Palm, Inc. announced it will form a wholly owned subsidiary to contain the Platform Solutions Group, separating it more distinctly from the Solutions Group by the end of calendar 2001. A committee of the board of directors of Palm, chaired by David C. Nagel, will oversee the subsidiary’s establishment.

The Platform Solutions Group develops the Palm OS platform and licenses it to makers of handheld computers including HandEra, Handspring, Sony, Symbol, and Palm’s Solutions Group, and smartphone makers including Kyocera and Samsung. New licensees announced this year are Acer, which plans to take the OS to Chinese-speaking customers in Asia-Pacific, and Garmin, a leader in global-positioning satellite products.

Under the new structure, the Platform Solutions Group would operate independently but would continue to leverage Palm’s infrastructure and staff services.