ew PalmPilot Will Include
Wireless Access to Internet
By LISA BRANSTEN
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL INTERACTIVE EDITION
3Com Corp. is overhauling its hit PalmPilot handheld computer, offering
features that include wireless access to the Internet.
The Santa Clara, Calif., network-gear maker is introducing a new version of
the device Wednesday that is expected to include a
wireless-communications component. The communications capability would
allow users to tap into Web sites that have been tailored to make information
easily readable on the small display screen of the palm-sized device.
People familiar with the matter said the new
model will be only slightly larger than the
current Palm III device, which is about the size of a package of playing
cards. Officials from 3Com declined comment before the formal
announcement.
The announcement will be made at the company's annual conference for
software developers that make products for the Palm device. E*Trade
Group Inc., the online brokerage company, is expected to be among sites
that will produce information tailored for the new Palm device.
The PalmPilot was originally developed by a Silicon Valley start-up called
Palm Computing Inc. Palm was bought by U.S. Robotics Inc., a company
that was then acquired by 3Com in 1996. 3Com cites analyst estimates that
the PalmPilot has roughly 63% of the handheld computer market, a rare
platform for software and accessory devices that isn't dominated by
Microsoft Corp.
But Microsoft continues to step up its attack on the nascent market. The
software giant's hardware partners have created a number of devices that
are similar to the Palm devices in size and functionality.
Besides information about stocks, the new PalmPilot device is expected to
carry travel and weather data.
Scott Miller, an analyst at San Jose, Calif., market-research firm Dataquest,
said the wireless capability of the new device is an important first step as
companies race to provide full-featured access to the entire Internet. Until
now, Palm devices have been restricted to downloading information from
personal computers or using bulky telephone modems.
With an embedded wireless connection, Mr. Miller said, "I've got access to a
much larger reservoir of information when I need it."
Mr. Miller said he knew of no plans for similar wireless devices from
Microsoft or its partners, but would be surprised if such devices aren't in the
works. In the first half of next year Qualcomm Inc. plans to introduce the
pdQ Smartphone, which melds a mobile phone and a Palm device and should
also give users access to some Web sites, according to Jeffrey Belk, vice
president of marketing at Qualcomm.
Web-site access would be provided through data services that
telecommunications companies such as Sprint Corp. and Bell Atlantic Corp.
are expected to roll out also in the first half of next year, Mr. Belk said. The
pdQ phone is a good deal larger than either the Palm III device or a
top-of-the line mobile phone, but Mr. Belk said it is about an ounce lighter
than the two devices together.
Mr. Belk said that the new 3Com device should provide healthy competition
in the category of small consumer devices. "There are phones that are
purely communications-centric, and there are devices that are purely
data-centric, and now you're seeing devices that will fall in the center of that
spectrum," he said. "Different classes of consumers will choose different
classes of products." |
