News
Issue #2002 - 36 (September 2002)
(Updated Sep. 25, 2002)

MARKET OUTLOOK & TRENDS

Palm Announces Tungsten Mobile Information Server. It is Expected to Announce Three New Products Next Month

23 September 2002 -- This week, Palm announced Tungsten and Zire - two distinct brands for devices and servers for the enterprise and consumer respectively. The Tungsten™ Mobile Information Management Solution provides today's mobile workforce with easy, wireless access to critical email communications, calendars, notes, contacts, and tasks. IT professionals get a secure, centrally managed solution that integrates easily with existing tools, processes and infrastructure. 

According to ZDNet and other trade sources, Handheld maker Palm will also release three newly designed devices in October, 2002. The Milpitas, Calif.-based company first mentioned the devices earlier this year at an investor conference in New York City. 

Palm wants to increase its consumer base. In order to do that, Palm will start selling a new low-end (around $100 US) consumer model through a wider channel of retail outlets, Bradley said in an interview with ZDNet UK. The company will also release two new high-end models - one based on the ARM architecture and Bluetooth connectivity and another using always-on wireless GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) capabilities - in October, 2002. 

"Over the past 16 months we have dealt with many operational issues and have now positioned the company for growth, but the question we now face is: How do we grow?" Bradley said. "How do we bring a new set of customers into the handheld world? The general consumer wants something that will help them organize their life, so the challenge was to redesign the product and make it more compelling for new customers." 

Bradley declined to reveal more details about the product ahead of its launch, but sources say the device will run Palm OS 4.1. "This is not an evolutionary product--it is revolutionary," Bradley said. "Everything is new, including the form factor." 

Palm's third new product will come with GPRS, according to sources. "This will be very data-centric, and is focused on the mobile professional," Bradley said. "It will be voice-capable, but it will not be pushed as a voice-centric product." That device will not use OS 5, but rather an earlier version of the Palm OS. 

Palm Introduces Tungsten - Enterprise Mobile Information Management Solution
:The Tungsten™ Mobile Information Management Solution is a Palm™-branded solution that provides wireless access (LAN and WAN) and notification* to corporate email and groupware applications for end users, while providing IT with a solution that is centrally managed, integrates easily and is secure. The solution consists of four components:

• Palm™ i705 and Palm™ m500 series (with Xircom 802.11 LAN Module) handhelds
• Mobile Information Management Server
• Enterprise Services Portal
• Customer Support and Maintenance

* For i705 handheld users only. i705 handhelds use the Cingular Wireless Interactive Network. Wireless service not available in all areas.

PalmSource Ships New Web Browser
Palm subsidiary PalmSource Inc. announced Tuesday the availability of its new Web browser. Built in conjunction with software company Access Systems, the browser is available to Palm licensees, which include Sony and Handspring, for use with devices running Palm's new OS 5 software. The new browser does not require Web sites to be filtered through a proxy server before they are shown on a device display. The new browser communicates directly with the Web page and configures it for display. (Source: Wall Street Journal, ZDNet News, IDG News Service)

Source: http://www.zdnet.com   http://www.palm.com

MobileInfo Comments and Advisory:  We are encouraged by the progress that Palm has made in moving into the enterprise. Frankly, we were skeptical in the past about Palm's efforts to shed its image of a being "an offline organizer' company and become a multi-faceted mobile infrastructure company that could address both the consumer and the enterprise requirements. Now, we have started thinking that slowly but steadily, Palm has started understanding mobile enterprise business. It has made right strategic moves and product announcements. New device branding is important but we should emphasize to folks at Palm that marketing tricks of branding and advertising do not cut much ice with logical-thinking IT analysts and business managers. Branding aids but is no substitute for good functionality, entirely new device form factor, superior systems and application integration capabilities supported by third party professional service companies. 

Note: This news release may contain forward-looking statements. Readers should take appropriate caution in developing plans utilizing these products, services and technology architectures.  All trademarks used in this summary are the property of their respective owners.