Palm Tungsten C rivals Pocket PC

Palm is attempting to play catch-up with its Pocket PC OEM rivals and to beat Microsoft’s timeline to give it the edge. Next month Palm Solutions Group will ship the Tungsten C, one month earlier than Microsoft’s next generation Pocket PC 2003 OS, code-named Ozone.

The Tungsten C will be the first Palm handheld with 64MB of memory, built-in IEEE 802.11b, a keyboard, and supposedly a six-hour battery life under full and constant usage with Wi-Fi and the display activated. Its browser will also support JavaScript.

But according to sources, Microsoft’s Ozone is merely a maintenance upgrade to take care of bugs. It will also offer an improved VPN client and may also include VOIP software. Microsoft will not increase the screen resolution nor provide a landscape mode, which will give the advantage to Palm, according to Todd Kort, principal analyst at Gartner Dataquest in San Jose, Calif. “Microsoft’s Mobility Group seems to be putting most of its resources into the Smartphone OS,” he said.

Kort said Microsoft is concerned that a handheld with too much power could cannibalize sales of laptops or Tablet PCs. “They can make as much as $500 on the sale of a laptop, if you count in Office. When they sell a PDA, it’s small beans,” said Kort.

On the software side, Palm SG in partnership with IBM will create a set of APIs to connect Palm’s VersaMail client directly to Domino Lotus Notes Server in May. Using DataViz’s Documents to Go Version 6, the device will have full Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint compatibility. Documents to Go will also open text and graphics when the attachment icon is tapped once.

On the consumer side, Palm will also introduce the Zire 71 priced at $299. The 71 ships with a built-in digital camera that uses the full handheld display as its viewfinder. The units will ship with Palm OS 5.2.1, a Texas Instruments OMAP 310 processor running at 144-MNHz, 16MB of memory, and built-in MP3 player. The Zire 71 is shipping now and the Tungsten C, priced at $499, will be available worldwide by May 5th.

Analysts report the products are needed to boost Palm’s position in a declining market. Worldwide handheld sales for the first quarter 2003 may have dropped by as much as 30 percent from 1st quarter 2002, according to Framingham, Mass.-based research group IDC.