3Com Delivers the Palm VII Organizer for Out-of-the-Box Wireless Internet Access
Revolutionary Handheld Organizer Ships Today in New York Metropolitan Area; Hundreds of
Content Providers to Provide Web Content, E-Commerce Capability
SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 24, 1999--
Palm Computing, Inc., a 3Com company (Nasdaq:COMS), today announced availability of the
Palm VII(TM) connected organizer, the newest addition to 3Com's world-leading family of
handheld products based on the Palm Computing(R) platform. The Palm VII organizer uses a
wireless connection and the new Palm.Net(SM) wireless service to enable users to easily obtain
information from the Internet, conduct e-commerce transactions and send and receive instant
messages. The Palm VII organizer is now available at retailers in the New York Metropolitan
tri-state area -- including Connecticut, New Jersey and New York -- for an estimated street price
of U.S. $599. It is expected to be available nationally later this year. While available for purchase
regionally at first, the Palm VII organizer is fully functional in 260 of the most populated areas of
the United States. The company has designed this phased rollout to ensure world-class service
and support for the Palm VII product.
Hundreds of content providers are signed up to provide web content and e-commerce capabilities
for Palm VII users. Right out of the box, information from 22 industry-leading Internet content
providers is available for web clipping directly from the Palm VII organizer. These include
ABCNEWS.com, Bank of America, ESPN.com, Etak, E-TRADE, Fodor's, Frommer's,
MapQuest.com, MasterCard, Merriam-Webster, Moviefone.com, OAG, TheStreet.com,
Ticketmaster, Travelocity.com, UPS, USAToday.com, U.S. West Dex, Visa International, The
Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition, The Weather Channel, and Yahoo!. Additional Palm VII
applications from new content providers including Bloomberg L.P., Excite, Fidelity Investments,
Infoseek, mySimon, Prudential, Symbol Technologies with BarPoint.com, United Airlines and
others are available for download today at www.palm.net.
A complete solution right out of the box, the Palm VII organizer is ideal for consumers, travelers
and mobile professionals. The Palm VII organizer brings a broad range of new functionality to
handheld computing, including the ability to monitor and trade stocks, conduct personal banking
and pay bills, order movie tickets, locate the nearest recommended restaurant, access driving
directions, locate local news, sports scores and weather forecasts and send and receive brief
messages. The Palm VII organizer incorporates Palm Computing's renowned commitment to
simplicity, compact size and elegant user experience plus all the features of the award-winning
Palm III(TM) organizer. The product features a similar form factor to the Palm III product family
and achieves weeks of use on two AAA batteries.
"The Palm VII organizer is the first true consumer information appliance -- bringing wireless
information access and e-commerce to consumers in one package that is elegant and easy to use,"
said Robin Abrams, president of Palm Computing, Inc., a 3Com company. "The people who
used the Palm VII organizer in our recent field trial are using the device to manage everything
from work and family schedules to travel arrangements and personal investment portfolios. We
have reached a new level of personal connectivity. Palm intends to continue leading this industry
by delivering breakthrough products and services like the Palm VII device and the Palm.Net
service."
New Palm.Net Service
Internet access for the Palm VII organizer is provided through a new Palm.Net service, which
allows customers to activate and monitor their Palm.Net service directly from the device. A
typical user will pay $9.99 per month for the service. An extended package also is available for
more frequent users for $24.99 per month.
The Palm VII organizer's activation process is revolutionary in that it is the first wireless device
to offer unassisted self-activation. First-time users easily activate the built-in Palm.Net service by
entering billing and credit card information into the registration screen that appears upon lifting
the Palm VII antenna. Within minutes the device is ready to access the Internet. Subscribers to the
Palm.Net service will be billed on their credit cards monthly.
Web Clipping(TM) Technology: Fast, Inexpensive Internet Access
The Palm VII organizer utilizes 3Com's revolutionary new model for accessing Internet
information, called "web clipping" technology. Web clipping differs from contemporary web
browsing, which has proven to be slow and cumbersome on handheld devices. It is a means of
extracting only a specific set of requested information from a given web site, eliminating the
extraneous information inherent in the Internet browsing model, thereby allowing users to access
Internet information quickly, in short, frequent sessions during the day.
Hundreds of Content Providers Support Palm VII Organizer and Web
Clipping
Many of the world's leading Internet content providers have already made their web content
available for web clipping directly from the Palm VII organizer. Hundreds more companies have
obtained the HTML development tools used to easily make web content accessible from the Palm
VII organizer, and many more providers are expected to be announced this year.
The information delivered from the Internet to the Palm VII 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 its content accessible to Palm VII
users. As more content becomes available, users will be able to download new query applications
from www.palm.net or from the content source. For additional information on developing
applications for the Palm VII organizer, visit www.palm.com/devzone.
How the Palm VII Organizer Accesses Internet Information
To access Internet data on the Palm VII organizer, a user simply raises the antenna, which calls
up a list of applications provided by content providers. By tapping an application icon, the user
calls up a new screen known as a "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 request 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
the query 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 and
compression prevents the consumption of large amounts of Internet bandwidth between the
device and the Internet, helping to ensure fast, low-cost delivery of information.
iMessenger(TM) Software for Instant Wireless Messaging
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 application is
designed to communicate brief messages to anyone with an Internet e-mail address. Outgoing
iMessenger messages are sent instantaneously via the wireless radio. To check for new messages
received, the user simply raises the antenna and taps an icon on the screen, and all messages
waiting in queue appear.
Palm VII Features and Services
In addition to wireless Internet connectivity, the Palm VII organizer delivers the shirt-pocket size,
fast data access, long battery life and ease-of-use that has given Palm Computing(R) platform
products worldwide market leadership. The product incorporates 3Com's award-winning,
original set of personal information management functions, plus several key innovative features
and services unique to the Palm VII product.
A tiny, built-in two-way radio enables the Palm VII organizer to communicate wirelessly via the
Internet. Its flip-up antenna serves both as a radio frequency receiver and an automatic on/off
switch for Internet applications. The wireless network for the Palm.Net service covers 260 of the
most populated urban areas in the U.S. To provide security for electronic commerce and payment
transactions over the wireless network such as those provided by Ticketmaster and Bank of
America, 3Com has integrated security features at the device, network and Internet server levels.
Additional details on the Palm VII organizer technology are available in a technical white paper
located at palm.com.
The Palm VII Organizer in the Corporate Environment
Businesses can also take advantage of the Palm VII organizer's wireless data capabilities for
accessing enterprise data within corporate Intranets, as the product was created using standard
Internet and data center technologies familiar to web and IT managers. 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 enterprise data sources such as a mainframe databases or
enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems.
The Palm VII organizer joins 3Com's industry-leading family of products based on the Palm
Computing platform. Introduced earlier this year, the popular Palm V(TM) organizer offers a
sleek, ultra-thin design with a convenient rechargeable battery and a full line of matching
accessories. The Palm V product has an estimated street price of $449. Also introduced earlier
this year, the Palm IIIx(TM) organizer is the newest addition to the award-winning Palm III
product line and is designed to meet the increasing mobile computing demands of consumers, the
corporate workplace and enterprise applications. The Palm IIIx product offers twice the memory
and expandability of Palm III and has an estimated street price of $369. The original Palm III
organizer remains available at its estimated street price of $299. Palm Computing platform
organizers currently hold a 72 percent share of the worldwide personal companion market,
according to IDC (November 1998).
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.
Note to Editors: 3Com and Palm Computing are registered trademarks and More Connected,
Palm, Palm III, Palm IIIx, Palm V, Palm VII, web clipping and iMessenger are trademarks and
Palm.Net is a servicemark of 3Com Corporation or its subsidiaries. All other brands and product
names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated.
CONTACT: 3Com Corporation
Liz Brooking, 408/326-9106
lbrookin@palm.com
or
A&R Partners
Kristen Garrigus, 650/298-3932
kgarrigus@arpartners.com
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