Motorola loses PalmSource, demands $8.7 million breakup fee

You know, we were just as shocked as everyone else when the
news broke last month that Access, a little-known Japanese company which makes browsers for mobile devices, was buying PalmSource, but it's only just now that all the juicy back story is coming out. Turns out that Palm wasn't the only other company trying to win PalmSource's heart (or in Palm's case, win them back, since Palm and PalmSource were once one) — apparently Motorola made a bid for the keeper of the Palm OS, too, and they're pissed off enough about having lost that that they've filed suit against PalmSource (just imagine what might have been — a Palm-powered Q!). Moto says that PalmSource owes them a $8.7 million breakup fee for having backed out of the deal at the last minute to accept Access' offer (hey, we'd all love to score few mil next time we get dumped). It's up for the courts to decide whether or not PalmSource will have to pay up, but in the mean time Palm has to be stoked that the PalmSource and the Palm OS didn't end up in the hands of a major competitor.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this one in]