Palm Inc. announced a new expanded partnership with European carrier Orange France, a move that further highlights the growing device market and the importance of carrier relationships.
Palm and Orange France said they will team to create the Orange bureau service, which the companies said will offer Palm’s Tungsten W handheld that can connect to users’ e-mail, contacts and other information within Orange’s coverage area.
“Mobility has always been central to Palm’s strategy,” said Rick Hartwig, Palm’s senior product manager of wireless handhelds. “The solutions that we’re currently proposing with Orange considerably expand the field of access to information for professionals looking for reliable, secure and cost-effective resources. In this way, they can gain fast access to enterprise data and increase their productivity while on the move.”
Interestingly, the move follows a similar strategy from Palm rival and licensee Handspring Inc. In an effort to rejuvenate its Treo device business, Handspring said it will work to form tight partnerships with a select number of carriers to offer differentiated products-and Orange will be one of those carriers. Handspring said it will build high-end wireless devices to carrier specifications.
Further, Orange was the first carrier in the world to offer devices using Microsoft Corp.’s Smartphone operating system, evidence the carrier is not playing favorites in the operating system race.
