"So we created two independent, industry leading businesses." is the short message on the Palm website. That's interesting What happened here?

Well, Palm has now split into PalmOne, for the hand held computers, and PalmSource, developers of Palm OS and other software. (click read more below) The separation has a number of benefits for both companies. PalmOne is a merger between Palm (without PalmSource) and Handspring, immediately making PalmOne market leader in its proficiency.

As for PalmSource, it mainly benefits in strategic aspects, especially when it comes to Palm OS. The OS is expected to be sold better, and be more responsive for new technology. PalmSource itself can now be more competitive and is able to directly access capital markets.

The BeOS Stockholders Gathering confirmed that PalmSource was, is and remains the owner of Be, Inc.'s intellectual property. They also still employ a number of former Be engineers.