SUNNYVALE, Calif., Sept. 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- PalmSource, Inc., provider of the world's leading operating system for handhelds and smart phones and the Palm OS(R) subsidiary of Palm, Inc. (Nasdaq: PALM) today announced that it has shipped the PalmSource Web Browser to Palm OS licensees. Nearly 10 million active Internet users in the United States use the Internet via mobile phones and handheld computers (source: comScore Media Metrix, August 2002), for a variety of needs including e-mail, local services and many others. The PalmSource Web Browser gives users unprecedented security, speed and graphics capability and further establishes Palm OS 5 as the platform of choice for delivering mobile Internet solutions to both enterprise and consumer markets.

"We have seen a rapid growth in the number of mobile Internet users and believe that with improved Web browsing capability, we will attract an even larger audience for wireless handhelds and smart phones," said Steve Sakoman, chief product officer of PalmSource, Inc. "Our new proxy-less browser takes advantage of the performance of the ARM processor and leverages market-proven technology from ACCESS to bring a new level of browsing functionality to Palm OS 5 users."

Based on ACCESS' Netfront(TM) v3.0 browser, the PalmSource Web Browser offers a rich, powerful mobile Internet end-user experience. Utilizing their favorite wireless carrier, users with traditional modem dial-up connections or with fast speed connections, such as 802.11 and Bluetooth solutions on their handhelds, can surf the Web and access the Internet to browse, shop, trade and download games, access enterprise data, news and other information. The browser is optimized to give the end user a good user experience, with the ARM processors providing faster Web access in most cases. In addition, the browser gives users the ability to disable the download of images and JavaScript to improve download time if they are using slower connections. Web pages are rendered in their entirety on the handheld just as they would be on the desktop.

Enterprises and consumers alike will benefit from increased security as transactions are conducted via SSL (Secure Socket Layer). Because the Browser is proxy-less the user's information does not reside on a server and instead the connection is made directly from the wireless device to the Internet. The browser also supports Internet standards, including the latest W3C specifications, HTML 4.01 and XHTML 1.0, Dynamic HTML, cHTML (Compact HTML), DOM Level 1 and Level 2, CSS, and ECMA Script (JavaScript 1.5).

The PalmSource Web Browser is designed to take advantage of the increased power and speed of ARM processors. The recently introduced Palm OS 5 brings the flexibility, innovation and ease of use of the Palm OS platform to powerful ARM-compliant processors. With Palm OS 5, customers can deploy a broad range of Palm Powered? products while supporting a single operating system and set of applications. Palm OS 5 features an enhanced user interface that enables increased personalization, security, multimedia and wireless networking, as well as compatibility with existing Palm OS software programs.

About ACCESS Co., Ltd.

ACCESS Co. Ltd. of Tokyo, Japan (Tokyo Stock Exchange: 4813), is a leading global provider of software and services for IP-based consumer electronics devices. The company's NetFront(R) suite of browser software powers over 177 different commercial products worldwide including mobile phones, digital televisions, set-top boxes, PDAs and car navigation systems. ACCESS' Compact NetFront(R) microbrowser is most widely deployed in phones for NTT DoCoMo's popular i-mode service. To date, more than 63 million ACCESS software licenses have shipped from more than 40 major Internet device manufacturers.

About PalmSource, Inc. and Palm, Inc.

Information about PalmSource, Inc., the Palm OS(R) subsidiary of Palm, Inc., is available at http://www.palmsource.com . Information about Palm, Inc. is available at http://www.palm.com/aboutpalm .

NOTE: Palm OS is a registered trademark and Palm Powered is a trademark of Palm, Inc. Other brands may be trademarks of their respective owners.

SOURCE PalmSource, Inc.
Web site: http: //www.palmsource.com
CONTACT: Alexa Ender of A&R Partners, +1-650-762-2819, or aender@arpartners.com, for PalmSource, Inc.