According to the company, volunteer users from the Palm OS community created 35 Palm Powered Expert Guides, with another 25 in development. The Expert Guides offer users a central online tool to customize and extend the usability of their device based on specific areas of interest that include medicine, real-estate, religion, food and wine and more.

PalmSource's Cheif Competitive Officer, Michael Mace, told PDAStreet that the guides fit in with the whole concept behind the Palm OS, which is to create devices and solutions that are right for the individual. Just look at the variation in design and implementation of the Palm OS by the various licensees and its easy to see what he means.

The idea behind the expert guides is to shine a light on the plethora of ways users can use software to make a handheld their own, emphasizing the amount of variation that developers have brought to the platform. An interesting statistic Mace pointed out was that very few Palm OS applications beyond calendar and PIM software go beyond 10% penetration of use. Most of even the most successful apps are only in the single digits. He used these statistics demonstrate to that the installed use their devices in a wide variety of ways.

The following Expert Guides are now available:

-- Interests: Astronomy, careware, emergency preparedness, food & wine, fun and weird software, games, genealogy, health & wellness, home management, interactive fiction, knitting, music creation, new users, parenting, and religion (Christianity, Judaism, and LDS).
-- Professions: Dentistry, engineering, legal, medicine, psychology, real estate, sales, students, and teaching.
--Tools: Browsers, calendars, credit card processing (to let retailers charge credit cards on the go), databases, emulators, short and instant messaging, e-mail, time tracking tools (for consultants and other hourly workers), and word processing.

PalmSource said it is encouraging new experts to apply for the development of additional topics, including auto care, gardening, hiking/outdoors, military, music listening, additional religions (i.e. Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism), sports and spreadsheets.