Microsoft will achieve one of its longest-held ambitions tomorrow when its rival Palm Computing plans to announce that it will use Microsoft's Windows Mobile software in a new version of its popular cellphone organizer, the Treo.
Verizon Wireless, which will market the phone, will join in the announcement at an event here, according to several people involved. Emphasizing the significance of the alliance for Microsoft, Bill Gates, its chairman, will be present. Executives at the companies would not comment on Friday on the substance of the announcement.
One feature not immediately available in the Windows software, however, will be the ability to push e-mail to users as it arrives, rather than forcing them to fetch it, according to an industry expert with detailed knowledge of the announcement. Such a feature would be necessary to make the system a direct competitor to the BlackBerry, made by Research in Motion.
The Microsoft-Palm alliance marks an end of an era. Palm produced the first successful hand-held computer in the mid-1990s. In 2003, when Palm Inc acquired Handspring, a company created by Palm's founders, it used the Handspring Treo to build its position in the market for cellphones with personal-organizer capabilities.
Palm has struggled to find a compelling software direction and to replace its aging and fragile Palm operating system.
At different times the company has shifted strategies, acquiring the Be operating system, experimenting with Linux alternatives and even contracting with Steve Capps, an Apple and Microsoft programming wizard, to develop software technology.
None of those efforts were successfully commercialized, and in the end Palm's chief executive, Ed Colligan, apparently decided that it was more expedient to join Microsoft than fight on as an alternative.
Microsoft has led a long, costly and often frustrating campaign to gain an opening in the hand-held software world. Indeed, only in its next-generation mobile software, expected by the end of this year, is it reported to reach the industrial strength standards demanded by the consumer electronics industry, according to a range of industry executives.
"At the end of the day, Ed Colligan made the call that he would be getting more value out of Windows Mobile than the Palm OS," said Greg Galanos, a Silicon Valley venture capitalist who is a board member of Danger Inc, a Palm competitor.
Indeed, a key factor in the new alliance may have been Palm's ability to get a sweet deal from Microsoft, according to an industry insider with detailed knowledge of Microsoft's pricing arrangements.
Microsoft has set the price of Windows Mobile at US$13 per handset, said the executive, who spoke on condition that he not be identified because he is a competitor in the hand-held computing market. But Microsoft has also discounted its software to as little as US$3 per cellphone in highly competitive situations, the executive said.
The price range makes Microsoft an expensive alternative compared to competitors like Symbian and Qualcomm's Brew, as well as Linux alternatives, according to an industry executive.
A Microsoft spokesman said the company would not comment on the pricing arrangements.
One significant question raised by the Microsoft-Palm alliance is the future of Palm software developers. In the past, Palm has pointed to the large library of programs available to users of Palm devices as an advantage over Microsoft.
Silicon Valley software developers say Palm may move its programming environment to the new Windows Mobile operating system.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained