Microsoft to Unveil New Software for Mid-Sized Handheld Devices
Redmond, Washington, Sept. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Microsoft Corp., the world's largest software maker, said it plans to release a new version of its software to power miniature notebook computers.
Microsoft will unveil its latest version of HPC 2000 software, designed to power the line of small notebook computers manufactured mainly for businesses to use to perform simple computing tasks such as note-taking and tracking inventory.
The HPC 2000 software and the sub-notebooks they power have been less popular than handheld devices, and Microsoft hopes the new line of devices, which will be less expensive than traditional personal computers, will boost demand, analysts said.
``When this was originally introduced, people thought it was a dumb-downed PC at the same price,'' said David Thor, research director at ResearchPortal.com, a mobile computing market research firm.
The new software will be included in devices manufactured by Hewlett-Packard Corp. and NEC Corp., Microsoft said. Microsoft will demonstrate the new software at the DemoMobile 2000 trade show in Pasadena, California, tomorrow, the company said.
The new devices are larger than the Pocket PC, a hand-held device Microsoft unveiled in April to compete with Palm Inc.'s products. Demand for those devices has reduced supplies and led to shortages of some parts, Palm executives said last week.
The market for handheld devices is expected to grow to about $2 billion a year from $764 million this year, according to Framingham, Massachusetts-based market researcher IDC. Microsoft in April announced its third version of handheld devices in an effort to catch up with Palm, which currently has about 90 percent of the market for handheld devices.
Microsoft shares fell 38 cents to 69.75 in late afternoon trading. Hewlett-Packard shares fell 1.63 to 121.31.
Sep/06/2000 15:32 ET
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