Tuesday, April 29, 2003
Palm Tungsten C rivals Pocket PC
Posted by Jason Dunn in "THE COMPETITION" @ 07:00 PM
"Palm is attempting to play catch-up with its Pocket PC OEM rivals and to beat Microsoft's timeline to give it the edge. Next month Palm Solutions Group will ship the Tungsten C, one month earlier than Microsoft's next generation Pocket PC 2003 OS, code-named Ozone. The Tungsten C will be the first Palm handheld with 64MB of memory, built-in IEEE 802.11b, a keyboard, and supposedly a six-hour battery life under full and constant usage with Wi-Fi and the display activated. Its browser will also support JavaScript.
But according to sources, Microsoft's Ozone is merely a maintenance upgrade to take care of bugs. It will also offer an improved VPN client and may also include VOIP software. Microsoft will not increase the screen resolution nor provide a landscape mode, which will give the advantage to Palm, according to Todd Kort, principal analyst at Gartner Dataquest in San Jose, Calif. "Microsoft's Mobility Group seems to be putting most of its resources into the Smartphone OS," he said. Kort said Microsoft is concerned that a handheld with too much power could cannibalize sales of laptops or Tablet PCs. "They can make as much as $500 on the sale of a laptop, if you count in Office. When they sell a PDA, it's small beans," said Kort."
But according to sources, Microsoft's Ozone is merely a maintenance upgrade to take care of bugs. It will also offer an improved VPN client and may also include VOIP software. Microsoft will not increase the screen resolution nor provide a landscape mode, which will give the advantage to Palm, according to Todd Kort, principal analyst at Gartner Dataquest in San Jose, Calif. "Microsoft's Mobility Group seems to be putting most of its resources into the Smartphone OS," he said. Kort said Microsoft is concerned that a handheld with too much power could cannibalize sales of laptops or Tablet PCs. "They can make as much as $500 on the sale of a laptop, if you count in Office. When they sell a PDA, it's small beans," said Kort."
