Microsoft Palm Come Together over Windows-Based Treo

As expected, Palm Inc. unveiled a forthcoming Treo smart phone running Microsoft’s Windows Mobile 5.0 at a press conference in San Francisco Monday. The device will be available in the U.S. early next year.

According to a Reuters report, Verizon Wireless, the No. 2 U.S. mobile service, will be the first to sell the new Treo phone, which will blend phone functions with computer features such as e-mail, Web access, basic word processing and spreadsheet software.

Palm President and Chief Executive Officer Ed Colligan called the Windows Treo a “historic” product that the company hopes will help it become a supplier to IT departments around the world.

Colligan was joined on stage by Microsoft Chairman and Chief Software Architect Bill Gates and Verizon Wireless President and Chief Executive Officer Denny Strigl, whose company will be the exclusive provider of the Windows Treo for several months.

This is our first 3G product,” Colligan said. Verizon’s growing EV-DO (Evolution-Data Only) network based on CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) technology allows download speeds between 400K bps (bits per second) and 700K bps in some parts of the U.S.

–Tom Krazit, IDG News Service