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Technology Stocks : PALM - The rebirth of Palm Inc. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mang Cheng who wrote (1389)	8/27/2000 3:00:11 AM
From: Mang Cheng	Respond to of 6784

"Palm Mixes It Up" By Peggy Albright from WirelessWeek "Palm Inc. likes to have it both ways. It wants to offer both form and function with its personal digital assistants, and it wants to provide that for various audiences, not just its previous corporate, high-tech market segments. Case in point: Just days after supermodel Claudia Schiffer said she will promote and sell Palm’s Vx PDAs via her Web site, the mobile computing company introduced some new technical attractions for its current products and released a simplified device for price conscious, entry-level users. Palm’s efforts reflect a new business strategy that will meet target market segments while finding new ways to reach non-technical audiences. The release of affordable devices also accelerates the pricing trend set by competitor Handspring, which challenged Palm’s prices last year when it introduced the Visor (which also runs on the Palm operating system). Now novice PDA users who are curious about handheld devices but can’t afford Palm’s primary products–which previously sold for $249 and up–can get into the action. Not everyone sees Palm’s new release as a response to Handspring’s push, though. “I think [Palm has] understood for a long time that they need to lower the price if they want to reach a bigger market,” says Barney Dewey, analyst at Andrew Seybold’s Outlook. Its new budget-conscious product line is simply a “step along the evolutionary curve,” he says. Available through Palm’s distribution channels is the new M100, a $149 product that introduces a new naming convention and design approach for Palm devices. The M100 is likely to replace the previous low-end model, the 3E, which now also sells for $149. The M100 also has a slightly different form factor: rounded edges and a protective flip cover with a see-through window for viewing a new clock application. The device offers a new “note pad” application for jotting quick freehand notes, an easy application for new users. The device is available in black or dark gray, but eventually it will come in five colors and have optional faceplates that users can buy for $19.95 each. For mobile computing customers, the upgraded VIIx increases memory from 2 to 8 megabytes, enabling users to install more Web-clipping applications. The price of that device also has been cut to $399, down from $449. But for people looking for PDAs to send and receive e-mail, there’s nothing new here. The Palm VII devices still offer wireless access via the BellSouth Wireless Data intelligent network, and Palm V device users get wireless Internet access services from OmniSky. Neither approach, however, is effective for the always-on functionality that customers can get on the Research In Motion’s BlackBerry service that uses 950 pagers, or with Motorola’s PageWriter 2000X. Palm plans to introduce its Mobile Internet Kit in the fall, which will enable Palm users to hook their devices up to cellular phones for use as modems. But look to the company to eventually introduce wireless Internet access via 802.11 and Bluetooth approaches and to continually refresh the VII with more functionality, says Martin Reynolds, a vice president and research fellow at Dataquest. And that should interest the glamour-seekers as well as those seeking practical mobile computing tools. wirelessweek.com Mang