Nuggets: Xircom goes for Win CE... Don't ask?

Win CE to be king -- honest...

A strange Nugget this, bear with us, could be interesting...

According to connectivity company Xircom, Windows CE-based PDAs are what corporates want their staff to use. Based on this claim, which seemed to be based on nothing more than anecdotal evidence, Xircom on Thursday launched its CompactCard family of Type II PC cards, designed specifically for the handheld PC market -- the catch is they only work with Windows CE 2.0 devices.

To be fair Xircom did cite IDC's recent survey which suggests that by 2000 Microsoft's Windows CE operating system will hold 48.3 percent market share worldwide in handheld computers. Battling hard to be heard over the laughter from assembled hacks, Nicky Sowell customer marketing manager at Xircom explained that the new family of cards had a bright future on the CE platform. Debates over which OS will win the handheld war will no doubt rage among geeks the world over. In the meantime, if you are that unidentified corporate bloke using WinCE, Xircom's got loads of goodies for you (oh and an email to ZDNet would be appreciated, just so we know who you are...)

Here's an overview of the announcement:

10MBps Ethernet card will come first followed by usual raft of modem/wireless cards -- a GSM card is expected by Q3 99. A Bluetooth card is expected by the first half of 2000 -- details remain thin. The Ethernet card costs £149.00. Are you a corporate user of handheld PCs? Is CE the way to go or has IDC/Xircom become a victim of Microsoft's brainwashing?

Tell the Mail Room and we'll publish your comments by Tuesday.