Monday, December 30, 2002
Pocket PC OEM's
Posted by Janak Parekh in "HARDWARE" @ 07:41 AM
Earlier this week, I reported that NEC was contracting FIC to build an XScale Pocket PC for the US. Well, they already have one in Europe - Elisabeth Liddell of FoxPop has a sneak peek of the 200e, which is a low-end, 200MHz XScale device for the European market.
Is this going to be the same unit in the United States? It's hard to say so far, as the 200e is actually an evolution of the MobilePro 300e - another European NEC brand. This unit is not the same as the MobilePro P300 that's received a lukewarm response in the US. Instead, it's a small, relatively low-cost unit (almost as cheap as the Dell Axim), with just one SD slot and a "Rocketeer" expansion module for CF/PC card capability. FoxPop also has a review of the 300e.
OK, are you confused yet? Good, because the situation gets even more complex. The 300e looks a lot like the Packard Bell PocketGear 2060, and the 200e like the PocketGear 2030. That makes sense, since NEC bought out the Packard Bell brand years ago. However, Christian Torring reports in a post on our very forums that the PocketGear seems to be identical to two other OEM brands in Europe: the Mitac and Medion units, and he's got the pictures to demonstrate it.
Oh, and by the way, FIC, who's manufacturing the mysterious US XScale units, has a Pocket PC model of their own, with Bluetooth and integrated WLAN models. I tried to find out who manufactures the 200e and 300e, but I haven't had any luck.
What does this all mean? I don't know, my head hurts too much now ;) I have a few observations, however:
Is this going to be the same unit in the United States? It's hard to say so far, as the 200e is actually an evolution of the MobilePro 300e - another European NEC brand. This unit is not the same as the MobilePro P300 that's received a lukewarm response in the US. Instead, it's a small, relatively low-cost unit (almost as cheap as the Dell Axim), with just one SD slot and a "Rocketeer" expansion module for CF/PC card capability. FoxPop also has a review of the 300e.
OK, are you confused yet? Good, because the situation gets even more complex. The 300e looks a lot like the Packard Bell PocketGear 2060, and the 200e like the PocketGear 2030. That makes sense, since NEC bought out the Packard Bell brand years ago. However, Christian Torring reports in a post on our very forums that the PocketGear seems to be identical to two other OEM brands in Europe: the Mitac and Medion units, and he's got the pictures to demonstrate it.
Oh, and by the way, FIC, who's manufacturing the mysterious US XScale units, has a Pocket PC model of their own, with Bluetooth and integrated WLAN models. I tried to find out who manufactures the 200e and 300e, but I haven't had any luck.
What does this all mean? I don't know, my head hurts too much now ;) I have a few observations, however:
- A broader array of "manufacturers" are seeing the Pocket PC platform as a profitable entity;
- The OEM market for Pocket PC's is exploding. We're almost starting to see the "clone" market that used to dominate the PC industry in the '80s;
- Microsoft might see something in all this, as Peter Foot reports they've bought the Intrinsyc reference platform we reported on here a week ago. Incidentally, cbunseng reports that you can have a copy of this reference platform for a cool $2,995.
