[Tom]

So PalmSource, the company which oversees and develops the Palm operating system, is announcing a new version of their software that’s specifically for smartphones that they hope will end up on lots of other cellphones besides palmOne’s Treo 600 (pictured at right). Not exactly a total surprise since they’d revealed their plans a little while ago to continue to develop Palm OS 5 (now known as Garnet) specifically as a smartphone OS, and this signals the beginning of what will probably shape up to be a big three-way battle between PalmSource, Windows Mobile, and Symbian for control of the smartphone market. The Treo obviously already runs on a customized-version of the Palm OS, but apparently they’re adding all sorts of stuff to make it even more suitable, like BlackBerry-like email software, a new brwoser designed specifically for cellphone screens, and better support for Bluetooth and WiFi. Of course, there’s no word on what non-Treo smartphones will end up with the new OS first.

http://www.engadget.com/entry/7942727737326927/