Today from their local offices in Beijing, China and their headquarters in Sunnyvale, CA, PalmSource Inc. announced several initiatives, among them their intent to create a Palm OS Simplified Chinese Operating System for Mainland China. Palm OS 4.2SC will be for Dragonball-based processors, while Palm OS 5.3SC will be for ARM processors. Simplified Chinese is a written form of the language created during the Cultural Revolution in China, and most mainland Chinese read this form, whereas most outside China still read the "original" form, according to Albert Chu of PalmSource. PalmSource sees this as a critical move to bring Palm OS computing into China. While Chinese "overlays" have been available for English-language Palm devices for some time, this move will ensure more stable code and product support for Chinese Palm OS users, accoring to PalmSource. Also announced were two new licensees of the Palm OS: Legend Group, currently the largest IT provider in China, and number 10 in worldwide PC shipments according to Chu; and Group Sense Limited, a Hong Kong-based company currently specializing in PDA's and e-Dictionaries. Both companies plan to make a Palm OS device and eventually branch into smartphones.
PalmSource also announced collaboration agreements with two Chinese schools, Tsinghua-Solutions, an authorized Palm OS developer training center in Beijing; and Zhong Shan University, also an authorized Palm OS developer training center in Guangzhou. They also announced a partnership with PiTech who will offer quick turnaround design solutions to Palm OS licensees. The PalmSource China Developer's Conference is being held in Beijing December 11 (today) through 12. In addition to the new licensees, Handspring, Samsung, Acer, Sony, and Symbol will be on hand to discuss their vision for Palm products in the Chinese market.
-- Posted Tuesday, December 10, 2002