At CeBIT, mobile has gone
global
By PC Week Staff
February 21, 2000 12:00 AM ET
From Microsoft Corp.'s portable version of Internet
Explorer to Xybernaut Corp.'s "eDress" collection of
computer-based gowns, the resounding theme of this
year's CeBIT Fair is that mobile computing is the future.
This week, device makers, wireless service providers
and software developers will display their latest wares
to an estimated 700,000-plus attendees at the annual
high-tech hoedown in Hannover, Germany.
One of the leading mobile device providers, 3Com
Corp.'s Palm Computing division, which is set to go
public within the next two weeks, will showcase its first
color handheld device, the Palm IIIc Connected
Organizer. The device is similar to its monochrome
counterpart but has a full-color screen and a
rechargeable battery.
Many developers reportedly have applications ready to
go for the device. AvantGo Inc., which offers Palm users
scaled-down versions of content from more than 350
Web sites, will now offer that content in color.
Customers will be able to get color graphic images from
sites such as Fox Sports and USA Today.
Microsoft will announce a new version of Internet
Explorer for its Pocket PC platform, aka CE for
palm-size devices.
IE for Pocket PC will support Secure Sockets Layer,
JavaScript and Extensible Markup Language. Users will
be able to get access to Internet data either with a
wireless-modem Internet connection or by
synchronizing the device with the Internet connection
on their PCs, which means they can download Internet
content to their handhelds without having to pay for a
wireless connection. Service from AvantGo also will be
integrated into the new browser, which will include a
"mobile favorites" feature that lets users add icons for
automatic access to favorite sites and even allows user
specification on how many clicks deep they want to go
into the site.
Casio Computer Co. Ltd. and Siemens AG's
Communications Devices division are expected to give
attendees a glimpse of working prototypes of their
jointly developed mobile devices at the show. (For
complete CeBIT coverage, go to PC Week Online.)
Crystal clear
For its part, Symbian Ltd., the joint venture between LM
Ericsson Telefon AB, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co.
Ltd., Motorola Inc., Nokia Corp. and Psion plc., plans to
demonstrate its first reference design platform and
discuss details on two other devices it has on the
drawing board.
First, the group will preview Quartz, a tabletlike wireless
communicator the company unveiled last week at its
developers conference in Santa Clara, Calif. Officials
will also discuss details of Crystal, a forthcoming
personal digital assistant-type communicator, and
Pearl, a reference design platform for a smart phone.
Nokia plans to use Pearl in a future phone that features
both Symbian's Epoc operating environment and Palm
OS.
Also on the wireless front, Compaq Computer Corp.'s
European executives will announce wireless and Global
System for Mobile Communications solutions for its
handheld products. Compaq's U.S. counterparts will
discuss strategic initiatives that build on its new
iAppliances business.
Sharp Electronics Corp. will demonstrate several new
products, including a handheld PC, the HC-7000, that
lets users access e-mail, the Internet and data from a
company's network using Microsoft's Windows CE
Professional. A built-in digital camera allows users to
attach "proof photos" with a 350,000-pixel resolution to
e-mail, officials said.
And for the fashion-conscious, wearable computer
maker Xybernaut will demonstrate the latest eDress
designs from designer Anna Niemann that feature the
company's Mobile Assistant IV wearable PC. In
addition, the company will demonstrate a mobile
simultaneous language interpreting device that also
uses the Mobile Assistant IV.
Carmen Nobel, Lisa DiCarlo, Anne Knowles, Grant Du
Bois and Michael R. Zimmerman contributed to this
story. |
