HP's GPRS Jornada Bites the Dust
ComputerWire Staff
By Tony Cripps
Hewlett-Packard Co has admitted that its GPRS-enabled Jornada 928 PDA has been phased out. The device, one of only a few to run Microsoft Corp's Pocket PC 2002 Phone Edition software, was labeled "an experiment with mixed results" by an HP spokesperson.Neil Dagger, iPaq and wireless business manager for HP personal systems group told ComputerWire that the Jornada 928, described by HP as a wireless digital assistant (WDA), had been removed from HP's mobile device portfolio having reached the end of its intended lifespan. The device was the only one of HP's in-house-developed Jornada devices to avoid being culled at the time of HP's takeover of Compaq. A number of web sites specializing in sales of PDAs have recently listed the 928 as discontinued. It is unclear whether the device's demise applies to all territories.HP will not replace the 928 with a similarly GPRS-enabled PDA in its Compaq-originated iPaq range, said Dagger. On-board wireless connectivity options for future HP mobile devices will concentrate on Bluetooth personal area network (PAN) and 802.11 wireless LAN (WLAN) technology, already common features of the iPaq range.Instead, HP will concentrate on continuing development of the iPaq's trademark slide-on "sleeves" to enable GPRS or other wireless wide area network (WWAN) connectivity options, whether made by HP or third parties. HP's decision to move away from hybrid phone-PDA devices is an interesting one in light of moves by vendors such as Palm Inc, with its Tungsten W, to include enterprise-targeted hybrid devices in their ranges. However, it also highlights the dilemma faced by corporate IT buyers - whether to purchase single converged phone-PDAs or two-piece arrangements where PDAs can use the GPRS access in mobile phones over a Bluetooth connection."Our strategy with the iPaq is not to integrate GPRS," said Dagger. "Users have social lives and they don't want to take a big data device with them [outside office hours]."Dagger said the 928 "experiment" had been an interesting one for HP, helping it forge relationships with mobile operators, but he said the device had suffered some technical problems.Despite its apparent about-turn regarding WDAs, Dagger admitted that HP could potentially re-enter the smart phone market, this time with a device based on Microsoft's handset platform, Windows Powered Smartphone."We've got no immediate plans but we continue to look at Smartphone," said Dagger. "We're worried about user reaction. We don't want to launch something that's a solution looking for a problem."
11 April 2003
AI
