New Zealand Electronics Manufacturer to Target Industrial Device Markets

PALMSOURCE DEVELOPER SEMINAR, SAN MATEO, Calif., May 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- PalmSource, Inc., provider of the world's most popular operating system for handhelds and smartphones, and the Palm OS subsidiary of Palm, Inc. (Nasdaq: PALM), today announced that Aceeca Limited, a Christchurch, New Zealand electronics company has licensed its Palm OS(R) operating system. Palm OS software will be incorporated into a new Palm Powered(TM) diagnostic measurement handheld from Aceeca to address the needs of enterprise and industrial instruments markets.

Aceeca's new mobile handheld device, called the Meazura(TM), features a proprietary expansion slot, called the MZIO(TM), that allows third party developers to add custom modules. MZIO is a proprietary interface developed by Aceeca to specifically meet the requirements of interfacing sensor signal conditioning circuitry as well as external memory cards to the main microprocessor and internal memory. The MZIO provides developers with various options for communications with the system processor and memory and minimizes the amount of development effort required to interface with virtually any sensor. These mobile sensors can enable government and scientific agencies to monitor things like vibration, displacement and temperatures and provide mobile in-the-field measurement solutions for a wide range of industries, including agriculture, automotive, aviation, geology, machinery maintenance and medical.

With Meazura, Aceeca is helping to create a new class of products called Industrial Digital Assistants, or IDAs. As a mobile development platform for portable applications, Meazura features include:

-- MZIO expansion capability
-- Interchangeable measurement modules
-- Rugged industrial strength design
-- Powered by Palm OS(R) 4.1
-- Motorola Dragonball(R) 33mHz microprocessor
-- 16 megabytes SDRAM
-- 4 megabytes of Flash memory
-- IRDA, RS232 and USB communications
-- Wireless communication options
-- 1900mAhr Lithium Ion rechargeable battery

"We're delighted to welcome Aceeca to the Palm OS Economy," said David Nagel, president and CEO of PalmSource. "Their Palm Powered products will provide new enterprise and industrial users with the benefits that consumers and businesses have long appreciated from Palm OS. Because of the expansion slot, Meazura enables literally thousands of new uses that can improve the quality of work in industries and scientific pursuits while taking our platform into entirely new arenas."

Known for the power and ultimate flexibility of its sophisticated, easy-to-use interface, the Palm OS platform is the foundation for over 28 million handheld computers and smart phones sold worldwide. With more than 260,000 software developers registered to create applications for the platform, Palm OS has one of the most active developer communities in the handheld industry. Today, over 17,000 applications are available for Palm Powered products -- more than six times the number available for any other handheld platform.

"PalmSource's exceptional developer community was an important factor in choosing the Palm OS platform over its competitors," said Alex Topschij, CEO of Aceeca. "The Palm OS saved us from the many man-years of development effort that would be required to create our own comparable operating system. There is a huge developer base with literally thousands of third party applications -- more than any other portable operating system. The Palm OS is powerful and development of even relatively complicated applications can be achieved in a fraction of the time normally required with a proprietary operating system."

Meazura allows software developers to create applications for a wide range of uses, including calibration, conductivity, water currents, flow, force and torque, gas, humidity, light, medical, oxygen, PH/ion, power, pressure, sound, temperature, vacuum, vibration, voltage and water quality. With its worldwide popularity, ease of use, and open platform, Palm OS will help promote faster development and adoption of handheld devices for specific industrial and scientific applications.

Aceeca plans to release its customizable Palm Powered IDA device in June 2003. The compact, robust and versatile Meazura provides developers with a cost-effective platform from which to develop and launch industrial instruments without incurring prohibitive platform development costs. The savings in platform development cost and accompanying time efficiency are applicable for small or large quantities of units. More information about Aceeca and Meazura can be found on www.aceeca.com.

About PalmSource

PalmSource is the company behind Palm OS, the world's most popular operating system for handhelds and smartphones. Licensed by industry leaders -- including Aceeca, Acer, AlphaSmart, Fossil, Garmin, GSL, Handera, Handspring, HuneTec, Kyocera, Legend, Palm, Samsung, Sony, Symbol and Tapwave as well as Palm OS Ready Partners such as ATI, Intel, MediaQ, Motorola, Samsung Semiconductor and Texas Instruments -- Palm OS has been shipped on more than 28 million handhelds and smartphones, and given rise to a huge community of users, enterprises, developers and manufacturers, who together make up the Palm Economy. PalmSource's new headquarters are located at 1240 Crossman Ave. in Sunnyvale, Calif. PalmSource is a subsidiary of Palm, Inc.. More information about PalmSource, Inc., is available at www.palmsource.com.

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

SOURCE PalmSource, Inc.