Palm is, at this moment, announcing a Treo running Windows Mobile 5 at a press conference in San Francisco. This has already been widely reported, of course, so the only real news is the confirmation. This afternoon, I got a telephone briefing from Franck Gaget, Palm's European marketing director. He confirmed that the initial version of the phone will not do "push email," which requires an update to both the Windows Mobile software and Microsoft's Exchange email server. Push email will, he says, be available at a later date.
He was also happy to confirm that Palm is not abandoning Palm OS, and has extended its Palm OS deal to 2010. The Windows CE-based system is, he says, "an addition to what we're doing, not a replacement."
But Franck wasn't able to give dates or name suppliers for a UK version. The new Treo will be available from Verizon in the US "early next year", reaching the UK in the second half -- maybe a year from now.
Comment: It will be interesting to see whether Palm fans react to Palm shipping a Microsoft operating system, but from Palm's point of view, it's just business. Windows Mobile gives it a chance to sell to big companies that are using Windows and the .net infrastructure. As for Microsoft, it's delighted to have another licensee, and particularly loves doing deals with "enemies" such as Palm, Psion and Nokia.
These deals may not, in the short term, be good news for companies that are already selling phones running Windows Mobile: they have to face increased competition. But Microsoft's business is based on platforms -- in this case, Windows Server and Exchange Server -- and Microsoft cares far too much about its own platforms to worry unduly about other people's devices.
