The companies said the updated portal would deliver superior customer account management. So users will be able to create wish lists or watch lists for freeware and shareware, review their purchase and free software trial history, manage gift certificates and customize their Software Connection profile.

Additional improvements will include enhanced recommendation tools and better sorting and searching to make it easier for users to find applications.

Motricity chairman & CEO Ryan Wuerch asserted, “By delivering exceptional eCommerce and mCommerce experiences to palmOne mobile customers, Motricity will be showcasing once again the strength of its Fuel platform and services.”

It is those eCommerce and mCommerce solutions that brought palmOne to Motricity. “We selected Motricity because of its proven eCommerce and mCommerce expertise in marketing, merchandising and delivering an excellent mobile user experience...Motricity’s strength in delivering consumer-focused experiences through a solid, scalable platform will help enable palmOne to expand aggressively in mCommerce and mobile marketing.”

Motricity powers several other Palm portals, including high profile storefronts like PalmGear.com—the most popular Palm software site—and platform developer PalmSource's application store.

Not everyone is happy with the addition of palmOne to Motricity's roster of portals. Naturally, Motricity competitor Handango—the largest cross platform application retailer on the Web—is one such company.

Handango asserts Motricity's deal with palmOne could hurt Palm application developers, a group it pledges to support, of course.

The company's president & CEO Randy Eisenman told PDAStreet, "It is unfortunate that Palm OS developers will see an increase in expenses and product management costs as a result of the Motricity/palmOne deal. We believe this will hinder growth opportunities for the developer community in Palm OS, which already faces significant challenges with declining market share and device shipments."

Why the Motricity/palmOne agreement would result in higher costs and less growth for developers isn't clear. Perhaps he was referring to the three most high profile Palm download sites basically running under one umbrella.

For its part, Eiseman said Handango is committed to developers, carriers, and others it works with who support the Palm platform. Operator customers include Sprint, Orange, Cingular, T-Mobile and Verizon.

"We at Handango will do our part to help the Palm OS developer community succeed by continuing to drive sales through out network of more than 100 channel partners worldwide. We will also continue our aggressive outreach program to educate developers and help them leverage their skills on mobile platforms