Palm dominates the market for palmtop computers, but the failure of Palm-sized PCs running Microsoft's Windows CE operating system does not mean the battle is over. On April 19, Microsoft will return to the fray with a new system, the Windows Powered Pocket PC, and new hardware from partners such as Compaq, Casio and Hewlett-Packard.
This is partly the result of some creative renaming. The new software is really Windows CE version 3.0, and that's how it identifies itself. However, it is also the result of some creative reworking. No screen pixel from the original version has been left unchanged. The Pocket PC has a much cleaner and simpler interface, which makes it much easier to use.
Out of the box, the Pocket PC also offers far more power than Palm's machines. The Palm was designed as a personal information manager (PIM), whereas the Pocket PC is a multifunction, multimedia computer. It includes powerful email and web browsing programs, ClearType electronic book software, an MP3/Windows Media music player, a voice recorder and other facilities, including games.
Like the Handspring version of the Palm computer, Pocket PC handhelds will take plug-in cards that can include things like modems, network connections and barcode scanners; it could be used for Game Boy-style auto-run games. too. The Pocket PC slot is compatible with industry standard CompactFlash memory cards, and up to 340MB can be fitted into a handheld device.
Rogers Weed, director of marketing for Microsoft's mobile device division in Seattle, says "the PIM is the 'killer app' but customers expect more of these devices. All the top Palm [software] downloads are built into Pocket PC". While Windows CE offers things like Pocket Word and Excel, the Pocket PC software suite also includes Microsoft Money CE for tracking expenses and investments, Pocket Streets maps, and AvantGo software that provides "clipped" versions of web pages suitable for a small screen display. "The Pocket PC will define the state of the art in this category," says Weed.
Windows CE machines have always offered more features and functions than rivals, but have not been as easy to learn or as simple to use. However, Pocket PC now has a completely different interface that is "flat" and has had all the fussy, 3-D effects removed. Even the position of the Start button has changed. The result is that the Pocket PC interface is now faster, more elegant, and much easier to use.
Will it be enough?
Chris Letocq, principal analyst at US research company Dataquest and an expert in the mobile computing field, has reservations. He thinks there's a conflict between Microsoft's aim to design a business tool that fits into a corporate environment and its attempt to top Palm. "Palm's approach is to be the best organiser, and the Pocket PC's approach is to be the best subset of the PC, but you have to ask yourself if that's what people want," Letocq says.
For Microsoft, Weeks says: "We're trying to bring the power of the PC to the pocket. When you add it all up, that's where the market is heading."
People who use Microsoft's Outlook information manager on desktop PCs are desperately keen to have what Letocq calls "a roving version of Outlook", and Weeks says: "If you're an Outlook user, this is going to be the best device you can buy." Pocket PC's ActiveSync 3.1 software can synchronise automatically with a PC, without the user having to push a button.
Letocq agrees that Pocket PC "is a step up - the ability to handle meeting requests, the ability to view attachments - but it doesn't match the architecture in Outlook. You can't synchronise to folders and subfolders, so moving your Outlook structure across is going to be very difficult."
Letocq is also doubtful about the value of having a fully-fledged browser in a palmtop computer."It does a yeoman job," he says, "but it's an eyesight test for most users."
As always, buyers will decide the Pocket PC format's fate. Whether it will go down in history as one of the "technically superior" systems that users didn't choose remains to be seen.
