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Widespread reports say Palm will roll out a its new smartphone OS, called Nova, at next month's Consumer Electronics Show. We may even get to see the first smartphones to run on the mobile platform. According to Business Week, Nova could bridge the gap between the corporate-oriented RIM BlackBerry line and the leisure-time Apple iPhone.

Research firm Gartner reports that the Palm OS garnered only 2.1 percent of the worldwide smartphone market during the third quarter. The leader for the third quarter was the just recently made open source Symbian platform at 49.8 percent, while BlackBerry was second at 15.9 percent. Apple’s iPhone platform made a strong showing as well, of course.

Will Palm be able to restore the viability of its well-known brand? Executive Chairman Jon Rubinstein made his case to Business Week. He said Nova, which is Linux based, targets the middle of the market and that "the next 10 years is all about the transition from notebook to mobile computing."