News

PalmOne withdraws from Chinese handheld market

PalmOne has closed its representative office in Shanghai, China, and withdrawn its products from the Chinese market, according to an article from the China Business Post republished by Forbes magazine. The move is supposedly temporary, but it's no secret that PalmOne hasn't been making a lot of headway in the Chinese market versus local manufacturers such as Acer and GSPDA. It wouldn't surprise me if they're abandoning the Asian market entirely in order to concentrate resources on trying to hold the North American and European markets, following a brutal third quarter in which PocketPCs outsold Palm OS devices for the first time.

Verizon PocketPC Phone with Bluetooth, EvDO

Still not official, but we may be a little closer to Verizon's launch of the HTC Harrier PocketPC phone. Verizon enthusiast site VZWinfo.com quotes sources at Audiovox as saying that the Verizon version of the Harrier will be sold under the designation XV6600.

http://www.vzwinfo.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=441

New MS Smartphones from Samsung

From the company that invented bipolar market saturation, there are now two more Samsung smartphones. The new SCH-i640 and i645 feature SDIO slots, Microsoft's Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition for Smartphones, and come with or without a camera depending on choice of model. The markings shown in the leaked photos indicate that the i640/i645 will be launching on the Verizon network. No details on release date, but knowing Verizon's policy regarding new technology, look for it sometime in the Spring of 2010.

Bluetooth 2.0 spec announced

The Bluetooth Special Interest Group has formalized the Bluetooth 2.0 specification. The most notable improvement is that the SIG has made Enhanced Data Rate, or EDR, a part of the core specification rather than an optional addition as it was in Bluetooth 1.2. EDR is supposed to deliver three times the current bandwidth of Bluetooth when connected to another EDR device. 

As always, don't expect to see this in new devices any time soon. It will take manufacturers a while before the new spec makes its way into the real world.

http://www.bluetooth.com/