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Palm Enhances Support Offerings for Enterprise and SME Deployment of Handhelds in Australia



Enterprise Hardware Service Program to Help Companies to Effectively Deploy Mission-critical Palm Handheld Solutions

SYDNEY, Jan. 31, 2002 - Palm, Inc. (Nasdaq: PALM), a pioneer in the field of mobile and wireless Internet applications and a leading provider of handheld solutions, today announced that it has enhanced its enterprise service offerings in Australia to make it easier and more cost-effective for companies to manage and support Palm™ handhelds solutions.

The latest offering, the Palm Enterprise Hardware Service Program, is tailored to the needs of business customers in Australia. It features a selection of hardware exchange ("hot-swap") options, allowing companies to retain control of mission-critical hardware. Companies joining the Enterprise Hardware Service Program benefit from the availability of onsite hot-swap units for Palm branded handhelds.

"Palm’s goal is to aid companies in servicing and supporting Palm handhelds in their organisation," said Craig Will, vice president, Asia Pacific, Palm, Inc. "Our Enterprise Hardware Service Program provides the convenience of onsite-replacement of Palm handheld units, and we believe this is significant in further enabling companies to effectively deploy Palm handhelds."

All past and present Palm branded handhelds that are, or were, available for purchase in Asia Pacific are eligible for inclusion in the program. Enterprises must register each unit individually when joining the program to ensure eligibility.

Other key features of the program include unlimited repairs for registered units, and web-based tracking of service order and repair status using the Palm Web Tracker.

Multiple Support Offerings for Flexibility

The Enterprise Hardware Service Program features five packages, intended to meet the varying needs of business users in Australia. These packages cater to Palm handheld deployments scaling from 100 to 1,000 units, allowing customers to select the option that best suits their needs.

Each package also provides for coverage of non-warranty items, such as breakage of screens or casings.

Pricing and Availability

The Palm Enterprise Hardware Service Program is available for an annual fee starting at US$36 per device for customers with between 100 and 199 registered units.

The program is available through enterprise reseller and systems integrators, including those announced today under Palm’s Enterprise Alliance Program (please see today’s related announcement, "Palm Aligns with Leading Integrators of Handheld Computing Solutions in Australia and Asia Pacific"). Further information about the Enterprise Hardware Service Program is located at www.palm.com/au/solutions/enterprise/.

Business users can continue to take advantage of Palm's standard customer-care and repair offerings, which are open to all Palm customers.

About Palm, Inc.

Palm, Inc. is a pioneer in the field of mobile and wireless Internet solutions and a leading provider of handheld computers, according to IDC (December 2000). Based on the Palm OS® platform, Palm's handheld solutions allow people to carry and access their most critical information with them wherever they go. Palm(TM) handhelds address the needs of individuals, enterprises and educational institutions through thousands of application solutions.

The Palm OS platform is also the foundation for products from Palm's licensees and strategic partners, such as Franklin Covey, HandEra (formerly TRG), Handspring, IBM, Kyocera, Sony, and Symbol Technologies. Platform licensees also include Acer, Garmin, Nokia and Samsung. The Palm Economy is a growing global community of industry-leading licensees, world-class OEM customers, and more than 160,000 innovative developers and solution providers that have registered to develop solutions based on the Palm OS platform. Palm went public on March 2, 2000. Its stock is traded on the Nasdaq national market under the symbol PALM. More information is available at www.palm.com

Palm OS is a registered trademark, and Palm is a trademark of Palm, Inc. or its subsidiaries.





Palm, Palm OS, and Treo are among the trademarks or registered trademarks owned or licensed to Palm, Inc. Microsoft and Windows Mobile are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. All other brand and product names are or may be trademarks of, and are used to identify products or services of, their respective owners.