Thursday, May 16, 2002
Miss the Jornada already? You are not alone.
Posted by Ed Hansberry in "ARTICLE" @ 05:23 AM
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2002/05/13/BU220593.DTL
First let me state for the record that I am an iPAQ person, as are at least 75% of Pocket PC users. However, I am sad to see the Jornada go. It has several things that a bare iPAQ lacks, like a flip-cover and integrated CF slot. There have been countless posts and articles at Pocket PC Thoughts and other PDA enthusiast sites lamenting the passing of the Jornada, and there seems to be a few people outside the PDA world that are disappointed as well.
Henry Norr writes "I happen to think, for example, that HP's current Jornada Pocket PC is a better product than Compaq's iPaq -- their core features are identical, and the iPaq is a little sleeker, but the Jornada has better battery life and a much better expansion scheme (a CompactFlash slot, so you can easily add a wired or wireless network adapter or modem -- options that can be added to the iPaq only with a bulky and expensive "expansion jacket.")"
But then the hard cold facts set in on why HP made the decision it did. "From a business perspective, though, I can't argue. When the iPaq first appeared, it was head and shoulders above the Jornada of the day, and by the time HP came back with the much improved current version, it was too late -- the iPaq had all the buzz, and hardly anyone seemed to notice the Jornada. In the first quarter of this year, according to IDC, Compaq ranked second only to Palm in the worldwide PDA market, with a worldwide market share of 10.1 percent, while HP came in a sorry sixth, with only 4.4 percent."
Perhaps things would have been different if the HP 560 had been released in April of 2000 instead of the HP 540. In any event, I am sorry to see the #2 Pocket PC go away. I hope Toshiba, Fujitsu-Seimens or someone else can make a very strong showing this summer when their new devices ship. Not only do we need several choices, we need someone keeping the current iPAQ design team on their toes.
First let me state for the record that I am an iPAQ person, as are at least 75% of Pocket PC users. However, I am sad to see the Jornada go. It has several things that a bare iPAQ lacks, like a flip-cover and integrated CF slot. There have been countless posts and articles at Pocket PC Thoughts and other PDA enthusiast sites lamenting the passing of the Jornada, and there seems to be a few people outside the PDA world that are disappointed as well.
Henry Norr writes "I happen to think, for example, that HP's current Jornada Pocket PC is a better product than Compaq's iPaq -- their core features are identical, and the iPaq is a little sleeker, but the Jornada has better battery life and a much better expansion scheme (a CompactFlash slot, so you can easily add a wired or wireless network adapter or modem -- options that can be added to the iPaq only with a bulky and expensive "expansion jacket.")"
But then the hard cold facts set in on why HP made the decision it did. "From a business perspective, though, I can't argue. When the iPaq first appeared, it was head and shoulders above the Jornada of the day, and by the time HP came back with the much improved current version, it was too late -- the iPaq had all the buzz, and hardly anyone seemed to notice the Jornada. In the first quarter of this year, according to IDC, Compaq ranked second only to Palm in the worldwide PDA market, with a worldwide market share of 10.1 percent, while HP came in a sorry sixth, with only 4.4 percent."
Perhaps things would have been different if the HP 560 had been released in April of 2000 instead of the HP 540. In any event, I am sorry to see the #2 Pocket PC go away. I hope Toshiba, Fujitsu-Seimens or someone else can make a very strong showing this summer when their new devices ship. Not only do we need several choices, we need someone keeping the current iPAQ design team on their toes.
