries Palm's current Treo 600 and Treo 650 Palm-based models.


The Three Treosketeers: Verizon's Strigl, Microsoft's Gates, Palm's Colligan

The company traveling down the road towards a Windows Mobile device seems heretical, yes. Yet that is exactly the direction the company has been headed for some time now, especially since the spin off PalmSource—the company's software division and OS maker and recent ACCESS acquisition.

Other Palm OS licensees, especially Samsung, roll out products using multiple platforms. In addition, since Palm handhelds and handsets run on ARM processors, these devices should support other mobile platforms without a major hardware overhaul, easing the transition from one OS to another.

Although Colligen reiterated Palm's support for the Palm OS, there are some who view this as the beginning of the end for the platform. The Info-Tech Research Group's Senior research analyst Carmi Levy states, "The introduction of the Treo on Windows smartphone signals a massive shift in the handheld/smartphone market.

"When viewed in conjunction with the sale of PalmSource earlier this month, it's an acceleration in the demise of the Palm OS platform and final confirmation that its once-dominant position in the broader handheld market is gone for good," Levy adds.

Palm Perception
With the mobile market rapidly moving from PDAs to smartphones, it may be in the Palm's interest to boost the number of platforms supported by its handsets, so as to attract the widest range of customers. That's especially true of the corporate market, where, for many enterprises, if it isn't a Windows or Research In Motion (RIM) BlackBerry they won't roll it out.

Perception and reputation, not necessarily reality, is the key issue here.

Palm OS products may or may not be superior, but Microsoft and more recently RIM Blackberry rule the day in the corporate world either way. Speaking of RIM, Microsoft added push-email to Windows Mobile 5.0 to help the company better compete against that company's e-mail solutions. The Windows Mobile Treo should support this important function. With "push", e-mail arrives automatically on a user's device rather than it having to be requested or "pulled" down.

Levy asserts, "As popular as Palm has traditionally been with end-users, it has always been a marginal corporate player. Palm OS has always lacked robust corporate security features like encryption, virtual private networking and tight messaging connectivity, which has hindered its penetration into the enterprise. Operating system vendor PalmSource also stumbled badly on upgrades."

Palm OS Cobalt, a complete no show, is the most glarring example of that.

"Microsoft on the other hand has made Windows Mobile a strategic product. It's more secure than the Palm OS, and includes the critical technologies that corporate IT departments look for when adopting a platform, according to Levy."

Palm's Colligan asserts the company is "confident customers will see a differentiated smartphone that delivers our world-class usability on Microsoft's flexible and robust Windows Mobile operating system. "We collaborated with Verizon Wireless first because of its high-speed wireless network and growing footprint of BroadbandAccess cities," he adds.

Verizon Broadband service comes courtesy of EV-DO technology, which delivers average data transfer speeds of 400-700 kilobits per second. The carrier has the largest third-generation (3G) network in the United States, with about half the country's population in more than 84 metropolitan areas and in hundreds of airport covered.

The new Windows Mobile Treo will be Palm's first 3G product.

For its part, Microsoft has struggled to gain a significant foothold in the mobile handset market. This is in part due to early shortcomings of its OS, the popularity of Symbian platform smartphones overseas (the lion share built by Nokia) and Palm's Treo's in the United States—the most sort after smartphone in North America—not to mention the success of upstart RIM's BlackBerry data access and e-mail solutions and handhelds.

With today's announcement, Microsoft could end up increasing its share of the mobile handset platform market significantly. It may not have won the war against the Palm platform - not yet, at least - but the most recent battle definitely belongs to the software giant.

"This is a landmark alliance that will help businesses remain on the cutting edge of competitiveness," Gates says. "Demand for accessing information on mobile devices is soaring, and businesses want a low-cost, scalable solution. We're excited to team with Palm and Verizon Wireless to deliver a winning Windows Mobile solution that connects professionals to their critical information while on the go."

Features
During the press conference, the companies demonstrated a Windows Mobile Treo. The upcoming smartphone was used to contact someone quickly from the Windows Mobile Today Screen. You could choose between home, office or mobile numbers, or select e-mail or SMS. And with two letters entered, a user could find a record from among thousands of contacts;

Additional features include the ability to reach people most often called via photo speed dials visible as a band of images on the Today Screen; decline a call with a friendly SMS, signaling "In a meeting" or "Talking with the boss" instead of simply ignoring the call; and rewind, delete or fast-forward through work or cell phone voicemail with familiar and consistent on-screen icons.

Treo XXXw
Not too many product details were disclosed at the press conference. Here's what we know so far from the Internet rumor mill, however. The name of the first Windows Mobile Treo should be the 700w. The Engadget blog posted somewhat convincing video and pictures of this handset last month.

At about the same time, Taiwan's DigiTimes reported Chinese-language newspaper Commercial Times had written that the first Windows Mobile Treo would start shipping in volume during the first quarter of 2006. The report also said Taiwanese original equipment manufacturer High Tech Computer (HTC), a leading producer of PDAs and smartphones, would build and-most likely due to its extensive experience with Windows Mobile-take part in the design of the upcoming Treo.


Treo 700w in Landscape Mode

Pictures of the Windows Mobile Treo showed a Verizon logo, a flash, camera, keyboard and Bluetooth like a traditional Treo. The device has the same connector as the Palm-based Treo 650.

The Treo 700w display can't be the same 320 x 320 pixel screen as the current Palm Treo model, however, because the Pocket PC edition of Windows Mobile doesn't support that resolution. Instead, it should sport a lower-resolution 240 x 240 pixel type.

The upcoming smartphone has 64 MB of memory, twice as much as today's most recent Palm-based Treo model, the Treo 650. In addition, the Treo 700w has the same non-volatile storage as the current model, which means your data won't be lost in the event of a complete power drain. Although the Treo 700w does not integrate Wi-Fi, it will support Palm's Wi-Fi Secure Digital card.