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3Com's Palm Introduces Its First Organizer With Color Screen
By Scott Lanman
3Com's Palm Introduces Its First Organizer With Color Screen
Santa Clara, California, Feb. 22 (Bloomberg) -- 3Com Corp.'s
Palm Inc. unit, maker of the top-selling Palm electronic
organizers, today will introduce its first model with a color
screen, betting that customers will pay more for the option.
The Palm IIIc costs $449 and runs on a rechargeable battery
that lasts about 12 hours while the device is on. Palm also is
unveiling a collapsible keyboard for $99 and new operating-system
software for all of its products. More than 5.5 million Palm
organizers with black-and-white screens have been sold since the
PalmPilot's introduction in 1996.
The addition to Palm's lineup comes a week before Palm is
scheduled to sell shares to the public in an initial offering.
Palm Product Manager Paul Osborne said the timing of the two
events was a coincidence and the schedule for the IIIc's
introduction was set ``way before' 3Com announced in September
that it was spinning off Palm.
The new model isn't the first stylus-based electronic
organizer with a color screen. Casio Computer Co., Hewlett-Packard
Co. and Compaq Computer Corp. make devices priced from about $400
to $600 based on Microsoft Corp.'s rival Windows CE software.
Palm has a 68 percent share of the U.S. market and 47 percent
worldwide, according to researcher International Data Corp. Palm
models range from $149 to $449 for the Palm VII, which provides
quick, wireless Internet access.
The Palm IIIc includes improved to-do and appointment
listings and security options. It works with devices such as a
snap-on digital camera from Eastman Kodak Co. and software
including a color World Wide Web browser from AvantGo Inc. The
device's casing resembles a darker version of the boxy Palm III,
rather than the sleek, silver Palm V.
Shares of Santa Clara, California-based 3Com, the second-
largest maker of computer-networking equipment, fell 2 5/16 to 69
11/16 on Friday. The shares have risen 48 percent this year on
enthusiasm for Palm's IPO.
U.S. markets were closed Monday for the Presidents' Day
holiday.
quote.bloomberg.com |
