3Com Reduces the Price of the Award-Winning PalmPilot Connected
Organizers - Business Wire - March 05, 1998 09:18
SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 5, 1998--Palm Computing,
Inc., a 3Com company (Nasdaq: COMS), today reduced the price of its
market-leading PalmPilot(TM) connected organizer products. The
PalmPilot Professional Edition connected organizer now has a suggested
retail price of U.S. $299, down from $369, and the PalmPilot Personal Edition organizer will now retail for U.S. $199, down from $249. The
suggested retail price of the PalmPilot 1MB Professional Upgrade has
also been reduced to U.S. $79 from $129. Since the product line's
launch in 1996, Palm Computing has sold well over one million units,
making the PalmPilot organizer the most rapidly adopted computing
product in history. In addition, it has won over 60 awards and
received broad industry recognition for its form-factor, ease-of-use,
price, expandability and viability for enterprise data management
solutions.
"As the leader in the handheld computing industry, we will continue to
drive growth in the category by providing market-leading products at
market-leading prices," said Ed Colligan, vice president of marketing
for Palm Computing Inc., a 3Com company. "When we created the
PalmPilot, one of our primary goals was to make it easily affordable.
We envisioned the product being used by a broad range of people, from
executives and mobile professionals to mainstream consumers and
students. We will continue to set the value standard in our category,
and make our product affordable to more people by reaching aggressive
new price points."
The PalmPilot Personal and Professional Edition connected organizers
feature a full suite of Personal Information Management (PIM)
applications, including Date Book, Address Book, To-Do List and Memo
Pad and a backlit screen. The Professional Edition organizer also
features E-Mail and Expense capabilities. Both models feature Palm
Computing's innovative HotSync(R) technology which seamlessly
synchronizes data on the PalmPilot organizer with a desktop computer
at the touch of a button.
The Palm Computing platform is the foundation for the market-leading
3Com PalmPilot connected organizer and other handheld computing
products from Palm Computing's strategic partners, all leaders in
their respective markets. These relationships include IBM, which sells
the IBM WorkPad PC Companion into the enterprise market, Franklin
Covey, which supplies the Franklin Electronic Day Planner for the
training and time management industry, QUALCOMM, with expertise in
wireless communications, and Symbol Technologies, whose expertise in
bar code scanning and wireless LAN and WAN connectivity will take the
Palm Computing platform further into various vertical markets.
Examples of these vertical markets are retail, transportation, parcel
and postal delivery, manufacturing and health care.
Over 1,000 third-party titles are available for the Palm Computing
platform today, and many more are already under development in a broad
range of categories including conduits to PC desktop applications and
PIMs, games, financial management software, utilities, graphics
applications, web browsing solutions, and others. With the support of
over 5,000 software developers and over 200 companies creating
hardware add-ons such as wireless modems, pager cards, telephony
products, voice recognition modules and global positioning system(GPS)
receivers, the Palm Computing platform has become the leading standard
in the handheld computing industry. Palm Computing platform products
represent 66 percent of the worldwide standard handheld computing
market, according to Dataquest.
The PalmPilot connected organizers are compatible with Windows 95,
Windows NT 4.0, Windows 3.1x, and Macintosh operating systems. The
MacPac connection kit including desktop software is sold separately
for Macintosh connectivity. The PalmPilot organizers are available at
leading computer, consumer electronics and office supply stores
nationwide, including Best Buy, Circuit City, CompUSA, Computer City,
Egghead, Fry's, The good guys, J&R Computer World, MicroCenter, Office
Depot, OfficeMax, RCS, Service Merchandise, Staples, The Sharper Image
and other fine regional retailers and computer catalogs.
3Com Corporation enables individuals and organizations worldwide to
communicate and share information and resources at anytime
from anywhere. As one of the world's preeminent suppliers of data, voice and video communications technology, 3Com has delivered
networking solutions to more than 100 million customers worldwide. The company provides enterprises, network service providers
and carriers, small businesses and consumers with comprehensive, innovative information access products and system solutions for
building intelligent, reliable and high performance local and wide area networks. For further information, visit 3Com's World Wide
Web site at 3com.com, or the press site at 3com.com.
3Com, Palm Computing and HotSync are registered trademarks, and PalmPilot is a trademark of 3Com Corporation or its
subsidiaries. This product is not manufactured by Pilot Corporation or Pilot Corporation of America, manufacturers and distributors of
writing instruments. All other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are
associated.
CONTACT: A&R Partners
Allen Bush, 650/363-0982, ext. 228
abush@arpartners.com
or
Palm Computing, Inc., a 3Com Company
Liz Brooking, 650/237-6000
lbrookin@palm.com
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