“Palm’s new “Zire” handheld, on sale globally on Monday, isn’t the first Palm handheld to sell for £70 — but it is the first low-priced device the company expects to make money on.
Historically, Palm handheld devices are discounted and often sell for £70 at the end of their retail life cycle. With Zire, Palm has cut costs in a number of areas to offer the new device at that price.
The slim, white handheld is similar in size to Palm’s m500 handheld, but is lighter and has just two main buttons — for address book and calendar functions. The Zire connects to a PC with an industry standard mini-USB cable, instead of a more costly, custom-designed cradle”… The device comes with 2MB of memory — typical for entry-level Palm handhelds — and has a black and white screen and a rechargeable battery. It runs version 4.1 of the Palm operating system.
Palm hopes the simplicity will appeal to consumers who have previously shied away from handheld devices. “They are not technophiles,” said David Christopher, senior director of product management for Palm. “They are actually technophobes.”
Be the first to comment on "Palm Unveils New £70 PDA"