Previous Palm devices have run on the Palm OS alone. Palm said it will also launch three new products before the end of the year with multiple carriers in Canada. While the Treo 700wx is now available on Bell’s high-speed mobile network, 1xEv-DO, Telus should be on board within the next couple of weeks. Palm also plans to bridge the gap between business and consumer products, said Michael Moskowitz, Palm Inc.’s vice-president of Americas.
“Differentiation is absolutely key,” he said. “The next step for us is expanding the addressable market.” Palm will attempt to replicate its business strategy outside of the U.S. and partner with global operators, including Bell and Telus in Canada. Where Microsoft was once a competitor, it’s now a partner.
Canada is one of the fastest growing markets for converged mobile devices, said Moskowitz, and in 2007 they will outpace the sale of handsets. Palm expects 25 per cent growth in Canada over the next five years for converged mobile devices. “We expect this market to accelerate following this launch,” he said.
Faster networks are driving this technology, such as 1xEv-DO. There are also 130 million Microsoft Exchange users around the world, and the Treo 700wx will provide access to all Microsoft applications, including Word, Excel and PowerPoint – with no middleware component involved. Since only 10 per cent of those users access e-mail wirelessly, said Moskowitz, the addressable market is the other 90 per cent of those users.
The work world is changing, said Microsoft Canada president Phil Sorgen, and employees need to access back-end infrastructure on mobile devices.
“It starts with software that is familiar to use,” he said. Microsoft’s mobile platform is also open to OEMs; today, there are more than 18,000 applications available for Mobile 5.0.
Microsoft is also evolving that platform, and this is where a partnership with its former competitor comes in. The two companies, as former rivals, pushed each other to innovate.
This changing environment means there will be a lot of losers, said Peter Skillman, senior director of new product development for Palm. Carriers face a significant challenge as they try to amortize networks, he said, and subscriber growth is slowing.
Users haven’t taken advantage of their networks, but they haven’t had easy access to those networks. “We need to make it accessible so people can get to this,” said Skillman. “Product returns are a significant part of overall business loss incurred because some people just don’t get how to use it.” To fight that, Palm’s Butler service is designed to encourage users to call a live person for support.