Microsoft, Vodafone to help with Treo

Palm Inc. will collaborate with Vodafone Group PLC and Microsoft Corp. to create a new smart phone, the device maker said on Thursday.

The Treo phone will operate on Vodafone's 3G network and will run Windows Mobile 5.0. It will be aimed at enterprise customers who will be able to receive push e-mail on the phone.

Palm said the Treo will initially be offered to Vodafone customers in countries including the U.K., Germany, Spain, Italy and the Netherlands before the end of the year.

In early July, Palm said that it would stop shipping the Treo 650 to Europe because the device doesn't comply with new European Union regulations limiting the acceptable amount of certain hazardous substances in electronic products. Palm said at the time that it would introduce a new smart phone in Europe later in the year. Operators are still selling Treo 650s, the only Palm smart phone available in Europe, that they have in stock.

Sales of Palm devices in Europe lag behind those made by Research in Motion Ltd. and those based on the Symbian operating system. Palm recently said it opened an engineering facility in Dublin as part of an effort to more aggressively target the European market.