Toshiba updates Pocket PC with more flash memory

Toshiba American Information Systems’ new Pocket PC e750 series builds on the promise of the older e740 product that helped the company make strides in the handheld market despite a product recall.

The e740 PDA was Toshiba’s first unit with integrated 802.11b wireless connectivity, and the new e750 also comes with that technology. It also features 32MB of NAND flash memory dedicated to data storage, out of a total of 96MB of memory, said Craig Marking, senior product marketing manager for Toshiba.

Last October, Toshiba issued a recall of the e740 series to repair problems caused by the lack of flash memory dedicated for backup data storage in that device. A secondary battery that was included with the device to guarantee data integrity did not engage properly on some models when the main battery ran out of charge or was taken out of the device.

The majority of handhelds on the market come with flash memory to protect against this type of data loss, said Alan Liebovitch, an analyst with IDC in Mountain View, Calif. NAND memory is gaining acceptance as a cheaper flash memory solution that is also used in removable storage devices, such as Secure Digital or CompactFlash cards, he said.

Toshiba’s semiconductor division is also a big maker of NAND flash memory, and its handhelds would likely carry Toshiba flash memory, he said. Flash memory can store data without an electrical charge, similar to a PC’s hard drive.

Toshiba also added voice capability to the headphone jack of the e750 series, allowing the PDA to be used as a phone over VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) networks, with standard cell phone headsets.

The two models, the e750 and e755, cost $599 and are available as of Tuesday in the U.S. and Wednesday worldwide. The only differences between the two models are the inclusion of ArcSoft’s PhotoBase software on the e755 model, and the distribution channels for the devices. The e755 will be available at retail, while the e750 will be available through resellers, traditional channels, and Toshiba’s Web site at http://www.shoptoshiba.com

High-end PDAs have been a victim of the poor environment for hardware sales over the last few quarters. Palm, the leader in PDA shipment market share, lowered its third-quarter revenue estimates last week based on slow sales of its Tungsten T handheld. It cut the price of that PDA from $499 to $399 in February, but the cuts were not enough to stimulate demand.

Mobile professionals are willing to pay extra for PDAs such as the e740 and new e750 series because of the integrated 802.11b capability, Marking said.

However, users who wish to add wireless Internet connectivity to other handhelds can purchase wireless cards that fit into either Secure Digital or CompactFlash expansion slots for around $50 to around $80. This makes the price to upgrade these handhelds still arguably less than the cost of the new Toshiba devices.

Toshiba has done relatively well in growing its market share from virtually nothing a few years ago to about 3.7 percent of worldwide shipments in 2002, according to a recent study from Dataquest.