Wireless Archive

Access Co Ltd, a mobile browser and content delivery developer that recently acquired PalmSource, has acknowledged that the unit's Palm operating system has a limited future. Access instead appears ready to focus on Linux-based offerings, suggesting that Linux development opportunities were the reason behind its purchase of PalmSource after all. Update: Apparently the marketing/PR department of PalmSource got worked up at the CBR article. Maybe Access is too truthful for their taste?

Five years ago analysts were predicting that cellphones and PDAs will eventually merge. Many laughed at these predictions (especially PalmOS users of that time) but today we know that the future of PDAs already lies with smartphones. "Convergence" seems to be the key element of all new cellphones, even the ones that are not in the "smartphone" category: they all playback mp3 for example. It's obvious that convergence will move even further: music & video players and recorders will eventually give in much of their marketshare in favor of a one-device-does-it-all type of informational, entertainment & communication product. And Apple is definitely aware of this trend.

"The tc1100 is an incredibly powerful tool, and makes a terrific supplement to a desktop. The software side of the equation is also fairly solid, and actually quite useful, because of digital Ink, not handwriting recognition. Tablet PC is a killer app. Just don’t expect to throw your keyboard away just yet."

For all you .NET Compact Framework developers out there who are still wondering about what's coming up in the next release of Visual Studio and the .NET CF, here is a list of recent articles at Developer.com.

Mobile-review reviews a great product, the Sharp Zaurus SL-C3100, which only comes short on its lack of integrated WiFi & Bluetooth. Update: Another Zaurus review.

This phone could be placed by some as the most advanced smartphone to date (only some new, unreleased yet, PocketPC-phones come close in terms of features): Sony Ericsson announced the P990, based on Symbian 9.1. It supports UMTS, GSM/GPRS/3G, WiFi, Bluetooth, IrDA and it has an FM radio. It sports a 2.8" QVGA touchscreen, 80 MBs free storage, a 64 MB MemoryStickPRODuo (expandable to 4 GB), Blackberry Push Email, a QWERTY keyboard, and two cameras: a 2 MP on the back and a VGA on the front. For web browser it uses Opera 8.x.

Intrinsyc Software this week closed an $8.0 million (E6.8 million) financing round with Wellington Financial Fund II. The company plans to use the funds to accelerate development of a software stack for mid-range mobile phones - typically called feature-phones - based on Microsoft's Windows CE.

MS PressPass interviewed their own Pieter Knook about the now historic Palm-Microsoft alliance.

Microsoft has released three papers designed to help mobile application developers from other platforms migrate their applications to Windows Mobile. The first and second papers involve migrating developers and applications from Symbian OS and the third paper is a guide for developers moving from Palm OS.

Billed as the smallest personal computer available, OQO launched the second version of its pocketable pen-based computer system on Tuesday. Measuring in at 4.9" (12.4cm) long and 3.4" (8.6cm) high by just under an inch (2.5cm) thick and weighing 14 ounces (397g), the OQO Model 01+ is the tiniest commercially available system to be running a full version of Windows XP.

The wraps have been taken off of new Palm PDAs. The most notable one is the new Treo 700w: a 1.0 megapixel camera, EV-DO, Bluetooth, 64MB of memory, and, most notably, Windows Mobile 5.0. A new Zire (Z22) and Tungsten (TX) have also been revealed.

Earlier this month, much of the handheld world was stunned by the sudden announcement that PalmSource was being bought by Japan-based Access. It wasn't surprising that this company was being acquired, but most people had been expecting the buyer to be Palm.

"Wish to learn about C++ programming for Symbian devices? My site is a tutorial in form of a blog. Also with a more traditional tutorial that collects and organize the content of the blog."

Palm opened its first retail store in the Bay Area this week (Stanford, Palo Alto). OSNews was there today and we are sharing our quick look at it via pictures, here and here.