Palm introduces two new PDAs today
by Volker Weber
Palm has two new handhelds that are really great. Tungsten C, 400 MHz (!), 64 MB, WiFi, keyboard, no Bluetooth however. And a new Zire 71 with fix focus VGA camera, 144 MHz and 16 MB.
Man, I have been NDA'ed for weeks now on this. :-)
Comments
Hmm - I really feel 350 Euro for the Zire 71 is too much - what I'd like is a Zire with the same spec, but without the camera... and for under 200 Euro.
I'd guess I'm not alone if you compare how the Zire and the Tungsten have both sold in the past.
<speculation> Palm has 4 "new" machines. The Zire at 100, the Zire 71 at 300, the Tungsten T at 400 and the Tungsten C at 500 (plus tax). There is an all to obvious gap at 200. If you read my interview with Todd Bradley you will notice between the lines that Palm will eventually fill that gap.
The Tungsten W is a different story. That is an "old" machine, due to the fact that it has to pass lengthy tests with the carriers. I would assume that there is a new one in the pipe already. Also, in a way the Zire is "old" (33MHz Dragonball), so one can speculate that there must be two new machines coming up below the Zire 71.</speculation>
For now let's look at the machines that just came out. I have had both in my hand, and they have an incredibly good screen. You have to see it to believe it. And I am sure that I am a Tungsten man. Want one now. :-)
Good question, how has the Zire sold in the past, what, 6 months? The some 120 bucks (Cdn) device has sold very poorly here as far as I home; personally, what kept me from even finding this thing attractive was the feeble 2mb of memory, and no upgrade possibilities. 2mb.. now let's see, that'd be just enough as a smart-media card for my camera, else than that, I don't see how that makes a crippled PDA cheap&fun.
I have numbers that prove it has sold exceptionally well here. The Tungsten did not sell very well, most likely due to its premium price.
I have used an IBM Workpad c3 with 2 meg for years and I hardly ever used the second meg. Only in the beginning when I installed lots of b/s I never used. So there ...
Well, I got an m100 when they came out... 2 Meg too. And I was coming from an IBM Workpad also, though that was the REALLY old one, the equivalent of the Palm Pilot Professional, which was one meg. I haven't hit a memory limit yet, but I don't install reams of e-books, games or AvantGo content, so I guess that's why.
