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Palm IV debut pushed to new year
Palm Developers Conference to focus on consumers and wireless links
By Robert Lemos, ZDNN, and Matt Loney, ZDNet (UK)
The next Palm Pilot model from 3Com Corp. -- alternatively thought to be Palm IV or a thinner device code-named Razor -- will not be shown at next week's Palm Computing Platform Worldwide Developers Conference, according to several analysts.
"The bottom line is that the new thinner version [Razor] is not going to be out this year," said Tim Bajarin, principal analyst for PC watcher Creative Strategies Inc. "They [3Com] don't want to impact Christmas sales."
Razor is a slimmed-down version of the Palm III, while the Palm IV is expected to use built-in wireless technology to deliver the Internet directly to the user. Other features expected in the Palm IV include a better display, 4MB of RAM and an extra 2MB of ROM.
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While no new products will be on display at the show, 3Com is expected to make a major wireless announcement and talk more about its initiatives in the consumer market at the PalmDevCon in San Jose, Calif.
Razor out next year
This is not the first time that Palm IV/Razor expectations have been quashed.
Widespread media reports predicted the new Pilot's release would happen earlier this year. When speculation of a Comdex announcement fell flat, analysts pointed at the departure of three key execs as possibly scuttling those plans.
Palm Computing founder Jeffrey Hawkins and Donna Dubinsky -- formerly chief technologist and president, respectively, of 3Com's subsidiary of the same name -- left 3Com in early July to establish what has now become Handspring Inc. The new company is working on consumer versions of the Palm device and is planning an announcement next Wednesday at the conference.
"3Com's not going to have the thinner Razor, which would have been pretty good," said Ken Delaney, principal analyst and vice president of mobile computing for market research firm GartnerGroup. Delaney blames the changing of the guard for the delay. "There's a couple of us that are sensing they lost a great visionary [in Hawkins]."
Ed Colligan, former vice president of marketing at Palm Computing, also joined Handspring later.
Hawkins dismissed the trio's departure as a reason for any delay. "There is no truth at all about any product being delayed because myself and others left the company," said Handspring's Hawkins.
Wireless to be big
Without the new Pilot as the star exhibit, Wireless applications will be the big focus of the show, said analysts.
Products on display at the conference will include Qualcomm Corp.'s previously announced PdQ smart phone, which uses the Palm operating system.
The phone, which the company says will go on sale next year, has a PalmPilot-type screen and a flip-down keypad.
All Palm III applications will run on the phone, which will come with a browser and e-mail in addition to the regular Palm functions. Users will be able to make calls or send emails by tapping a name in the address book and can access a Web page by tapping on a URL.
GartnerGroup's Delaney thinks the PdQ is interesting, but will not sell well. "They basically stuck a speaker on the Palm Pilot," he said. "When you want to look at it, you have to pull it away from your ear."
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