The Palm OS is the most successful handheld operating system in the world, as reflected by worldwide market share of Palm OS based products. With the new license agreement in place, Palm and Handspring will continue to collaborate in bringing ongoing innovation to the Palm OS.

"Handspring is a great platform partner," said Alan Kessler, general manager of Palm's Platform Solutions Group. "We are excited about our efforts to expand the Palm OS, making mobile and wireless handhelds pervasive across consumer, business and education solutions."

"I am very happy that we have extended our licensing agreement for Palm OS, a critical component of our current and future products," said Jeff Hawkins, Handspring chairman and chief product officer. "Extending the license ensures that we can continue to build great Palm OS based products for many years to come. It also guarantees that Palm and Handspring will continue to work together to refine and enhance the Palm OS so that it will meet the needs of the rapidly changing mobile computing market."

Since licensing the Palm OS in 1998, Handspring has delivered a full line of expandable handheld computers. "We value greatly our relationship with Palm and the ability to use its leading Palm OS," said Donna Dubinsky, Handspring CEO. "The openness and ease-of-integration of the Palm OS allows Handspring to benefit from the advantages of a powerful platform, while adding significant differentiation, such as our Springboard expansion architecture."

Handspring has worked closely with Palm to support the Palm OS, such as integrating Handspring-developed features such as USB and 16-bit color support back into the Palm OS for the benefit of all licensees.

The Palm OS Platform

The value of the Palm OS is derived from the more than 150,000 registered developers who have created more than 8,700 software programs and hundreds of hardware options -- including wireless modems, GPS receivers, MP3 players, digital cameras, voice recorders, data capture devices, and much more.

Palm and its licensees are working aggressively to enhance the Palm OS in 2001 with new capabilities, including support for most wireless standards, support for the Bluetooth local radio standard, secure transaction services, and enhanced multimedia and graphics support.

Approximately 400 to 500 new Palm OS software applications become available every month, ranging from spreadsheets that can read and write Microsoft Excel files, and document processors that can handle Microsoft Word files, to databases, enterprise applications, eBook readers, mapping programs, email programs, web and WAP browsers, dictionaries, financial management programs, health and fitness programs, and games.

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(R) 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, Handspring, IBM, Kyocera, Sony, Symbol Technologies, and TRG. Platform licensees also include Nokia and Samsung. The Palm Economy is a growing global community of industry-leading licensees, world-class OEM customers, and approximately 150,000 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 http://www.palm.com.

About Handspring

Handspring is a leading innovator in the handheld computing industry. The company develops, manufactures and markets a family of expandable handheld computers for a broad range of markets and customers. Founded in 1998, Handspring's flagship technology is the Springboard platform that provides a simple and easy method for hardware and software expansion. Today Handspring sells its Visor line of handheld computers, along with a line of Springboard expansion modules and accessories, at Handspring.com and through select Internet and retail partners in Asia, Canada, Europe, Japan, the Middle East and the United States.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including those relating to: Handspring's long-term plans to continue to develop and market Palm OS based products; the parties' long-term plans to collaborate to enhance the Palm OS; the future pervasiveness of mobile and wireless handhelds; and the enhancements for the Palm OS under development in 2001. Actual results may differ materially due to a number of factors including, among others: future strategic decisions made by Palm and/or Handspring; competitive developments; consumer demand for mobile and wireless handhelds; and the rapid pace of technological change in the handheld computer, communications and wireless industries. The matters discussed in this press release also involve risks and uncertainties described in Handspring's and Palm's most recent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Handspring and Palm assume no obligation to update the forward-looking information contained in this press release.

NOTE: Palm OS is a registered trademark and Palm is a trademark of Palm, Inc. or its subsidiaries. Handspring, the Handspring logo, Visor and Springboard are trademarks of Handspring, Inc. and may be registered in certain jurisdictions. All other brand and company names are trademarks of their respective owners.
SOURCE Palm, Inc.
Web site: http: //www.palm.com
CONTACT: Ronni Sarmanian of Palm, Inc., 408-326-0600, or ronni.sarmanian@corp.palm.com; or Allen Bush of Handspring Inc., 650-230-5029, or abush@handspring.com