The latest news of important developments in the worlds of Palm, Sony, Handspring and other Palm OS handhelds
Three new handhelds from Palm
[10/01/03] Noted at News.com: Palm debuts two Tungsten devices, the US$399 T3 and US$199 E, aimed at business buyers; and the US$99 Zire 21. All run version 5.2.1 of the Palm operating system. Read more....
New Look for Sony Clié
[07/18/03] Noted at InfoWorld.com: Sony's new Clié PEG-UX50 is the company's smallest and most advanced PDA to date. The device consists of two slabs, one with a display and the other with a keyboard, hinged together lengthwise. The upper slab housing the display can be swiveled 180 degrees and folded back down to cover the keyboard. The 3.2 inch TFT LCD has a wide aspect ratio, with a resolution of 480 pixels by 320 pixels, displaying up to 65,536 colors. The unit provides both wireless LAN and Bluetooth networking and incorporates a new Sony-developed processor, dubbed the Sony Handheld Engine, designed for use in handheld computers. Read more....
New Treo Unveiled
[06/18/03] Noted at Forbes.com: Handspring representatives were showing off latest Treo PDA at a shindig for the press in New York on June 17. And after about three minutes of playing around with it, Forbes says "we can see that it's just one of the reasons that Palm decided to acquire Handspring." Says the reviewer, "The Treo 600 is both thinner and narrower than the original Treo devices, giving a feel that is more like a phone and less like a PDA with a phone crammed into it. There is no fold-up earpiece like on the current line of Treo devices."
Palm Buys Handspring
[06/04/03] Noted at MacUser: Palm buys Handspring. Under the terms of the deal, Handspring shareholders will receive nearly one third ownership in the newly merged company.
Editorial: Palm Upgrade Offer is an Insult
[04/17/03] Barry W Cook writes: I note the recent offer to give current Palm users $CDN80.00 trade-in on their 'old' Palms towards purchase of a new one.
$80.00? Whoa. Even my 'old' m105 has more street value than that (never mind the peripherals and software that are certainly incompatible with Palm OS 5) and I cannot imagine that those with more salubrious units (and with much more important info on them) would be willing to take this offer very seriously. Its rather like asking Win98 users to upgrade at some considerable cost to WinXP because it's 'better' - despite the legions of those currently happy with their current OS.
However stunning the Zire 71 or Tungsten is, or how desirous one may be of having one, the cost of such a migration is simply not one of chucking your old PDA - and even if it is, this rather derisory offer is an insult, not a deal. Short of owning a Palm with OS 2 or earlier (and these are rapidly becoming collectables), this offer is just not worth handing in your old PDA for.
If Palm was serious about holding onto its user-base in this era of quickly contracting PDA sales, a more likely scenario would be a trade-in value of, say, half the price of the new Palm or the last retail price of the old one (whichever is greater) - and even at that I daresay Palm would be making some substantial profit on the deal. And the subsequent handed-in Palms could make a nice donation to organisations/schools/individuals less fortunate.
Yes, the new Palms are lovely - but at $CDN450.00 for the Zire 71 and slightly more for the 'bottom-line' Tungsten - this offer is just not one attractive enough to consider. Too bad.
HandEra waves goodbye to Palm
[04/17/03] Noted on News.com: The Midwestern handheld maker says it will stop making devices using the Palm OS because of cost increases associated with licensing the operating system. Read more....
Handhelds continue steady slide
[01/27/03] Noted on News.com: Sony holds steady at #3 in the handheld marketplace, while Handspring's market share falls the most among the top 10 vendors. Read more about the trying times for the Palm OS market and who's poised to gain the most in the months ahead at News.com
Palm OS to drop Graffiti
[01/13/03] Noted on Slashdot: After losing a patent infringement lawsuit brought by Xerox, Palm's PalmSource software division has decided to drop the Graffiti recognition system from the Palm OS. Instead, the company says it will use a version of CIC’s Jot recognition system, which it will call Graffiti 2. Jot is already used by Pocket PC handhelds.
For ArchivedNews (2002 and earlier), see the Palm Archives Page
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