Palm Australia remains silent on mass-market PDAs - News - Business

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This story was printed from ZDNet Australia.
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Palm Australia remains silent on mass-market PDAs

By Andrew Colley, 0
September 24, 2002
URL: http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/business/soa/Palm-Australia-remains-silent-on-mass-market-PDAs/0,139023166,120268489,00.htm

Despite a promise last week to elaborate on its plans, Palm Australia is keeping its shutters closed tightly when it comes to revealing whether Australia will be included in the company's aggressive push to capture the mass-market.

Palm has released extensive branding information about a new device targeted at the mass-market -- rumoured to be released in the North Amercian market for under US$100 - but won't reveal any details about its price or availability on Australian markets.

According to a statement issued from Palm's California-based headquarters, the company is now dividing its device range into high and low-end brands, called Tungsten and Zire respectively. Palm hopes the Zire will appeal to sectors of the market outside its traditional technology market demographic.

"What a student or a suburban 'supermom' wants from a handheld is fundamentally different from what an IT manager or a road warrior expects," said Todd Bradley, president and chief executive officer of Palm Solutions Group.

Palm's local spokesperson said the company would reveal more information about the devices early in October, but for now it's not prepared to confirm that the mass-market device will be available to Australian consumers.