Palm, Microsoft, Voda club together for 3G Euro device

Microsoft and Palm have enlisted the help of Vodafone to give the Treo a more Euro flavour.

According to Palm, the device that will result from the Treo trio's collaboration will be available in the UK during this year and will be 3G compatible - a first for the company. Traditionally, Palm has always flogged devices that run on GPRS and GSM.

Palm said it and its new buddies will be using the partnership to bolster the use of wireless email with corporates, a market still in its infancy but predicted be worth $198bn by 2011, according to research company Analysys.

The threesome have also announced the device will run on the Windows Mobile 5.0 platform. Palm first revealed it was opting for the Redmond operating system for some its devices late last year, when Verizon Wireless, part owned by Vodafone, signed up to carry the first EV-DO version of the Windows Treo.