'Software Connection' Provides One-Stop, Quick Access to Software

SANTA CLARA, Calif., May 15 /PRNewswire/ -- The Palm OS(R) reached a new milestone today with the 10,000th third-party software application for Palm OS based handheld users -- the Novell(R) GroupWise(R) 6 web clipping application. The application, announced today by Novell, is available from Palm, Inc.'s new "Software Connection" website, hosted by PalmGear. Palm is making software applications easier to locate and purchase by organizing them into categories and making them available via this new one-stop shop on its website.

This milestone of 10,000 applications -- which doesn't include the many Palm Reader eBook titles currently available for the Palm OS (www.palm.com/ebooks) -- marks an industry benchmark that Palm believes no other software platform has achieved for such a large number of applications in such a short period of time. An average of 500 new software products for the Palm OS platform are being released by developers every month. According to Michael Mace, Palm's chief competitive officer, "Our coterie of developers make more software available for Palm(TM) handhelds every few months than are available for other handheld platforms in total."

Industry insiders also credit the platform: "The Palm OS market ... is one of the plums in today's economy," said Jim Forbes, editor of DEMOletter, in a recent issue of that journal. "It's vibrant, has room for tremendous growth, and is fostering true innovation."

The new Software Connection section of the Palm website, located at software.palm.com, presents the millions of Palm Powered(TM) handheld users with an easily accessible location from which they can choose from a universe of software solutions for business or personal purposes.

"When a company reaches the level of critical mass that Palm has, with many thousands of applications, it's incumbent upon us to help our customers find what they want quickly," said Steve Franzese, Palm's vice president of eMarketing. Users can locate software that appeals to them in a minute or two; they don't have to scroll through thousands of applications to find what they want. In addition, Franzese noted, users tell Palm that they now find software that they didn't know was available until it was categorized in this neat and organized format.

Software Connection catalogs most of the 10,000 software applications into more than 20 groups of solutions by topic, such as business, financial, communications, eBooks and readers, health and diet, imaging/graphics, language, music, sports, travel and games, as well as references, utilities, wireless and development tools. The site links the more than 13.4 million Palm Powered handheld users(1) -- including users of Palm, Handspring, Kyocera, Sony, Samsung, IBM, Symbol, Franklin Covey and HandEra devices -- with solutions that can be located easily and downloaded quickly to their devices.

The Software Connection site is hosted by PalmGear, a leading Internet source for Palm OS software, hardware, accessories, news and information. PalmGear also hosts a website at PalmGear.com that provides one of the web's most successful portals for bringing shareware developers and users together to promote the Palm OS community.

The web clipping application for Novell GroupWise 6 gives more than 25 million GroupWise users the opportunity to access enterprise data wirelessly from a wirelessly enabled Palm Powered handheld. GroupWise 6 provides an out-of-the-box collaboration environment that enables desktop and deskless workers to communicate from any location, through traditional, web and wireless devices. It enables users of all types to communicate and work together across all types of networks as one Net. Novell is the leading provider of Net services software.

Based on the number of applications available, the Palm OS is by far the leading handheld platform. The growing interest in handheld mobile and wireless devices continues to provide opportunities for the entire Palm Economy -- the community of platform licensees and the more than 150,000 developers of the Palm OS.

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 HandEra (formerly 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 .

(1) "Battle at Hand: The Smart Handheld Devices Market Forecast and

Analysis 2000 - 2004," December 2000.

NOTE: Palm OS is a registered trademark and Palm, PalmGear and Palm Powered are trademarks of Palm, Inc. or its subsidiaries. MobilePCGear H.Q., Inc. uses the PalmGear trademark under express license from Palm, Inc. Other brands may be 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