archives

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Nokia Adds Major New Features to Series 60 Smartphone Platform

Nokia announced that they have added several significant new features to they Series 60 Smartphone platform based on Symbian technology. Series 60 Second Edition is the first smartphone platform to support both CDMA and dual-mode WCDMA-GSM which would allow devices using this platform — at least in theory — to operate with every major wireless carrier out-of-the-box.

According to Brighthand, "Series 60 already offers built-in email, messaging, PIM, security, and authentication capabilities. On top of this, Series 60 Second Edition adds IMAP-IDLE support for push email, improved data synchronization, and full-featured corporate intranet browsing with HTML and JavaScript support. Secure corporate connectivity will be enabled via IPSec and VPN. The new version of the platform also adds support for QWERTY keyboards."

SnapperMail 2.0 Enterprise Beta Release With IMAP

Snapperfish has released a beta of SnapperMail Enterprise Edition 2.0 which includes support for IMAP, in addition to several other major improvements in usability and performance.

BackupBuddy 2 Can "Undo" Changes

Blue Nomad has released BackupBuddy 2 for Windows with a new feature called ZoomBack that can restore a handheld to any previous state.

Sony Exits US PDA Market

Sony announced today that the TH55 will be its final US PDA. Sony will no longer sell Clie handhelds to the US market, but will continue to make Clies for the Japanese market. This leaves PalmOne and HP as the two largest makers of PDAs for the US market.

Review of Dell Axim X30

Brighthand reviews the new, low-cost Dell Axim X30 with WiFi, Bluetooth, 64MB of RAM, and a 624 MGz processor.

PalmOne Opens Flagship Store in Philadelphia Airport

PalmOne has opened a retail store selling PalmOne handhelds and accessories in the Philadelphia International Airport. These stylish, upscale stores have won interior design awards and are valuable sources of marketing for the company.

Microsoft Windows Mobile SE May Cause Problems For Developers

According to Brighthand, "although the latest version of this operating system has some great features, it can't run most current Pocket PC applications until they have been modified." Read the entire article.

Recent Review of New Microsoft Smartphone

ZDnet briefly reviews the Motorola MPx200, one of the new Microsoft Smartphones. The reviewer finds that it's not a bad phone, but that it doesn't quite cut the mustard as a PDA/phone hybrid.

Mobile Enterprise Article on Handheld Usage

Mobile Enterprise Magazine has an article on handheld usage in the enterprise. Handhelds are becoming more powerful and better able to meet many business needs.

New Palm Devices to Be Announced on April 28th

According to a blurb on Geek.com, palmOne will be announcing several new devices on April 28, 2004. So far, it looks like the updates will be for consumer devices in the Zire line, but many commentators expect an update to the Tungsten E to be announced as well.

Intel Introduces New Chip for Smartphones

Intel has announced a new line of X-scale processor-based chips optimized for Smartphones and PDAs. The chips have technology for enhancing wireless, multimedia, and low power consumption functionality. The PXA270 family of processors also has integrated security features.

New Version of SnapperMail Expected in May [Palm]

SnapperFish announced today that they plan to release a new version of their award-winning, mobile e-mail client, SnapperMail. SnapperMail 2.0 — due sometime in May — will feature a strong set of enhancements to it's capabilities and user interface, including long-awaited support for IMAP. User interface enhancements include multiple font sizes, improved icons, discontiguous selection of multiple messages, and expandable folder trees for managing message folders within e-mail accounts. The IMAP support looks to be particularly exceptional for a mobile client including support for SSL, the ability to synchronize with unlimited folders and subfolders on the server, directly browsing through messages on the server without downloading, moving messages between folders on the server, full support for synchronizing message status (i.e., read, replied, deleted, and flagged), and compatibility with Microsoft Exchange, Lotus Notes/Domino, and Novell Groupwise. Other new features include the ability to automatically archive messages to an expansion card, support for attachments in their native format, and many other improvements.

RIM Profits From Sales of Blackberries

According to e-week.com, Research In Motion announced a profit for the last quarter of $41.5 million, or 46 cents a share. The company also reached another milestone by reaching over 1 million subscribers for its services.

Observation: PDA Sales Trends on the Low End

Several commentators have noted that the figures from PDA sales for the last quarter of 2003 show that sales growth is being driven largely on the lower half of PDA pricing models. One of the effects of this trend — also noted by several commentators — is that sales of smartphones (i.e., some sort of PDA-mobile phone combination) — are also beginning to grow relative to the "traditional" PDA market. This is partially due to the fact that the high prices of smartphones has become equivalent to that of high-end PDAs. Coupled with the convenient size and thoughtfully designed features of devices such as PalmOne's Treo 600, some potential buyers seem to be deciding that they might as well get one device instead of carrying several.

Symantec Announces AntiVirus for Handhelds

Yesterday, Symantec announced Symantec AntiVirus for Handhelds Corporate Edition 3.2 with support for wireless device deployment. According to the vendor, the product "can be deployed and managed on Palm Powered smartphones and handhelds as well as Windows Mobile-based Pocket PCs, without the need for synchronization with a desktop system."

Treo 600 Coming to Verizon

PalmInfoCenter speculates that there may be a Treo 600 coming soon from Verizon based upon hints on Verizon's own website. The particular combination of one of the most sought-after smartphones with one of the largest and most popular phone carriers in the U.S. has been one of the most eagerly anticipated partnerships since peanut butter and jelly. PDAstreet has a more complete article with more information on the Treo 600 and the significance of the marriage between it and Verizon.

Skype Introduces Free WiFi Internet Telephone Calls [Windows Mobile]

Today, Skype introduced an application for WiFi-enabled PocketPC devices which allows people to make free phone calls over the Internet to anywhere in the world from any WiFi hotspot. The client — currently in Beta testing — is free, as are the phone calls.

Top 10 Selling PDAs and 2003 Market-share

PalmInfoCenter has released new figures and data on the worldwide PDA market for 2003. The full story includes the figures for worldwide market-share as well as US retail figures for 2003. Palm Powered devices continued to lead both the world and U.S. market with 40% of the worldwide handheld market and 57% of all handhelds sold in the United States in 2003.