Palm introduces first Windows-based smartphone
26 September, 2005
by Robert Dutt
After competing for most of a decade in the mobile device
space, Palm and Microsoft have become partners, as the former
will use the latter's Windows Mobile 5.0 operating system
for a new generation of its Treo line of smartphones.
Microsoft chairman Bill Gates joined Palm CEO Ed Colligan
at a press conference in San Francisco to show off the long-rumored
Windows-powered Treo for the first time. The duo were joined
by Denny Strigl, president of Verizon Wireless, the U.S.-based
carrier who will be the first to offer the new and yet unnamed
member of the Treo family.
"There's been a lot of speculation about this relationship,
and it's clearly the case where Microsoft and us have previously
competed, sometimes rather vigorously." Colligan said.
" But things have changed -- we're not in the OS business,
so we can partner with others; our product line has changed
from single-use handhelds to smartphones; and Microsoft's
product has changed."
Colligan said that Microsoft approached Palm about Palm devices
running Windows Mobile several years ago, and the companies
have been working on the project ever since. He stressed that
Palm would only build on Windows Mobile when it saw opportunities
to innovate and make something new, and Gates confirmed that
part of Microsoft hoped to get out of the partnership were
new and unique products based on Windows Mobile.
"We've lusted after some of those things that they do
well, and wanted to merge them with the things that we do
well," Gates said. "We've take the best work of
all three of these products [Windows Mobile, Treo and Verizon's
high-speed network] and created a product that will be in
incredible demand."
The companies showed off little Palm-isms that it was bringing
to Windows Mobile, including a system to standardize voice-mail
controls with on-screen icons, and the ability to send a caller
a quick text message to explain why they weren't answering
a call while in a meeting or otherwise occupied.
The phone will be Palm's first 3G product, offering high-speed
data connections that Gates said will make the product very
attractive to business users. But initially, the company will
only be offering the new Treo through Verizon Wireless, using
its EV-DO network for data. Colligan did not comment on the
possibility that other carriers would offer a Windows-based
Treo on other 3G networks, or on a traditional lower-bandwidth
wireless data network. However, high-speed data is key to
reaching the market, Gates said.
"In our view, every professional will have a phone that
connects to their e- mail, and to Microsoft Office,"
Gates said. "But that opportunity is not very well penetrated
today."
Back in the original days of the handheld computing market,
Palm held a massive market share, but has seen that erode
steadily to the variety of vendors offering Windows Mobile-based
devices. Palm managed to recreate itself around the Treo line
smartphones it acquired when it bought Handspring, but even
in that space, Windows Mobile vendors have been nipping at
its heels.
Colligan stressed that this was not a wholesale move away
from its namesake Palm OS by Palm, but rather an extension
of the Treo family, something Colligan said was necessary
to reach new customers, most notably in large companies that
have decided on Windows everywhere.
The companies declined to provide other details of the product,
aside from the fact that it will be powered by an Intel processor.
Colligan said that the phone would be out "very early"
next year, but the company said in a statement that it would
be available "earlier than the second half of 2006."
Pricing was also not disclosed, although Colligan did hint
that it would be more expensive than some contemporaries because
of the EV-DO radio in the system.
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