Symbian and Palm Computing to attack Windows CE

Palm Computing and the Symbian alliance are to collaborate on the development of mobile devices in a move which analysts claim will pile the pressure on Microsoft. The two organisations have not revealed details, but there are plans to discuss the licensing of each other's technologies.

Robin Duke Woolley, principal analyst at Schema, said that any move would give Symbian a lot of power in the US to slow the growth of CE. "These companies are obviously worried that Microsoft will steal a march on them if they spend their time fighting each other. Microsoft is the principal threat."

Dan Gardiner, analyst at Ovum, said that eventually the rival groups would each find their own markets. "Windows CE will be more popular for business customers, as it is easier to integrate into a desktop environment - but Psion's OS is generally considered to be a superior system."

The announcement comes as Nokia, one of the Symbian partners, agreed a deal with Palm Computing to create pen-based products on which Palm and Symbian applications will work. Symbian has, until now, based its technology exclusively on the Psion operating system (OS), while Palm has its own Palm OS.

Alan Kessler, CEO of Palm Computing, said he wants to produce "comprehensive solutions" for his customers. Colly Myers, CEO of Symbian, said the alliance will result in "new types of devices" giving challenging opportunities to Palm and Symbian developers.

However, a spokeswoman for Palm Computing was keen to emphasise that this announcement doesn't mean that an agreement between the companies has been reached. She said: "Whilst Palm is open to the spirit of co-operation, these are only discussions at this stage."