We just blogged about how the Windows Mobile 5 based Palm Treo 700w is being launched sometime in January, however, our friends over at Engadget are reporting a rumor that it will be launched on January 5th. Supposedly you will be able to pick up a Treo 700w for $619.99 with no contract, $549.99 with a one year contract, or $499.99 with a two year contract from Verizon.
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Rumor has it that the release of the Palm Treo 700w could just be a few weeks away. In fact Palm has actually acknowledged that the device’s name, at least the Verzion model that will be launched initially, is indeed the Treo 700w.
Next to the BlackBerry, the Treo is probably the second most recognizable PDA / Mobile Phone / Wireless email device and is widely popular among individual consumers as compared to the corporate and government dominance of the BlackBerry. The Treo 700w has features that are noticeably lacking on BlackBerry devices such as a SDslot for external memory and hardware expansion cards, a 1 mega-pixel digital camera, and the ability to play MP3s.
Research in Motion has recently updated the BlackBerry homepage and has clearly separated the site into a business section for corporations and an individual section for consumers. One can only assume that RIM wants to take share away from Palm on the consumer side of things. If we are lucky, we will start to see some of these additional features present on most non-BlackBerry devices on a consumer grade BlackBerry where corporate security isn’t as great a concern.
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We have known for a while now that Palm is releasing a new device that runs Windows Mobile 5 called the Treo 700w and that the Treo 650 will support BlackBerry Connect that will allow you to use your Palm OS based Treo to connect to your corporate BlackBerry implementation. What we didn’t know was that Palm is releasing a mid-market Treo that will be somewhere in the $200 price range later next year.
This makes a lot of sense because I think that the market for mobile email capable devices with QWERTY keyboards is going to grow very fast very soon. Teenagers and young adults use email and instant messaging more than they use landline phones. When this segment of the market looks to buy mobile gear, devices with email and IM capability that are in the same range as your standard mobile phone will be very attractive.
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Can the Sprint PPC 6700 compete with BlackBerry? I think that it depends on the type of user. Diehard BlackBerry users probably would never switch, nor would business users connect to the company’s corporate BES. What about new users who want a PDA/phone that you can get your email on?
If you were in a Sprint Store with $400 or $500 dollars or so, burning a hole in my pocket and you wanted the latest and greatest PDA phone out there, how would BlackBerry match up with a PPC 6700? Now, lets pretend that you aren’t already a CrackBerry addict and that you are not hooking this up to your corporate BES. You just want a really cool cell phone that you can get email on.
As you are looking, you first come across a BlackBerry 7250 and then you come across a PPC 6700. What do you buy? Take a look at the specs of a PPC 6700 before you answer…
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Yesterday we heard the rumor that Exchange 2003 SP2 could be released today. Today we know that the rumor was true. Exchange 2003 Service Pack 2 has been released.
If you remember, two months ago to the day I told you that I was just a bit worried Research in Motion. Since that day RIM has inked some partnerships, made some announcements, and released new hardware that have subsided those worries to some extent, however, I am really anxious to see how how the market and how the boys up in Ontario react to the Microsoft threat in the coming months.
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The Rumor of the Day according to Pocket PC Thoughts is that Exchange 2003 Service Pack 2 is about to be released. The words they use exactly are that the release is imminent and could come as early as tomorrow. This news is important to the BlackBerry community because SP2 adds push email capability, similar to that found on the BlackBerry, to Windows Mobile 5.0 powered mobile devices that have the Messaging & Security Feature Pack installed.
BlackBerry competitors have been coming out for years with the title “BlackBerry Killer” and one after the other, have continually and predictably failed to meet the bill. Exchange 2003 SP2 gives many of these so called BlackBerry killers an huge advantage however. SP2 is free.
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Cingular will soon announce the availability of the Ipaq hw6515, another smartphone in a long list of supposed BlackBerry Killers, and rumor has it that this dog won’t hunt. It was initially thought that by the time the hw6515 was released in the U.S., there would be an update to Windows Mobile 5, howerver, Pocket PC Thoughts reports that because of ROM limitations, the hw6515 will never support the OS that was supposed to make it a BlackBerry Killer in the first place.
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Engadget, has the Exclusive first look at the Palm Treo 700w. I know that it is not a BlackBerry but it is definately something that we should talk about as it will be one of the first Windows Mobile 5.0 devices available in the U.S.
Rumors of a Windows Mobile powered Palm device have been floating around for months. Rumors of BlackBerry Connect for the Treo have been floating around as well. From the photos of the Palm Treo 700w it would appear that Verizon will carry the device. One can only hope that Verizon will offer BlackBerry Connect Service as well.
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The BlackBerry Killer tag is really starting to get old these days, especially on devices that have absolutely no shot, in North America at least, at dethroning Research in Motion’s BlackBerry. This is not to say that the Orange SPV M5000 Windows Mobile 5 PDA/phone isn’t a cool device. It will just probably never be released in the U.S. (Note to self: Write an article about why the U.S. and Canada never get the really cool phones until they are so old that they are not cool anymore)
The latest in the long ling of BlackBerry Killers is the SPV M5000 from Orange. It’s a Windows Mobile 5 powered phone that combines 3G, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth with a fold out keyboard and a mega-pixel digital camera. It also has:
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