Palm has issued a press release stating year-end market data for 2000 released by IDC(1) shows that products based on the Palm OS platform showed unit growth in Asia Pacific outside Japan, which is not covered by IDC’s report, and People’s Republic of China (PRC), where Palm currently has no appointed distributor. IDC’s data shows that products based on the Palm OS platform had a share of 62.5 percent of the personal companion market across these regions, compared to 1999 year-end data from IDC showing market share of 51.7 percent. This market share represents a unit growth of 237 percent for Palm OS based devices.

Electric Pocket Limited announced the release of BugMe! Messenger 2.0. BugMe! Messenger is a note-taking, reminder, and messaging application for Palm OS based handheld computers. BugMe! Messenger lets users take notes with their own handwriting by drawing directly on the screens of their Palm OS devices. Notes can also be made from annotated digital photographs.

Radicaltek.com has opened, featuring adult-oriented Palm OS software as well as adult links for Internet gambling, sports wagering, and other entertainment. Technical contacts on the site can provide Java Development services for the Web and Credit Card Processing systems for the Palm OS.

The Chicago Tribune features and article on the use of Pendragon Forms and Palm OS handhelds to monitor baby dolphins at the National Aquarium in Baltimore.

CNET News.com reports AvantGo “plans to announce it has started shipping AvantGo Mobile Sales, the company’s first packaged software aimed at helping corporate customers bring business functions to handheld devices. Until now, AvantGo has sold only a single server program and worked with each company to tailor the program for their particular needs.”

Audio Intelligence introduced Audio Update, an application that allows users to download pre-recorded audio information to their handhelds through an Internet connection and then listen to the audio information while they’re on the go. Thomson Financial, a global provider of data, analysis, and information tools, will deliver articles from 18 different financial publications in an audio format that can be downloaded for playback on handheld devices using the Audio Update service.

American singer/songwriter Elliott Murphy and The Stormy Mondays will embark on a tour of Italy next week. The tour will be documented on the Internet with a Handspring PDA, equipped with a VisorPhone and an eyemodule2 digital camera. The technological infrastructure is provided by the Spanish consulting firm Piensa en Red, creators of Piensa en Palm, a PDA portal in Spain. Both Elliott Murphy and The Stormy Mondays will publish their road journal through their Handspring handheld computers into a site created by Piensa en Palm: tour.piensaenpalm.com.

There’s only one week left for MobiMate’s PhoneMate Giveaway. MobiMate is offering 50 free registration codes of PhoneMate, a quick way to look up, beam, and dial contacts from your Address Book.

Qvadis has just released version 2.10 of its handheld reader, Qvadis Express Reader GT. The new release replaces the line-by-line scrolling with a smooth autoscroll with adjustable speed, introduces new linespace options for ease of viewing, brings in new color buttons, streamlines the preference menus, and optimizes tap routines to minimize the number of taps users need to get to particular functions. The update is free for registered users of GT, and a free 30-day trial version is available.

O’Reilly Network has an interesting article about what Palm’s strategy should be.