Monday, December 2, 2002
Motorola, FedEx Team Up For Pocket PC Device
Posted by Ed Hansberry in "NEWS" @ 09:00 AM
"Motorola and FedEx subsidiary FedEx Corporate Services announced Wednesday that they are working on a device for couriers that gives them wireless access to the FedEx network for package tracking. The PowerPad is in testing but will be widely available in early 2003, the companies said. It uses Microsoft's operating system for handheld devices, Pocket PC 2002. The devices are exclusively for FedEx and are designed to make it easier for couriers to upload information to the network. Couriers currently have to return to a FedEx van to upload package information."
According to this link sent in by Charlie Morris, the total project cost is $150 million and will save the company $20 million per year. Not sure I see the point of a 7.5 year payoff excluding the time value of money myself, but believe me, the financial statements will look better for it and that makes Wall Street happy. :roll: I am sure the infrastructure from this endeavor will have benefits in side projects too.
I think this is an interesting choice. Motorola has extensive experience in working with Palm OS devices that are powered by their Dragonball chips, including the new Dragonball MX-1 that is ARM based and powers OS 5 devices. I think everyone here can guess why though. ;) No specifics are given, but I hope that Motorola will be using the MX-1 in the PowerPad. The more ARM based processors used in Pocket PC devices, the better it will ultimately be for end users.
According to this link sent in by Charlie Morris, the total project cost is $150 million and will save the company $20 million per year. Not sure I see the point of a 7.5 year payoff excluding the time value of money myself, but believe me, the financial statements will look better for it and that makes Wall Street happy. :roll: I am sure the infrastructure from this endeavor will have benefits in side projects too.
I think this is an interesting choice. Motorola has extensive experience in working with Palm OS devices that are powered by their Dragonball chips, including the new Dragonball MX-1 that is ARM based and powers OS 5 devices. I think everyone here can guess why though. ;) No specifics are given, but I hope that Motorola will be using the MX-1 in the PowerPad. The more ARM based processors used in Pocket PC devices, the better it will ultimately be for end users.
