PalmSource Acquired by Japan's Access

The big news over night was that PalmSource had agreed to be acquired by Japan's Access for $324 million to bolster the company's roster of products for mobile phones. Access is the maker of NetFront Web browsing software for portable devices.

As reported in Bloomberg, Rob Enderle said, "This gives Access an operating platform and it gives PalmSource new life." In regards to PalmSource's recent struggles, Endele added, "They were on life support."

Tetsuya Nakamura, an analyst at Daiwa Institute of Research, opined, "Both companies can benefit as PalmSource can find an outlet for its software technology, while Access can expand its business. PalmSource has needed a reassessment of its business strategy with mobile phones eating into the PDA market."

In a Reuters article, Charles Wolf at Needham & Company commented in a research note to clients that "Palm's move (toward Microsoft) is likely to eliminate some if not all of the upside in PalmSource's revenues and earnings that might have resulted from the growing success of the Treo in the enterprise market."

So I guess it's another name, logo and business card for the folks at PalmSource. I hope it works out because choice is always a good thing...