Here it is!
3Com Announces the Palm VII Connected Organizer, the
First Handheld Solution for Out-Of-The-Box Wireless
Internet Access - BW, 01:15 p.m Dec 02, 1998 Eastern
Revolutionary new product to give customers fast access to
personal, business and Internet information; 22 initial web
content partners include ABCNews.com, ESPN.com, E*TRADE,
Mastercard, Visa, The Wall Street Journal Interactive and
Yahoo!
SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 2, 1998--
Palm Computing, Inc., a 3Com company (Nasdaq:COMS), today announced it
is extending its line of Palm Computing(R) platform products to include the Palm
VII(TM) connected organizer, once again redefining the handheld computing
industry. The Palm VII organizer will enable users to quickly, easily and
securely obtain information from web and intranet sites via a wireless connection
to the Internet and will provide a means of instant two-way personal
communication. In addition to providing fast and simple access to personal and
business information, the Palm VII organizer will give people a wireless means
of quickly finding important Internet information such as flight schedules and
news headlines, and conducting online transactions such as movie ticket
purchases or online stock trades, from 260 of the most populated areas in the
United States. The Palm VII organizer, which is scheduled to enter its national
field trial in early 1999, is expected to be widely available in the U.S. later in
1999 for less than U.S. $800. Internet access service is expected to be available
from $10 per month.
Incorporating Palm Computing's renowned design commitment to simplicity and
compact size, the Palm VII organizer will provide an easy-to-use, total
information access solution right out of the box. To accomplish this, Palm
Computing achieved several significant technological advancements, including
over-the-air service activation, instant Internet service with customized access to
leading Internet sites, fast wireless Internet messaging and built-in security. In
addition, the Palm VII organizer will achieve weeks of performance on two AAA
batteries.
Palm Computing Introduces Web Clipping. With the Palm VII organizer, 3Com
also introduces a revolutionary new model for accessing Internet information,
called "web clipping." Web clipping is a means of extracting only a specific set
of needed information from a given web site, eliminating the extraneous
information prevalent in the Internet browsing paradigm. Companies can easily
make their web content available for web clipping directly from the Palm VII
organizer. Twenty-two of the world's leading Internet content providers have
already done so: ABCNEWS.com, Bank of America, ESPN.com, Etak,
E*TRADE, Fodor's, Frommer's, MapQuest, MasterCard, Merriam-Webster,
Moviefone, OAG, TheStreet.com, Ticketmaster, Travelocity, UPS, USA Today,
U.S. West, Visa International, The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition, The
Weather Channel, and Yahoo!.
In addition to the web clipping feature, the Palm VII organizer will include the
new iMessenger(TM) application for instantly sending and receiving Internet
messages wirelessly. Wireless network service for both web clipping and
two-way messaging is widely available throughout most of the U.S.
"For wireless Internet access to be viable on a handheld device, it first had to be
made simple, fast, and affordable. This required a number of technical
advancements and an entirely new approach to moving information from the
Internet to an individual," said Janice Roberts, senior vice president of 3Com and
acting president of Palm Computing. "The Palm VII organizer is our first step in
enabling a new class of information access and e-commerce solutions for the
handheld computing industry. This is clearly only the beginning of a new era of
personal communications."
With the increasing mobility of the U.S. workforce and explosive growth in
Internet and intranet use, more professionals and corporations recognize the
importance of extending Internet data access into the mobile, wireless
environment. The Yankee Group, a leading industry research firm, estimates that
there will be nearly seven million wireless and mobile data subscribers by 1999,
increasing to more than 21 million by 2002. The Palm VII organizer is intended
to address the needs of this burgeoning market, specifically for customers
requiring wireless mobile Internet access. The Palm III(TM) and PalmPilot(TM)
Professional Edition organizers will continue to serve as Palm Computing's
mainstream offerings, addressing the personal organization and business
productivity segments of the handheld computing market.
While public Internet content accessible from a Palm VII organizer will be ideal
for consumers, travelers and mobile professionals, businesses can also take
advantage of its wireless data capabilities for accessing enterprise data within
corporate Intranets. The Palm VII organizer was created using standard Internet
and data center technologies familiar to web and IT managers. It incorporates the
same level of security as any web-based transaction site such as E*TRADE or
Movielink.com. Because it is standards-based, corporate IS departments can
easily set up a server outside the firewall that gives Palm VII organizer users
access to legacy data sources such as a mainframe databases or enterprise
resource planning (ERP) systems.
Palm VII Features and Services. The Palm VII organizer delivers wireless
Internet connectivity together with the shirt-pocket size, fast data access, long
battery life and ease-of-use that has given Palm Computing(R) platform products
their worldwide market leadership. In addition to 3Com's award-winning set of
personal organization and business productivity functions, the new product
incorporates several key innovative features and services in areas from hardware
and application design to Internet service structure and information security.
These include a two-way radio with integrated antenna, bundled Palm.Net(TM)
service, the web clipping and iMessenger applications and industrial-strength
security, which enables a vast range of new e-commerce and financial services
applications. Following is an overview of each:
Built-in two-way radio and integrated antenna. 3Com designed a tiny two-way
radio and integrated it into the hardware design of the Palm VII organizer, using
a form factor similar to the Palm III organizer. An ergonomic antenna in the Palm
VII product serves both as a radio frequency receiver and an automatic on/off
switch for Internet applications.
Palm.Net Service: 3Com's Wireless Internet Service. To provide one-stop
service and support, communications service and billing, 3Com is delivering the
wireless Internet service directly to consumers through a new service called
Palm.Net. To activate the service, users simply enter secure billing and credit
card information into the registration screen that appears the first time the Palm
VII antenna is raised, and within a few minutes the device is ready to access the
Internet and send and receive wireless Internet messages. Subscribers to the
Palm.Net service will be billed conveniently on their credit cards on a monthly
basis, starting at less than $10 per month.
The Wireless Data Infrastructure. The underlying wireless network for the
Palm.Net service is provided by BellSouth Wireless Data, a leading provider of
proven wireless data communications solutions. The BellSouth Intelligent
Wireless Network(SM) covers 93 percent of the nation's urban business
population, ensuring a broad range of service coverage across the U.S. The
Intelligent Wireless Network also provides the Palm VII organizer with a
breakthrough feature called Wireless Subscription Management, which allows
users to activate their organizer right out of the box. The Palm VII organizer is
the first product ever to employ this technological innovation from BellSouth
Wireless Data.
While the BellSouth network is based on Mobitex technology from Ericsson, the
core components of the Palm VII organizer and the Palm.Net system are built on
standards that are completely network-independent, so future support for other
wireless data standards is possible.
Web Clipping: Fast, Accurate Information Access. Web clipping differs from
contemporary web browsing, which has proven to be slow and cumbersome on
handheld devices. 3Com believes that wireless handheld Internet users want to
access a specific set of information quickly, accurately and frequently throughout
the day. To access Internet data on the Palm VII organizer, a user simply raises
the antenna, which calls up a screen containing a list of applications. By tapping
on one of these applications using the Palm VII stylus, the user calls up a new
screen known as a Palm(TM) query application.
The query application allows the user to define the specific type of information
desired such as a stock quote, flight schedule or restaurant listing -- by selecting
from pre-installed options. The user can then send the query to the Internet with a
tap of the stylus, and within seconds, a web "clipping" is returned a page of
results catered to the user's specified requests and specifically formatted for
viewing on the Palm VII screen.
Because query applications reside on the device itself, and the wireless radio is
not activated until it is sent by the user, the process of accessing the Internet is
done with minimum power requirements, so the product can easily achieve long
battery life. The special formatting, which is handled by servers hosted by Palm
Computing, prevents the consumption of large amounts of Internet bandwidth
between the device and the Internet, helping to ensure fast, low-cost delivery of
information.
Industrial-Strength Security: Enabling Secure E-Commerce Transactions. To
ensure the highest level of security for high-value applications such as electronic
commerce and stock trading over the wireless network, 3Com integrated
industrial-strength security features at the device, network and Internet server
levels. The primary technology for protecting activation of the Palm VII
organizer and online transactions made using the product is provided by
Certicom, Inc., the pioneer of a powerful and efficient security system available
for handheld devices and wireless data networks, known as elliptic curve
cryptography. Additional password protection on the device protects the user's
information in case of a lost or stolen device.
iMessenger(TM) Software: Instant Wireless Internet Messaging Application. In
addition to the web clipping application, Palm VII organizers come with the new
iMessenger application for sending and receiving Internet messages wirelessly.
The iMessenger feature gives Palm VII users the freedom to send notes to any
standard e-mail address from virtually anywhere in the U.S. Like the web
clipping application, the iMessenger application is a streamlined version of how
e-mail works on a PC. The iMessenger application is used in the same way as the
standard Palm(TM) Mail application, except that iMessenger mail is sent
instantaneously via the wireless radio rather than when the device is
synchronized with a PC. To check for new messages, the user simply raises the
antenna and presses a button, and all messages waiting in queue appear on the
Palm VII screen.
Third-Party Developers: Providing a Wealth of Available Content. The
information delivered from the Internet to the device comes from the original
content source -- the only difference is in the presentation of the information.
Using standard web authoring tools, any web content provider can easily make
their content accessible to Palm VII users. In a related announcement today,
3Com outlined a content developer program through which businesses can
quickly accomplish this. As more content becomes available, users will be able to
download new query applications directly from the Internet using their Palm VII
organizer. For information on becoming an Internet content partner, visit
www.palm.com/devzone. About 3Com Corp.
With more than 200 million customers worldwide, 3Com Corporation connects
more people in more ways to information than any other networking company.
3Com delivers innovative information access products and network system
solutions to large, medium and small enterprises; carriers and network service
providers; PC OEMs; and consumers. 3Com(R) More connected(TM). For
further information, visit 3Com's World Wide Web site at www.3com.com or
the press site at www.3com.com/pressbox or Palm Computing at
www.palm.com.
Copyright 1998, Business Wire
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