Palm Pulls Plug on Palm OS, Talks Patents

Palm CEO Ed Colligan Shuts down Palm OS, will focus exclusively on new WebOS, Windows Mobile Smartphones and talks about Palm’s Lucrative Patent Portfolio

Twelve years since it first appeared on devices such as the Palm Pilot, Palm V and Tungsten, the Palm OS is officially dead, at least according to Palm CEO Ed Colligan. For fanboys, now might be a good time to bring that IIIc out of the basement and prepare it for eBay or your Tribute to Palm YouTube video.

Speaking to investors over the phone this morning, Colligan said that there will no longer be any new Palm smartphones powered by Palm OS and that Palm would concentrate their efforts solely on the new Web OS and Windows Mobile products.

Colligan also responded to the “”we will not stand for having our IP ripped off” comment made by Apple COO Tim Cook a few weeks ago during a quarterly earnings conference call.

“The whole area of patents is elaborate; (there are) a lot of issues there, and a very complex area. One of the things we’ve done over 15 years is build a very extensive patent portfolio in the mobile computing space, one of the highest-rated patent portfolios in this space, which contains more than 1,500 patents,” said Colligan. “And the reason you do that is to have a defensive position in the marketplace. It’s kind of like two little porcupines going around, and you don’t want to touch each other because you might get stung. You peacefully coexist and everything’s OK and we keep working together.”

There is still no official launch date for the Sprint bound Palm Pre mobile smartphone, although March 15th has been reported by the rumor mill. Colligan did mention that Palm Pre will have an app store and will also be available in a non-Sprint 3G worldband version.

Click here to read our First Look: The Palm Pre Smartphone

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