News

FCC approves HP iPAQ hw6500

The FCC has approved an anonymous HTC-built PocketPC phone for sale in the United States. While the name and front side of the unit are concealed due to a confidentiality request, the photos of the back casing match perfectly to the expected iPAQ hw6500 mobile phone/messaging device.

FCC filing site

GSPDA claims they will release first Palm OS Cobalt device

Over the weekend, a marketing manager of Asian Palm/phone maker GSPDA met with a Palm OS users' group in Paris. During the meeting, he was asked whether his company intended to release a Cobalt-based smartphone. After a moment's hesitation, the GSPDA envoy replied that they would be the first manufacturer to release a Palm OS Cobalt smartphone, and that they would do so before the end of the year.

This story needs to be taken with several large bags of salt. For one thing, with converged devices, ten months in advance might as well be ten years. The mentioned model--assuming it's more than a scribble on a cocktail napkin--may never make it to market for one reason or another; other models announced a similar amount of time before their own projected release have usually died on the vine. Even if GSPDA does make a Cobalt model, the likelihood of it being released in North America or Europe is next to zero.

Last but not least, don't forget that this comment was made by the marketing manager. Product announcements and deadlines set by marketing departments are notoriously unreliable--it was, after all, a marketing-inspired deadline that resulted in the premature 'release' debacle that is the Palm OS Cobalt story thus far.

Samsung i730 likely to be released in mid-March

Recent conversations with Samsung have resulted in strong hints on the part of the company's representatives that Samsung intends to announce the release of the i730 PocketPC phone at the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association trade show in mid-March. This is consistent with earlier reports we've heard concerning a possible mid-to-late March release date for the i730 on Verizon Wireless.

SPOT service adds local content

From SPOTstop.com:

Microsoft has launched a new content channel to bring more localized content to SPOT watches with an MSN Direct subscription. The new channel is powered by Citysearch and covers most cities (no Canadian cities) supported by MSN Direct. The new content is available under the Calendar channel and will take up 75 Storage blocks.

http://www.spotstop.com/default.asp?newsID=118