DG: So I'd get a lot of meat, 20 different kinds of coffee, and Festivus (the holiday for the rest of us)! That would be good. I'm gonna need to spend more time at the gym.

JP: There you go. So that's the key. That's the e-business thought if you kind of pull the pieces together.

DG: I see how that's an Internet solution, but I'm not sure why that makes it a mobile solution. Couldn't I sit down at my desktop at home and decide what I wanted to buy for dinner?

JP: Absolutely. The key to the solution is that of device independence. Although we acknowledge and are very excited to be working with Palm, we recognize that there are many different types of devices that the user could be working from. Our ability to support a transaction on a classic PC browser or hitting one of these pervasive devices, from Palm platforms to data-enabled cellular phones, are all part of the IBM solution.

DG: Tell me more about IBM solutions.

JP: We create a Quick Start engagement that brings application-specific information and all the necessary infrastructure for both the hardware and services for complete solutions. For example, we have a retail shopping solution that any one of our customers might be interested in. And we will create with a base shopping application and deliver a number of IBM WorkPads that are based on Palm, Inc. technology along with the services of the application, for a complete solution to a customer.

DG: Why don't we take a look at your relationships with other handheld vendors and see how they relate to Palm. Do you have other relationships with other vendors of the same category or style as the one you have with Palm?

JP: We don't actually. We make sure that all of our key technology runs on many platforms. Both IBM and Palm are excited about the possibility of working with each other. Therefore, what we're doing today in terms of the commitment of our service as skills to the Palm OS platform has not been done with any other vendor.

DG: What made you select Palm as the starting place?

JP: The prevalence of Palm today and the applicability of that device to new applications, such as the shopping application, coupled with IBM's experience in the enterprise space makes it a real, very complimentary relationship for both companies to deliver complete solutions into our mutual customer set.

DG: This is a charged question, but I've got to ask it… how come Palm and not Microsoft?

JP: We also have our middleware running on the Pocket PC OS. But to develop solutions, you let the market drive, and Palm is the market leader--which is obviously one of the reasons why we chose Palm to work with. We feel that Palm chose IBM because of our leadership in delivering complete e-business solutions.

DG: Do you think the U.S. is ready for wireless pervasive applications, from an infrastructure point of view?

JP: I do. It's clearly not as advanced as we've seen in Europe or Asia. For the most part, the Europeans are fortunate to have a common infrastructure and a common set of standards for deploying their devices. Therefore, it simplifies the interoperability of things. But really, we're now at the cusp of the U.S. taking off. The key to its growth in the enterprise space really will be relationships like the one that IBM and Palm, Inc. have that will enable us to develop complete solutions.