Wednesday, May 1, 2002
It is a done deal - HP overcame last hurdle to buy Compaq
Posted by Ed Hansberry in "NEWS" @ 08:32 AM
http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/ticker/article.asp?Symbol=US:HWP&Feed=RTR&Date=20020501&ID=1603659
The Delaware judge overseeing the lawsuit against HP filed by dissident shareholder and (soon to be former) board member Walter Hewlett dismissed the case. Hewlett said he would drop his challenge to the merger and now do everything in his power to make the deal successful.
So, what does this mean for Pocket PCs? No clue. What do I think? Glad you asked. ;-)
People often argue over whether the Jornada or iPAQ will survive. My guess? Neither device in their current form will survive their past their current life cycle. All together now - "DUH!" Compaq said in early 2001 that the iPAQ in its existing form was only designed to last two years before being redesigned. June 2002 would mark that 2 year anniversary. However, given the new sleeves coming out in the next few months, it isn't likely we will see a July 2002 iPAQ that doesn't work with the existing sleeve system. I'd guess Compaq has given the iPAQ form a one year extension.
Now, lets assume the mobile device groups from Compaq and HP get together this weekend and start working on a new device. Given the iPAQ has sold over 2 million iPAQ's, I would say the successor product by HP/CPQ will have lineage distinctly tracable to the iPAQ, not the Jornada. iPAQ's are in movies, tv shows, commercials, ads, etc. HP would be stupid not to use that free advertising and visual recognition. I don't however think it will be called an iPAQ. The iPAQ name has huge cachet in the Pocket PC world, but outside it is still called a Palm Pilot. HP has publicly stated that the Compaq name and brands will be phased out over time where there is an HP overlap.
So, back to the new device these guys are working on this weekend. I would guess X-Scale, 64-128MB of RAM, integrated SD and a target size rivaling the new Toshiba e310. Unless they have one of these on the drawing board already (and they might!) I would say 2003 would be the earliest we would see a totally fresh device as opposed to a new iPAQ or Jornada with better guts in them. And it will bear the Jornada name, but visually will resemble the iPAQ. And of course the connector on the bottom will change and won't work with iPAQ or Jornada keyboards and accessories.
The current Jornada 500 and iPAQ 3800 lines will live for another 8-18 months, getting new processors and more RAM, but keeping the basic shell. After that though, it is all new. Again - this is 100% speculation on my part. What do you think?
The Delaware judge overseeing the lawsuit against HP filed by dissident shareholder and (soon to be former) board member Walter Hewlett dismissed the case. Hewlett said he would drop his challenge to the merger and now do everything in his power to make the deal successful.
So, what does this mean for Pocket PCs? No clue. What do I think? Glad you asked. ;-)
People often argue over whether the Jornada or iPAQ will survive. My guess? Neither device in their current form will survive their past their current life cycle. All together now - "DUH!" Compaq said in early 2001 that the iPAQ in its existing form was only designed to last two years before being redesigned. June 2002 would mark that 2 year anniversary. However, given the new sleeves coming out in the next few months, it isn't likely we will see a July 2002 iPAQ that doesn't work with the existing sleeve system. I'd guess Compaq has given the iPAQ form a one year extension.
Now, lets assume the mobile device groups from Compaq and HP get together this weekend and start working on a new device. Given the iPAQ has sold over 2 million iPAQ's, I would say the successor product by HP/CPQ will have lineage distinctly tracable to the iPAQ, not the Jornada. iPAQ's are in movies, tv shows, commercials, ads, etc. HP would be stupid not to use that free advertising and visual recognition. I don't however think it will be called an iPAQ. The iPAQ name has huge cachet in the Pocket PC world, but outside it is still called a Palm Pilot. HP has publicly stated that the Compaq name and brands will be phased out over time where there is an HP overlap.
So, back to the new device these guys are working on this weekend. I would guess X-Scale, 64-128MB of RAM, integrated SD and a target size rivaling the new Toshiba e310. Unless they have one of these on the drawing board already (and they might!) I would say 2003 would be the earliest we would see a totally fresh device as opposed to a new iPAQ or Jornada with better guts in them. And it will bear the Jornada name, but visually will resemble the iPAQ. And of course the connector on the bottom will change and won't work with iPAQ or Jornada keyboards and accessories.
The current Jornada 500 and iPAQ 3800 lines will live for another 8-18 months, getting new processors and more RAM, but keeping the basic shell. After that though, it is all new. Again - this is 100% speculation on my part. What do you think?
