Palm Unveils New Handhelds
Palm on Wednesday introduced its two newest handhelds, bringing color to its low-end models as well as built-in Wi-Fi for its higher end models. However, noticeably different is the absence of brand names - the company has decided to do away with the Tungsten and Zire designations.
The Palm Z22, which would have formerly been part of the Zire family, is the first sub-$100 handheld from Palm with a color screen. The company said that the handheld has been built with the first-time user in mind in order to reach those reluctant to buy a PDA over fears of difficulty of use.
The company could be also trying to restart the PDA market, as the target consumers that once made companies like Palm profitable have moved on to smart phones and other connected devices.
The Palm TX handheld, meanwhile, will serve as the new entry point to Palm's top-of-the-line models. Also sporting a color screen, the TX has built in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Palm says it sees a large market for the device as Wi-Fi hotspots have become more popular and ubiquitous as of late.
"This is the wireless device customers have been waiting for. There is no other handheld on the market today with the same capabilities at the same affordable price," Ken Wirt, senior vice president of worldwide marketing for Palm, said in a statement.
The device's feature set compares favorably to the HP r1950, priced at $299 USD like the Palm TX, and the Dell X51, which retails for $399 USD.
Both Palms will run on "Garnet," which is Palm OS version 5.4.9.
Palm also announced on Wednesday that it had cut the price of the older Tungsten E2 handheld by $50 to $199 USD.