By Sandeep Junnarkar and Ian Fried; special to ZDNet News . . .

Palm announced on Thursday that it is acquiring the technology assets and intellectual property of software maker Be for $11 million in stock, in a move aimed at strengthening its operating system to compete against Microsoft. Palm said it expects the acquisition to bolster its OS, particularly in the areas of communications, Internet and multimedia technologies.

“This move will help us expand the Palm OS platform into broader markets,” Carl Yankowski, Palm's chief executive, said in a statement.

Palm also said that Alan Kessler, the general manager of its Platform Solutions group, will resign from the company Friday. That unit, which Palm recently decided to turn into a subsidiary, is responsible for developing and licensing the Palm operating system.

Palm spokeswoman Marlene Somsak said Kessler had worked with Yankowski over the past several months to plan the strategy to improve Palm's OS by creating the separate subsidiary and accelerating the transition to more powerful ARM-based chips. But Kessler, Yankowski and Palm's board all agreed that someone else was needed to head the OS unit, she said.

Eric Benhamou, chairman of Palm's and 3Com's boards of directors, will act as chief executive of the group until a permanent replacement is named, according to Palm, which is based in Santa Clara, Calif.

IDC analyst Alex Slawsby praised the acquisition of Be as a way to improve the Palm OS in the face of Microsoft's rival Pocket PC OS.

“If Palm can take advantage of Be's strengths, it will help to put it in a stronger competitive position with Pocket PC,” IDC analyst Alex Slawsby said.

“Where they have to go, Be already is,” Crawford said. He added that it is never easy to integrate operating systems but that using some of Be's technology, especially in the area of multimedia, could help.

Palm is particularly looking to play catch-up with Microsoft in the area of multimedia. Unlike the Pocket PC OS, the Palm OS does not natively support playing MP3 files.

Jean-Louis Gassee, Be's chairman and chief executive officer, will temporarily help Palm to integrate Be's technology and work force once the transaction is approved by Be shareholders. The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter.

The Palm-Be deal marks a rather inglorious end to the company that Gassee launched in 1990 when he left Apple.

Menlo Park, CA based Be, founded by former Apple Computer executive Gassee, originally focused on creating an operating system fine-tuned for audio and video production. Although it has a base of devoted fans, Be has struggled to find a market for its OS. Most recently, Be tried to market a version of its OS — dubbed BeIA — for use in Internet appliances. Its only notable win of late was a deal to power Sony's eVilla Web-surfing appliance.

In 1996, Apple offered as much as $125 million for Be, according to the book “Apple Confidential.” But Gassee and Be's backers held out for more. Instead, Apple acquired Steve Jobs' Next and Be was left to fend for itself.

As part of his temporary work with Palm, Gassee will provide advice related to the planned separation of Palm's hardware and OS units. Palm currently runs as a single operation, but the split could help ease tensions between Palm and its OS licensees, which include Handspring, Sony and HandEra. While these companies use the Palm OS, they compete with Palm's own brand of hardware.

 
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