FRAMINGHAM (02/23/2000) - Palm Inc. released its first color-screen handheld, the Palm IIIc, today. But corporate users are expected to show more interest in another handheld computer debuting today, the Palm IIIxe, with its new security and user functions and even an add-on portable keyboard.
"I wouldn't care as much about a color screen," said Alex Hu, senior technology officer at The Chase Manhattan Bank in New York.
"We're more interested in getting data on handhelds" and not color graphics, said Hu, who uses a Palm V for tracking contact information and reading e-mail.
Chase Manhattan has assigned a technical committee to consider ways to use handheld computers as a mainstream "business productivity tool," rather than just accommodating users who buy them on their own and take them to work.
The IIIc, which sells for $449 and features a 256-color display, will make a bigger impact on consumers, analysts said. So far, the biggest-selling color-display handhelds in the U.S. are Windows CE machines, which are made by several companies. Even the smallest are somewhat larger than the IIIc, analysts said.
Palm, a subsidiary of 3Com Corp. in Santa Clara, Calif., has long sought the enterprise market. It described the $249 IIIxe as ideal for customers working with many applications or large data needs. It will replace the IIIx.
Several business users and analysts called the following features of the IIIxe the most impressive:
Doubling of standard memory to 8MB.
Doubling of synchronization speed to 115K bit/sec. in a physical cradle.
Software-upgradeable flash ROM for compatibility with future versions of Palm software.
A security feature that allows users to mask an individual entry by using a password. Earlier Palm machines allow password protection only when the machine is turned on, but users widely ignore it, analysts said.
An agenda view in the user interface, allowing users to see appointments and a to-do list in one screen.
Access to menu views with a simple tap at the top of the screen, rather than using a button command.
Availability of a QWERTY portable keyboard for $99. It folds up to nearly the same size as the Palm IIIxe. It's approximately the size of a 3- by 5- in. index card, one-quarter inch thick.
Of all the improvements, Hu said the portable keyboard is most important to him. "If my users were ever issued handhelds, they'd never want to write in Palm's Graffiti (a handwriting recognition tool) if they could have a keyboard instead," he said.
The security enhancement also sounds important, Hu said.
But analyst Ken Dulaney at Gartner Group Inc. in Stamford, Conn., questioned the value of password protecting a single entry or file.
Rather than worrying about somebody stealing a handheld from a user for its files, the bigger security concern is "what data can be taken off a corporate server with a handheld," he said.
Tim Scannell, an analyst at Mobile Insights Inc. in Quincy, Mass., said the security improvement "will appeal to the security needs of the enterprise."
Meanwhile, Scannell said the color version is attractive, but the images aren't bright and clear enough to be used by a salesperson showing products. But Dulaney said the display is readable and will be good enough to prevent users from migrating to a color Windows CE device.
A $149 snap-on digital camera from Eastman Kodak Co. in Rochester, N.Y., will be available for the IIIc in late March and could be valuable for mobile insurance or real estate agents, analysts said.
However, Scannell said the latest innovations clutter the functions of the Palm platform, which has captured 80% of the handheld market. "Palm has done well just because it is simple, and it should know its limitations," he said.