One of the first devices to combine mobile phone technology with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth wireless networking is the centerpiece
of Hewlett-Packard Co.'s (HP's) new lineup of iPaq personal digital assistants (PDAs), which the company is expected to announce
Monday.
The iPaq h6315 was developed in partnership with T-Mobile USA Inc. and allows users to make phone calls over T-Mobile's GSM/GPRS
(Global System for Mobile Communications/General Packet Radio Service) network. It can switch between those wide-area network
technologies and the LAN connections provided by Wi-Fi chips, and also use wireless peripherals equipped with Bluetooth technology,
said John Dayan, senior director of HP's handheld and wireless business.
Most analysts feel that the growth opportunities for PDA vendors lie in converged devices such as the h6315 that allow users
to run applications and communicate with the outside world on a single device, instead of forcing users to carry a PDA for
applications and information management in addition to a mobile phone. PalmOne Inc.'s Treo 600 was one of the first of these
converged devices to catch on with a mass market, and the h6315 takes the capabilities of that device one step further with
the ability to connect to 802.11b wireless networks.
This device is meant for business customers who are constantly moving between different operating environments, Dayan said.
Its suggested retail price of $599 is competitive with the Treo 600.
The h6315 comes with Texas Instruments Inc.'s OMAP1510 applications processor. It features 64MB of SDRAM (synchronous dynamic
RAM), 64MB of flash memory, a 3.5-inch transflective TFT (thin film transistor) display and an SDIO (Secure Digital I/O) expansion
slot.
HP is expected to announce four other iPaqs on Monday. The hx4700 will be one of HP's more powerful PDAs, with a 624MHz XScale
applications processor from Intel Corp. and a 4-inch VGA (640 pixels by 480 pixels) display, said Eric Kilponen, director
of product marketing for HP's handheld product business. The company envisions the $649 hx4700 as a mobile application development
platform, he said.
The h6315 and hx4700 are two of HP's most impressive devices to date, said Todd Kort, principal analyst with Gartner Inc.
in San Jose, California. "I expect they'll both do very well, given their price points," he said.
But HP missed a beat with its other three new PDAs, according to Kort. The new rz1700 and rx3000 series PDAs are a step backwards
for HP in terms of industrial design, an extremely important factor among PDA consumers, he said.
"The coolness factor is important. If they're going to spend $200 to $300 on a PDA, they want something they can impress their
friends with," Kort said.
The rz1700 is designed to replace the h1900 series of iPaqs, which is HP's current low-end PDA series, Kilponen said. HP was
unable to provide specifications at the moment, but it will cost $279, Kilponen said.
The rx3700 is designed as a multimedia handheld that downplays the information management capabilities that PDAs are generally
known for, Kilponen said. It comes with built-in Wi-Fi technology, Bluetooth and a 1.2-megapixel camera for $499, he said.
HP will also release the rx3115 later this year, but pricing and specifications were not available for that unit.
Dell Inc. should be able to gain some market share among these low-end PDAs with its new Axim X30 PDA, Kort said. Dell is
not known for industrial design, but its PDAs are very similar to the new HP models and cost significantly less, he said.
"(HP was) a step ahead of Dell, now they are similar with a generic design. Therefore it will be easier for people to look
at the Dell and HP specifications and say Dell is giving them a better deal," Kort said.
The h6315 will be available exclusively through T-Mobile in late August. The other three new models will become available
during the third quarter, HP said.
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