SANTA CLARA, Calif.-Personal digital assistant maker Palm Inc. scored an important resale deal with technology giant IBM Corp., a partnership that bolsters Palm’s position in its battle against Microsoft Corp.
Under the Palm/IBM alliance, IBM will resell Palm PDAs through its massive worldwide sales force, and the two companies will work together on future products-including products based on IBM’s WebSphere Everyplace Assess product and technologies from its Lotus subsidiary. The deal also involves wirelessly accessing corporate information using Palm devices.
“Palm executing IBM’s enterprise pervasive strategy will benefit customers looking to implement end-to-end wireless solutions,” said Letina Connelly, director of IBM’s Enterprise Pervasive Computing division. “Palm’s mobility expertise and preference in the enterprise joined with IBM’s strength in delivering enterprise solutions and services will help customers looking to leverage wireless to increase employee productivity and sales.”
Palm is locked in a heated battle with Microsoft over the PDA operating system market. Microsoft’s Pocket PC OS has slowly been gaining traction with business users, and Palm has been working to increase sales in the area.
