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

To: P.M.Freedman who wrote (3316)	1/8/2001 12:45:40 AM
From: mr.mark	Respond to of 6784

It's the Simplicity, Stupid Palm CEO Carl Yankowski tells a CES audience why PDAs are the future of computing. By Alethea Yip, TechTV News January 6, 2001 LAS VEGAS -- Move over, bulky desktop and notebook computers. Consumers want lighter, leaner, and more mobile ways to manage their lives, says Palm CEO Carl Yankowski. In his keynote address at the Consumer Electronics Show here Saturday night, Yankowski showed off the latest applications for the Palm PDA and shared his vision for his wildly successful company. "We are beginning to demand that technology serve us rather than enslave us," he told the crowd of industry watchers and analysts. "The original promise of technology was to set us free. Then why are people feeling less and less in control of their lives today?" The solution, he claims, is the personal digital assistant. "Full-sized PCs and notebook computers are not designed to meet the needs of an increasingly mobile society," he insisted. On the other hand, he said, "Handheld computers are all about simplicity, elegance, and design." According to Yankowski, devices like the Palm that offer ways to make life simpler are now driving and will continue to dominate consumer sales. And the market seems to agree. While PC sales hit record lows, sales of PDAs jumped 165 percent this holiday season from last year, according to NPD Intelect, a market research firm that tracks sales of consumer electronics. In that flourishing PDA market, Palm is the undisputed king, laying claim to a 75 percent market share, according to International Data Corp. More than 130,000 registered developers create applications for the company's Palm OS, which also is licensed by makers of competing handheld devices. Making life simpler Handheld computers broke the chains that tethered us to our desks, Yankowski said, and now they promise to make everyday transactions, like paying for groceries, simpler. To illustrate his point, he unveiled Palm's eWallet capabilities, which allow Palm users to make secure purchases at the cash register without whipping out their credit cards. Palm partnered with Ingenico, Visa, and Verifone to develop the eWallet technology, which Yankowski said will be available within the next 12 months. The eWallet technology uses the Palm's infrared capabilities to beam a user's credit card information to a specially designed Ingenico terminal, which logs the sale on the store's records and sends that information to the credit card company for billing purposes. Palm handhelds already can hold photographs, and the company is working on ways to store users' driver's licenses, health care cards, and other personal identification documents -- advancements which would effectively transform the PDA into a true virtual wallet. According to Yankowski, promoting technologies such as eWallet that make life simpler is Palm's guiding mandate and the key to its success. "Palm handhelds must be simple to use -- always," he said. "I promise." techtv.com