“Taking this all together, I had just about given up hope that there would ever be any more Axims. Then I spied something in IDC’s most recent report on the world handheld market: The company [Dell] has finished phasing out some of the older models from its portfolio and is concentrating on developing the Axim X51 platform with faster processors and more memory. I couldn’t get anyone outside of IDC to confirm this, but it still was enough to renew my faith. It’s mighty lite on specifics, but at least there’s some solid evidence that we can expect new Pocket PCs from Dell at some point in the future.”

Like many, I assumed that Dell would eventually close out the X51 series and exit the PDA space. Ed Hardy of Brighthand has some intriguing thoughts on why Dell hasn’t released a new device yet and why they may be about to in the coming months.

No this isn’t spam.

Microsoft is holding a promotion offering a free DVD copy of Windows Vista Business and/or Microsoft Office Professional 2007. What do you have to do to get them? Register at www.powertogether.com and just sit through 3 webcasts or virtual labs for each product! The offer expires Feb 28, 2007, and among other things is open to legal residents of the United States only. I’m not eligible unfortunately. Supplies are limited, so get’em while they’re hot.

For more information, you can read more about this offer in these JKOnTheRun blog entries here and here.

“Nikkei Trendy’s December issue includes its annual countdown of products that made it big in Japan. The editors of this comprehensive tech/trend-tracking magazine made their picks from various genres of consumer products–electronics, books, food, Web sites, McDonalds seasonal menu items–that went on sale between October 2005 and September 2006.”

Weighing in at number five, the Sharp W-Zero3 is a sleek-looking converged device which runs Windows Mobile 5, offers a VGA touchscreen, built-in 1.3 megapixel camera, slider-keyboard, USB-host capabilities and takes mini-SD cards. Might be what you’re looking for…if you’re willing to move to Japan to use it. Looks like it only works on the Japanese PHS network right now. Check out the specs here.

“Check Point® Software Technologies Ltd., the worldwide leader in securing the Internet, today announced the availability of SecureClient? Mobile, a new mobile security solution that gives Windows Mobile device users secure, uninterrupted remote access to enterprise e-mail and critical business applications. A lightweight, purpose-built client for Windows Mobile powered devices, SecureClient Mobile maintains continuous and transparent VPN connectivity with Check Point VPN-1® and Connectra? gateways when roaming across networks, and eliminates the need for end-users to re-authenticate.”

I can’t believe we missed this announcement two weeks ago. The roaming capability of the new client looks particularly good; any Check Point readers here who have tried it and know if it seamlessly roams between WiFi and cellular networks? That alone brings the Pocket PC into a new market of usability. The price is $40/device for a perpetual license.

‘Frank’, Microsoft’s front man for its new Windows Mobile ad campaign, gets a thorough going over by dogs, beavers and snakes, while keeping his hairdo straight and sending email. Wish I had that kind of dedication. Have a look at the outtakes at the bottom of the page, they’re better than the ads. MS has also given the Windows Mobile website a nice facelift - IMHO, the old version was a little disorganised. The new version is more tightly focused and should be of greater help to newbies.

“The use of devices, such as Griffin’s “iTrip”, was banned in the UK as their transmissions can interfere with broadcasts by legal radio stations. However, the device and other similar accessories for MP3 players have been widely available online. Now certain FM transmitters, which can be tuned to spare frequencies, will be legal from 8 December. The new amendments will also reflect a European standard on the low-power transmitters. All approved transmitters will carry a CE mark indicating approval for sale in the European Union.”

A law dating back to WWII has prevented the legal use of low-power FM transmitters in the UK. Now, a change in the Exemptions to the Wireless Telegraphy Regulations makes them legal as long as they carry the CE mark. Though this FAQ doesn’t reflect the new ruling, it does give a little insight into continued restrictions by the UK Office of Communication even after the new exemptions. If you live in the UK, did you even realize while you could legally purchase one, it was illegal to use it?

“Parents and teachers are forcing some schools to dismantle wireless computer networks amid fears that they could damage children’s health.
More schools are putting transmitters in classrooms to give pupils wireless access from laptops to the school computer network and the internet. But many parents and some scientists fear that low levels of microwave radiation emitted by the transmitters could be harmful, causing loss of concentration, headaches, fatigue, memory and behavioural problems and possibly cancer in the long term. Scientific evidence is inconclusive, but some researchers think that children are vulnerable because of their thinner skulls and developing nervous systems.”

Are they serious? I’ve never seen any studies showing this can happen. I know there is still some question about whether cell phones can cause problems, but those are held up to your head. Millions of people around the world have wireless networks in their homes, and millions more have cordless phones that operate on similar frequencies. Gaming systems have wireless controllers, portable gaming systems have wireless links. Some of the symptoms described make it sound more like these schools are built on top of former nuclear dumping grounds rather than just having some wireless access points distributed around the halls.

“Cell phone owners will be allowed to break software locks on their handsets in order to use them with competing carriers under new copyright rules announced Wednesday…The new rules will take effect Monday and expire in three years. In granting the exemption for cell phone users, the Copyright Office determined that consumers aren’t able to enjoy full legal use of their handsets because of software locks that wireless providers have been placing to control access to phones’ underlying programs. Providers of prepaid phone services, in particular, have been trying to stop entrepreneurs from buying subsidized handsets to resell at a profit. But even customers of regular plans generally can’t bring their phones to another carrier, even after their contracts run out.”

This seems to be talking about phones that are SIM-locked so that only a SIM from the carrier you purchased the phone from will work. In the case of GSM phone users, this means you could stick any SIM in the phone and it would work on that carrier’s service, similar to buying an unlocked phone in the first place. CDMA users won’t be so lucky, at least in the US. I have seen no evidence that Sprint or Verizon would be willing to activate a phone on their network that didn’t come from one of their stores. Additionally, this says nothing of the charge that a carrier like Cingular or T-Mobile would charge to give you the unlock code, only that they will have to provide it.

“”We’ve learned and struggled for a few years here figuring out how to make a decent phone,” Ed Colligan apparently laughed about with John Markoff last Thursday morning. “PC guys are not going to just figure this out. They’re not going to just walk in.”

Uhm….. Ok. There are a few flaws with Mr. Colligan’s reasoning. First of all, the PC guys did figure it out. That is why Windows Mobile has been kicking PalmOS all over the playground for the past two years and why Palm, Inc. decided to run Windows Mobile on their most advanced line of Treo devices. And while the Treo design has been good to Palm, it isn’t like a Porsche 911 that can largely retain the same look for 30 years. Porsche kept putting substantive changes in the engine compartment, drive train and suspension. The Treo is far from leading the pack in either design or specifications.

I am not an Apple fan at all, but when, in the last 10 years, has Apple launched a product line that just flopped? If I had to take a guess at what will happen, I’d say Steve Jobs will announce a compelling device for music fans, with an array of online features, and will have some serious backing. The only laughing Mr. Colligan should be engaging in is nervous laughter.

“Runcom Technologies, Ltd disclosed today at the Telecom Israel 2006 conference that they have recently signed a collaboration agreement with Microsoft to develop Windows Mobile compatible drivers for the Runcom solution, with the goal of making Mobile WiMAX a mass market technology with “Plug and Play” capabilities. Runcom solution, based on their WiMAX chipset, will allow users of mobile devices running the Pocket PC platform of Windows Mobile 5.0 to connect to Mobile WiMAX networks simply by inserting Mobile WiMAX CF or USB card without the need to install or download any drivers.”

For those of you following the progression of WiMax / WiBro technologies, you may delight to hear that the needs of our current Pocket PC contingency are being planned for with regards to the next generation of wireless data communications. The actual press release is in PDF format and can be obtained from the linked page.

“HTC, the world’s leading provider of Windows Mobile® devices, today announced its decision to launch a range of HTC products in the Middle East region. HTC is well known in the industry as the company behind many of the most popular operator branded devices. It has established unique partnerships with key mobile brands, including leading operators in Europe, the US, and Asia. The HTC P4350, the HTC P3600, and the HTC S620 will be introduced by HTC at the Gulf Information Technology Exhibition (GITEX), which will be held from November 18 to November 22, 2006, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.”

Meanwhile, the Americas and the Asia-Pacific are still reliant on carriers and Dopod for their piece of HTC action, though the day may come when HTC decides to step into these regions, and before you know it, they’ll be as recognizable to the average person as Nokia.

“With the recent relaunch of Orb 2.0 aka Orb MyCast, the folks at Orb Networks had way more in mind then just relaunching the PC interface based on Web 2.0/AJAX technologies. No, in future the new frontend interface and backend structure allows the Orb user to make Orb MyCast an even better and personalized experience then it was before by adding dynamic content.
The first was a simple RSS feed fetcher (nearly standard for all start pages today) but now, Orb Networks reached the next level of customization and enabling mobility by enhancing Orb MyCast to playback (or better stream) YouTube, Google and Dailymotion videos on mobile devices like mobile phones and PDAs. While YouTube has the mobile enhancement on its agenda for next year or so, Orb users can start right now and it couldn’t be easier.”

I’m a fan of Orb, and a fan of YouTube, so this is a cool marriage of two excellent technologies. Has anyone tried this yet? If so, how did it work for you?

“Cingular Wireless, the No. 1 U.S. cellular operator, said on Wednesday it is talking with banks about letting its customers manage their money by cell phone as part of a push to expand phone use beyond talking. The wireless venture of AT&T Inc and BellSouth Corp. said a wireless banking application it is testing would let customers of participating banks view account balances, transfer funds and pay bills on their cell phones. Spokesman Mark Siegel said Cingular hoped to launch the application commercially in early 2007.”

This is both good and bad, methinks. At least a carrier is pushing more banks to set up mobile banking. On the other hand, will Cingular get exclusives with banks? Or will each carrier have a different banking system? This sounds recipe for confusion and annoying balkanization.

“Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization has won a landmark case against Buffalo Technology, ‘under which it could receive royalties from every producer of WLAN products worldwide.’ US patent 5487069 — which ‘encompasses elements of the 802.11a/g wireless technology that is now an industry standard’ — was granted to the body back in 1996, and has subsequently been utilized in seemingly every piece of wireless kit ever since.”

This is potentially huge - if CSIRO wants to, they can now hold virtually any vendor or manufacturer of wifi equipment for ransom. A bunch of technology companies (a virtual who’s who, including Microsoft and Intel) are currently suing to have that patent invalidated, but CSIRO have filed a counter-suit claiming patent infringement. Given the just concluded summary judgement against Buffalo Technology (and from my point of view, that judgement was delivered in record time), who’d lay odds against CSIRO winning out? While this doesn’t have quite the immediate ramifications of the RIM-NTP tussle, it does mean that at the very least R&D in wifi is going to slow down or be spent on alternative technologies until these cases are resolved. At worst, we’ll have prices of wifi products go up as well when royalties are assessed. I can just imagine the reaction Wall Street is going to get from this. Despite CSIRO being a government agency, it looks like they’re going to take this as far as they can - in the rather ominous words of their CEO, “CSIRO still has a long way to go.? You can read up the original article here.

“Is there trouble in paradise? In a story that’s been developing for a few weeks now, it seems that at least some of Sprint’s Treo 700wx user base has been stripped of its ability to send SMS messages to Verizon and T-Mobile customers. Now, we would never take the conspiracy theorist route (that’s not true, by the way) and accuse Sprint of purposefully hosing outbound text messages to its bigger CDMA rival Verizon, but it does seem like a huge, inexplicable, and unacceptable screwup of epic proportions.”

Gee, an “oversight” that Sprint didn’t think anyone would notice? Something that should take till the end of the month to fix (And if you believe that estimate, you’re new to this OEM distribution of software aren’t ya?). Doesn’t seem like Sprint has had this problem before, I wonder who screwed up (or who ordered the screw up) on the Treo!

“The BenQ-Siemens P51 recieved FCC clearance a few days ago, but at the time we did not really think it amounted to much, seeing how this phone has been delayed for ages already. However today, in a surprise move, it appears the device has actually been launched in China. Still featuring Windows Mobile 5 and built-in GPS, the device is differentiated from its other QWERTY brethren by having a full QVGA screen above its always exposed thumb keyboard…The device will be on sale for a pricy 6500 yuan (around $825) but BenQ is not ruling out a GPS-free version for less.”

Well, I guess I was wrong - the P51 is appearing in the Far East. Still, I doubt we’ll see it in the Western Hemisphere anytime soon. In addition to Surur’s summary, you can see the original (poorly translated) page here.

Microsoft has published information on their operating systems and key applications on how to deal with the changes to Daylight Savings Times, which goes into effect in 2007 for the US. In 2007, the change takes affect at 2am on the second Sunday in March, 3 weeks earlier, and ends one week later than in 2006, at 2am on the first Sunday in November. Vista ships with this updated schedule. Windows XP SP2 and Windows 2003 will get updates sometime in December via Automatic Updates. At this point, Windows Mobile 2003, 2003SE and Windows Mobile 5 will get a registry patch, which can be found in the article linked to above.

We will definitely post on this again to remind users about this, and I recommend this patch be stored on a storage card or storage ROM as the application of the patch will be wiped out by a hard reset, or clearing of memory. Keep an eye on that page as more information regarding updates to Exchange 2003, Outlook, Sharepoint Services and other systems will be updated. It seems Pocket PC 2002 and older will simply cease to keep proper time a few weeks out of the year in the US. Meanwhile, I have some older Windows 2000 Server boxes to manually maintain as they will not be receiving simple automatic updates.

Yup, that’s an FCC image of the BenQ P51. Yes, you can hit the link above to get more information, courtesy of the FCC. Yes, we did post on this device way back in March. Yes, the P50 took years to come out, and I’d be surprised if this is any different. No, I have nothing further to say.

“High Tech Computer (HTC) reported record high revenues of NT$10.71 billion (US$326 million) in October, up 20.6% sequentially and up 24.9% on year. Volume shipments of two GPS PDA phones (the hw6920/6925) to Hewlett-Packard (HP) and more own-brand models helped push up HTC’s revenues for October, according to analysts at local securities houses.”

With bunch of new models about to hit the shelves in November, it looks like HTC (and it’s shareholders) is going to have a nice Christmas. HTC’s move towards establishing it’s own retail channels will also give a fillip towards its revenue streams, but that may only come after eating the costs of building consumer awareness of the HTC brand. For now though, the ODM route is raking in the cash for a banner financial year. Now, where’s the number of my stockbroker?

“The company which relies on producing Windows Mobile based smartphones for the productivity market is facing increasing pressure from an influx of well funded companies like Gigabyte and Asustek, which are producing increasingly competitive devices. Now that Chou’s vision of putting wireless into palm-sized devices has become commonplace, HTC has its sights set on the next big thing ? filling in the market between phones and laptops.”

Wow, that’s a heck of a direction for HTC to go into. With the UMPC market starting to heat up with a lot of new devices, HTC may be taking on more than it’s bargained for - the UMPC space is as competitive, if not more so, than Windows Mobile. On the other hand, if they can bring their acknowledged R&D prowess to come up with viable devices with the kind of communications channels that are present in today’s WM phones AND make them affordable (*cough* DualCor *cough*), we’re all the better for it. This is a development I’m going to be watching with a lot of interest.

India IT magazine CIOL interviewed Jason Lim, regional director, APJ, Microsoft’s MED division recently. Here is one of the questions:

“Motorola, Inc. (NYSE: MOT) and Good Technology, Inc. today announced that the companies have signed a definitive agreement under which Motorola will acquire privately held Good Technology, a leader in enterprise mobile computing software and service. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Good Technology, based in Santa Clara, is a strategic addition to Motorola’s Mobile Devices business. The acquisition will extend Motorola’s mobile computing capabilities and increase the company’s enterprise client base. Good Technology’s wireless messaging, data access and handheld security offerings provide intuitive and advanced productivity solutions for mobile professionals with enterprise-level device security and management.”

This is an interesting move by Motorola. Good is well-known for its mobile messaging solution, though with most current-generation Windows Mobile 5.0 devices supporting Microsoft’s Direct Push, how will the two add up? More options for the consumer, I guess.

A few days ago NTP began a suit against Palm for patent infringement. It seems now that one of the guys on the of the guys on the original team back in 1985 is claiming to have developed some of the key technology NTP is holding the rights to, and he wants some of the spoils NTP recently took from RIM.

“By way of reminder, NTP says it came up with the technology used by both companies to provide wireless paging services. But now, Oren Tavory, a 43-year-old software developer living in West Palm Beach, Fla., says he got there first. Tavory says he did much of the work developing the technology behind NTP’s patents. And since NTP has spun those patents into a big payday with hopes of another, Tavory says he deserves part of the credit for the patents, and some of the payouts, too. In September, Tavory filed a lawsuit against NTP in U.S. District Court in Richmond, Va., demanding that a judge issue a court order naming him as co-inventor on seven NTP patents, and accusing NTP of copyright infringement and unjust enrichment.”

“Here we go again. Just when you thought you had heard the last of NTP?infamous for the lawsuit that nearly squashed the BlackBerry and the company behind it, Canada’s Research In Motion (RIMM)?the Virginia-based patent holding company has filed suit against another handheld maker, Palm (PALM), the company behind the Treo smartphone?and the BlackBerry’s main rival.”

The article goes on to say that the Palm Treo, Tungsten and a few other devices infringe on 7 of NTP’s patents. I assume these have nothing to do with Windows Mobile versions of the Treo since NTP would go after Microsoft directly for that. The big difference between RIM and Palm is available cash. Palm couldn’t hope to survive a $612,500,000 judgement. As of August 31, Palm had $127M in cash and $400M in short term investments, though I don’t know how liquid the latter might be. In any event, a protracted defense could be costly and given NTP has already won against RIM, you certainly can’t dismiss this suit as a hopeless money grab.

“Vodafone has signed an agreement with Microsoft to develop software to enable the speedy and cost-effective roll out of new services on mobile phones. Under the terms of the agreement, Vodafone and Microsoft will work in close co-operation aiming to ensure that Vodafone applications and services are tightly integrated with a Windows Mobile experience, resulting in improved mobile phone functionality as well as an enhanced mobile experience for customers. The Microsoft platform will complement Vodafone’s existing terminal platform portfolio.”

My first reaction was “Great, they’re going to put more junk in our phones”, but then it looks more like OTA services. Obviously this will only directly affect/benefit Vodafone customers, so who am I to complain? If they come up with something compelling, it’d be great for the whole mobile industry, right? Anybody else have any other perspectives on this?