Handheld computer mart to grow 43%

The world market for handheld computers is projected to grow by a whopping 43 percent next year compared to this year, with promising markets such as the Philippines taking the lead.

According to Daren Ng, sales director of Palm Inc. for South Asia, Australia, and New Zealand, the handheld market is exploding and is just beginning to hit the general public.

Estimates by the International Data Corp. (IDC) show that from seven million units this year, the handheld market will increase to almost 10 million units next year.

The growth of the handheld computing market is due largely to the fact that the nature of information management is becoming ever more mobile. "Palm believes that handheld computing products are the next wave in individual productivity tools for the workforce," Ng said.

Palm also believes that the market has grown by leaps and bounds due to the transformation of the corporate environment into an extended, virtual enterprise supported by a highly mobile, geographically dispersed workforce requiring fast, easy remote access to networked resources and electronic communications.

Palm Inc. accounted for 70.4 percent of the worldwide handheld market last year and Ng expects its share of the market to increase further this year. Palm is the leading global provider of personal companion handheld computing devices in the United States, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region and is a pioneer in the field of mobile and wireless Internet solutions.

In 1997, the handheld market was only two million units. In just four years, the market is expected to grow by 400 percent.

Ng was in the country to launch Palm’s newest product – the low-cost Palm m100 handheld computer which is targetted towards the broader mass market which includes students, women, on-the-go consumers, and younger mobile workers. It will sell at an estimated street price of P7,199.The new model allows users to customize and personalize their units through colorful removal faceplates which comes in five colors, as well as other accessories and peripherals such as replaceable flip covers, colorful cases, which will be launched end of this year.

Handheld products, such as those of Palm, basically include a personal information management software which in turn includes a date book, address book, to-do list and memos, calculator and games.

Palm’s products include an expense management software, note-taking applications (handwritten), and infrared beaming capabilities, which allows two Palm handheld units to transfer information by simply pointing to each other.

It also includes the HotSync technology which is an open architecture that allows fast and easy syncronization of data – including all contact, scheduling, e-mail, and other personal information – between Palm OS platform products and a personal computer, networked computer or Apple Macintosh.

Users can therefore take advantage of e-mail support for leading e-mail applications including Eudora, Lotus cc: Mail, Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft Outlook 97 and 2000, Windows Messaging, and other POP3 Internet e-mail.

Palm is also working with a number of companies to further handheld computing technology in the future. For instance, it is cooperating with Sun Microsystems to integrate Java into the Palm OS software.

According to Ng, the success of Palm lies partly to its world-class licensees which include IBM, Sony, Motorola, Nokia, Qualcomm, and 3Com, to name a few.

Based on the Palm operating system platform, Palm’s handheld solutions allow people to carry and access their most critical information with them wherever they go. The Palm OS platform is also the foundation for products from Palm’s licensees and strategic partners, which also include Cresenda Wireless, ePocrates Inc., Franklin Covey, Handspring, Symbol Technologies, and TRG.

Palm’s stock is traded on the Nasdaq national market under the symbol Palm.

Ng also encouraged Philippine companies to develop applications for Palm, which can include localization of the applications, such as a notepad that can read Filipino or any other language.

As of Sept. 2000, more than 100,000 developers have registered to create solutions for the Palm OS platform, of which nearly 5,000 software titles and dozens of developer tools and services are already available.

Right now, Palm has in the market the Palm III series, which includes the Palm IIIc – priced at P19,000, and the Palm 5 series (Palm Vx) priced also at P19,000.

Palm also launched yesterday the newest member of its Palm III series – the Palm IIIxe – which will be sold at a suggested retail price of P12,000.

Palm Inc. was founded in 1992 and acquired by US Robotics Corp. in 1995. In 1996, Palm introduced the Pilot 1000 and Pilot 5000 products that led the resurgence of handheld computing. In June 1997, it became a subsidiary of 3Com Corp. when US Robotics was acquired by the former.