News
Issue #2002 - 41 (October 2002)
(Updated Oct. 29, 2002)

DEVICES 

Palm Aims at Blackberry with Two models of Tungsten for the Enterprise

Faced with a lot of pressure from Microsoft's Pocket PC vendors (HP, Toshiba, Casio and others), RIM's always-on Blackberry and to a minor extent from smart phones, Palm has,  after a lot of wait, announced  two models of Tungsten devices for the enterprise. Tungsten follows Zire - a basic and inexpensive entry-level model for the consumer. The two models are Tungsten T handheld and a tri-band GPRS communicator known as Tungsten W. 

Tungsten T is based on Palm's latest OS (Palm OS version 5) and a Texas Instruments OMAP ARM processor. The combination gives it a range of multimedia and communications features. Users can record voice memos, view short videos and play MP3 files. An integrated Bluetooth radio provides access to the web through a compatible mobile phone, access point or company network.  it is priced at $499 US.

An interesting feature of Tungsten is its sliding cover that hides the writing area and at the same time keeps the form factor quite compact. Key features of Tungsten are :

• 16 MB of RAM with Texas Instrument's OMAP 1510 ARM processor
• 320x320 resolution TFT color screen (65000 colors)
• Multimedia card (MMC) SD expansion slot and a voice recorder
• Integrated Bluetooth wireless communication capability
• Lithium battery

Tungsten W model, on the other hand, which won't be available until the first quarter of 2003, is the company's first handheld to include both a color display screen and a built-in keyboard. With wireless services from carriers like AT&T Wireless, or Vodafone, the Tungsten W can be used like a wireless phone to access E-mail, SMS messaging, business apps, and Palm personal information management software. The Tungsten W will run on Palm OS 4.1.1 and a Motorola Dragonball VZ 33-MHz processor and features a Class 10 GSM GPRS antenna (chipset supplied by TI, again). 

For more information: http://www.palm.com

MobileInfo Comments and Advisory: Palm has faced a lot of criticism from analysts and trade press in terms of its enterprise focus. After a resounding success as an organizer and outstanding PIM platform during late 1990s, Palm started falling back in its market position during the past two years. Palm's lack of wireless connectivity, absence of a keyboard, weak OS and less powerful processor did slow its adoption for serious enterprise business applications. Blackberry stole the show for always-on e-mail connectivity. Pocket PC devices were (and still are) considered more suitable for enterprise applications. There was no doubt that simplicity of the device and its interface served it well initially but professionals want more now. 

Palm has struggled hard during the past 24 months to reposition itself and fight off the challenges on its territory. Its loss of key executives to form Handspring did not help. The gloss of its rise became faded with the downturn of the market. While it forged relationship with IBM and many others, it did not gain respect in the enterprise IT department as a serious development platform. These vendors just connected to Palm devices. Palm boasted of hundreds of thousands of developers, but serious development professionals were not impressed because they did not think these "other folks" were real developers - a classic class mentality. Palm tried to acquire Extended Systems but dropped the idea for one reason or another. Finally, it did acquire ThinAirApps - a startup that possessed e-mail server IP.  It announced some server products, started understanding what it means to be connected, rather than as a stand-alone device. 

Palm, in our mind, has started understanding what will take to stay in this enterprise game. It has now made several right moves. Tungsten is one of them. It still has a lot of challenges in front of it.  We do not expect a super-duper single converged device to emerge from Palm, Pocket PC folks or anybody else very soon. here is room for multiple devices  for different situations. You must find a device that does 80% of your functionality well and for the rest, you compromise. Life is a matter of tradeoffs. This is as true in business as in any other facet of our activity. Someday, we shall meet the Nirvana of a perfect wireless handheld device that can change faceplates, form factors, screen sizes, accept speech input, play games, be solar-powered, do all the tricks that we want it to do and still fit in our shirt packet. I am not holding my breath for that.

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.