SANTA CLARA, Calif.—Palm Inc. made its biggest move yet to bolster its operating system business, this time doling out $11 million for Internet software company Be Inc.
Palm is buying the intellectual property and technology assets of Be, which include its BeIA and BeOS operating systems, and has made employment offers to Be’s engineering team. Be, which “enables rich media and Web experiences on personal computers and Internet appliances,” plans to liquidate after the deal closes at the end of this year.
Be was founded in 1990 and went public in 1999. Its stock hit a high of about $40 per share near the end of 1999, but has been steadily falling since. In trading today the company’s stock fell almost 40 percent to 28 cents per share.
Palm said the move would augment its future ability in development tools, user-centric communications, Internet and multimedia technologies. Palm’s stock was down about 4 percent in trading today to $4.02 per share.
“The technology and people from Be are highly regarded,” said Carl Yankowski, Palm’s chief executive officer. “We look forward to them joining forces with our own outstanding engineers on future versions of the Palm OS. This move will help us expand the PalmOS platform into broader markets using their multimedia and Internet expertise.”
The announcement is the company’s third in recent weeks aimed at improving its operating systems business. First, Palm extended its licensing program to include ARM architecture silicon suppliers, then it said it would separate its OS business into a wholly owned subsidiary. In the past critics have said Palm’s operating system, which is competing against Microsoft Corp.’s Pocket PC, is outdated and too simple.
Separately, Bachmann Software launched its FilePoint application for Palm devices. The program allows users to organize and manage their files.
