Motorola Looks Like Palm's Main Squeeze

Palm's OS plan also plays to Motorola's strengths. Unlike rival Nokia, which has bet heavily on the Symbian operating system, Motorola has its fingers in multiple OS pies, including Linux and Windows Mobile.

Palm over the last few years has been cozying up to Microsoft(MSFT) and has offered models of the Treo running Windows Mobile.

What Motorola does do better than Palm is offer sleek hardware, something Palm could benefit from. That's why combining Motorola's expertise when it comes to slick handsets with Palm's strength in OS design could help create a killer product, says the former Palm executive.

Motorola has tried to break into the smartphone market with Q, but reviews of the Q, including one by the Wall Street Journal's gadget expert, Walt Mossberg, have pointed out that the Q's implementation of Windows Mobile OS is "much clumsier" than that of the Treo.

Q's hardware combined with Treo's software could make a compelling combination, says Info-Tech Research's Levy.

Motorola has already tried to assemble the pieces for a comprehensive smartphone business plan. In November, the company bought wireless email player Good Technology in a bid to level the playing field that is so far dominated by RIM.

Good Technology has worked well with Palm devices, and a buyout of Palm by Motorola could make that a facile integration.

Palm's third-quarter earnings report due out Thursday is likely to offer something concrete about the impending buyout.

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