In 2003, Palm Inc. split into Palm Source, responsible for the Palm OS, and palmOne, developer of the Palm OS and Windows Mobile powered Treo smartphones.

Palm Source, the brains behind Palm OS is currently going under the name of Access after being bought for $324 million in September 2005 by the Japanese company with the same name (best known for their web browser, NetFront).

After the split up between the two, Palm has been launching both Palm OS powered devices (such as the Treo 680 that has just been launched on Cingular) and Windows Mobile smartphones, and has now decided to pay $44 million for perpetual license for Palm OS source code, which could be considered the equivalent of re-acquiring PalmSource.

Palm Source's operating system, Palm OS, the world's most popular operating system for pocket PCs and smartphones powers over 40 million mobile devices and is the main rival of the Windows Mobile operating system.

Palm's recently re-acquired license of the Garnet source code - essentially Palm OS 5.4 - allows the Treo producers to modify the code in any way. Apparently, Palm intends to use Garnet as the foundation of its own OS development program.

Both companies, Palm and Palm Source have agreed to work to ensure that the source code remains compatible with Access' product.