>
New Topic
>
Reply<
Esato Forum Index
>
General discussions >
General
> Palm bullish about smart devices
Bookmark topic
taken from this
BBC article
The future is bright for gadget lovers, according to the head of a leading handheld computer manufacturer, with new smartphones and advanced PDAs due out in the coming months.
PalmOne Chief Executive Todd Bradley said that demand for smartphones and advanced handhelds was expected to grow strongly, with more and more people getting into e-mail, music or video on the move.
Speaking to BBC News Online ahead of the Cebit technology show in Hanover, Mr Bradley was bullish about the future for mobile information services.
He said he believed that PalmOne can fight for a share of the market alongside giants like Microsoft, Nokia, Sony, Hewlett Packard and Motorola.
Some industry-watchers had predicted the death of the Palm platform following the company's acquisition of Handspring and the decision to split into two units - PalmOne, which creates and sells devices, and PalmSource which develops the operating systems.
'Enormous opportunity'
However, demand for the Treo 600, the company's main smartphone product, has been stronger than anticipated.
Mr Bradley said that this was a reflection of what was happening in the market as a whole.
"When you talk to research firms like IDC which look at that mobile space, you'll see numbers that have that space growing at 46% compounded annually," Mr Bradley told BBC News Online ahead of the Cebit technology fair.
"Clearly lots of that is driven by smartphones but we also look at the 30 million Palm customers we have today and we see that as an enormous opportunity to go ahead and market smartphones to them."
PalmOne is not, said Mr Bradley, dropping the PDA in favour of smartphone products entirely and is committed to extending its range of Zire and Tungsten palmtops.
People can expect new devices, to be unveiled next month, to provide much more in terms of multimedia storage so that they can take their favourite images, music, video and other files with them when they are out and about, as well as giving them a link back to the office or to their e-mail.
"A large piece of our work right now is how we create a family of Treo products, but we are about offering choice," he said.
"If you decide you want a smartphone that gives you always-on access via one device which is compelling enough and small enough to fit in your pocket, we provide that.
"If you want a tiny Bluetooth phone and the ability to connect via Bluetooth, we have a range of devices that give you the ability to do that.
"Whether it's music or pictures or e-mail that interests you as a person using mobile technology, we'll provide the simplest solution for you to have," he said.
--
Posted: 2004-03-17 12:54:22
Edit :
Quote
New Topic
Reply
