Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Mobile Data OS Battle Reaches New Form Factors

From: [email-masked]
Date: Mon, 13 Oct 2003 10:07:05 -0400

Mobile Data OS Battle Reaches New Form Factors

Palm [Nasdaq: PALM] believes it has solved a key problem in making mobile data
usage more convenient. The brand most commonly linked to the PDA revolution says
growing data usage depends on the display screen sizes as much as anything.

Palm's introduction this month of a Bluetooth-enabled PDA, the Tungsten T3, which
sports a larger display screen, is among recent developments in PDA and smartphone
hardware and software Wireless Data News expects will boost mobile data usage
worldwide, and help grow revenues from service and technology providers.

Other activity in the mobile device OS space includes a new entrant, Radixs, which
expects to change the fundamental shape of smartphones. Also, the Symbian OS
venture incurred a loss recently. Motorola [NYSE: MOT] sold its stake in Symbian,
then immediately released its first handset equipped with Microsoft's [Nasdaq:
MSFT] rival PocketPC platform.

New Use Of Existing Space

In addition to expanding the display screen on its new model, Palm targets the
business sector with the latest iteration of its PDA OS--Palm OS 6, which will
ship later this year. When it comes to screen size, Palm engineers moved toward
making room for a larger PDA screen by incorporating a slide-down function on the
faceplates of two models already launched by the company. Moving the slide
activates the embedded camera on the Zire 71 model, and it reveals the keypad on
the Tungsten T2 model. Using this same real estate for a larger display screen
instead would make the device more useful for various functions.

"We wanted to have a rectangular display, but we didn't want to make it bigger,"
Stephane Maes, senior wireless product manager for Palm's Consumer Markets Group,
tells WDN. "Basically, that was the problem."

Palm expects the larger rectangular screens will solve many problems for mobile
data users. Looking at spreadsheets, for instance, works better with the documents
aligned horizontally on a screen rather than vertically. Likewise, when wirelessly
accessing such data as streaming video, a rectangular screen will appeal to more
users. The Tungsten T3 also incorporates software that automatically alters
content for horizontal or vertical display as well as condensing material viewed
on a handheld device.

The T3 screen not only is larger than those available from competitors, it also
supports higher resolution. It is the first Palm device with 320 x 480
pixel-resolution color screens. Other Tungsten models have 320 x 320 displays,
while the top models from competing players offer 320 x 240 resolution.
The T3 doesn't support voice service or direct connectivity to mobile networks,
but its Bluetooth component links it for mobile data services through
Bluetooth-enabled handsets. It also is the first Palm device to support Java,
which include the largest selection of applications. Providing higher resolution
displays on a larger screen without stretching the size of the device combined
with offering an application selection enhanced by Java support creates a package
Palm hopes mobile users, particularly road warriors, will find hard to resist. "We
look at these people as very style-conscious people, people who like pull a
product out of their pocket or handbag so other people know that they are using
the latest device," Maes says.

Really Different Devices

Chances are people using devices built with Radixs' MXI software will attract more
than a few second glances. The Singapore-based company, started in 1999 by CEO R.
"Chandra" Chandrasekar and CTO Sam Hon Kong Lum, next month plans to have mobile
devices and network servers made with its software ready for market trials.
Chandrasekar tells WDN that market-volume distribution of MXI-enabled GSM/GPRS
phones should begin in 1Q04, when the company also will be ready to install its
server software for carriers.

Radixs won't be the manufacturer providing handheld devices to carriers, but it is
doing more than simply licensing its OS to hardware vendors; it is intimately
involved in the design of those products. The devices will be larger than most
handsets but smaller than most PDAs, and they will be conducive for using games
and other data applications without making voice usage an afterthought. "The form
factor is important because it's a device that is small and fits in your palm as
opposed to being a PDA, which have been bulky and hard to carry around,"
Chandrasekar describes.

While Radixs aims to change the shape of mobile devices, it conforms to the
industry's practice of not disclosing the device players with whom it is working
or the carriers with which it expects to launch service. Chandrasekar says
handsets with MXI software should be available for around $200, and the first
carriers using Radixs products it will be an Asia Pacific player and an operator
with a global presence.

"The proposition of MXI is that we enable full-fledged desktop applications
written for Windows, Java, Linux and Palm on mobile devices without
redevelopment," Chandrasekar says.
MXI software is needed both in devices and in network servers for several reasons:

to enable standalone usage of applications on devices, to use on networks through
servers for access to and storage of data, and for real-time, multi-user functions
like games and conferencing.
The company reasons that pairing its device and server software, instead of
enabling its client software to work with other companies' server software, is
necessary to support myriad applications. "The killer app that we've all been
going for is no longer a killer app, but a killer platform because the killer app
for different market segments is completely different," Chandrasekar posits.

Radixs will collect per-unit royalties from manufacturers that use its software,
and it will ask for a slice of carriers' subscription revenues linked to customers
using MXI- enabled phones. Chandrasekar says that despite wireless service
providers' reluctance to share service revenues, he doesn't expect resistance to
paying monthly fees of roughly $5 to Radixs for every customer using MXI-enabled
features. "They are not paying us any upfront costs in relation to provisioning of
services, so we are sharing the risks and we are only getting the revenues when
they bring the customer onboard," Chandrasekar explains.
>>Stephane Maes, [email-masked]; Chandra Chandrasekar,

[email-masked]<<

http://www.telecomweb.com/wirelessdata/feature.htm

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