MS details Palm PC plan, names OEMs
The company today showed off its Palm PC (P/PC) plan and played an ace by naming seven OEMs who will support the blueprint: Philips, Casio, FIC, LG Electronics, Samsung, Uniden and Palmax Technology. Products are expected to ship later this but OEMs will receive complete code by April, according to Microsoft.
Palm PCs will typically use a pen as the primary means of input and will closely resemble 3Com-USR's PalmPilot tablet design. Units will be based on a modified version of Windows CE 2.0 and sport a CompactFlash slot for attaching peripherals. Software will include the Pocket Outlook organiser and calendar, plus tools for voice recording, offline Web browsing and jotting down notes
"Palm PCs bring users everything they'd get from a connected organiser, but they also enable people to access e-mail with attachments, create and access voice recordings, view Web content offline and use multiple input methods," said Anne Mitchard, group marketing manager for Windows and Internet products at Microsoft.
According to reports in the Wall Street Journal, PalmPilot maker 3Com-USR is already protesting the naming of the device.