Philly Pocket PC Summit: Derek Brown keynote

[Jason Dunn]

Derek Brown has kicked off the first "official" day of the Pocket PC conference with an overview of what Microsoft is up to - they're focusing very heavily on the phone space right now with both their Phone Edition and Smartphone platform. Why?<br /><br />Derek gave us a very compelling example of where the industry is at right now: Carphone Warehouse sells 35,000 GPRS phones a month. Guess how many of this 35K people sign up for a GPRS data account? 200 people. That's a 0.05% conversion rate from "phone user" to "serious data user". WAP and SMS are not going to drive 2.5G/3G data networks - people need compelling services, not simply a functional device. Current GPRS phones don't have smart client software that can support rich data experiences, so the adoption rate of serious data use is very low. Pricing structures are also a huge barrier, but if I can get unlimited GPRS data in Canada for $50 CND a month ($35 US), the rest of the world will catch up to use sooner or later. <img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/images/smiles/icon_wink.gif" /><br /><br />Wondering where the Phone Edition devices are? Derek gave us some information on what's happening now and in the future. The following US carriers will be offering Pocket PC Phone Edition devices:<br /><br />VoiceStream - HTC hardware ("Spaceneedle" in the USA), July 2002<br />Verizon - Audiovox Thera, out now<br />Sprint PCS- AudioVox Thera, mid 2002<br /><br />Europe is also coming on strong:<br /><br />mm02 - XDA, June 2002<br />T-Mobile - HTC hardware, 2002<br />Orange - Jornada 928, mid 2002<br />Vodafone - Jornada 928, mid 2002<br /><br />People sometimes wonder about recording phone calls to a WAV file in the same way you record voice notes. The Wallaby/Spaceneedle hardware can do it (the 02 XDA will have this functionality), but it's up to the carrier to decide if they want to allow it or not (Voicestream won't be supporting it). Pocket PC Phone Edition devices have four states: Pocket PC on/phone on, Pocket PC on/phone off, Pocket PC off/phone off, and Pocket PC off/phone on.<br /><br />And what about the Smartphone 2002? Confirmed partners are Sendo, Samsung, HTC, Compal, and TCL. TCL is a new one to the list, but perhaps one of the most important in terms of sheer driving force: they're a significant Chinese manufacturer, and with China now having the most mobile phone users of any country in the world, this is a huge market waiting to be tapped into. North American trials are underway (still!), but in the US, Cingular will be carrying a Smartphone 2002 device (I'm not sure which hardware). Launch time is still "In the not too distant future" - we've been hearing that for a long time, but I think this is the year that it will happen.<br /><br />One odd thing with all the presentations was that the elmo (presentation camera pointed at the Pocket PC) had a painfully slow refresh rate, so every Pocket PC demo done under it made the device look very slow. And in the middle of Beth's demo, her dad called her back just as she was about to show the ring tones - the audience loved that one.<br /><br />Microsoft is tying the abilities of the Phone Edition quite heavily on tight integration with Exchange. With the right server pieces, you can sync against your Exchange data directly instead of your desktop. Timed sync (ie: pull down all your new data at 9 AM every morning), control over attachment size (ignore all attachments over 100 KB), and other features.<br /><br />I've always liked Derek's presentation style, so this was a good session.

[marlof]

Orange - Jornada 928, mid 2002
Vodafone - Jornada 928, mid 2002

To me, this is great news! A) it's almost mid 2002 and B) the 928 appears to be undead!

[Inaki C]

FYI, Sendo is going to start delivering of SmartPhone Z100 phones next week, to developers only.

The phone comes with an early release Smartphone OS version. They say MS has not delivered the final version yet.

[JMountford]

Jason. Can you say or do you know if the Samsung Smartphone 2002 is for CDMA carriers or GSM. I am desperately trying to find out when the heck I may see Smartphone 2002 for Sprint PCS. I have had Sprint PCS too darn long to switch and gone through too much trouble. They are trying to do a lot of innovating things I just have no time frame at all as to when they might have some great handsets.

[orinoco]

Hello:

This jibes with what an HP sales rep told me today: that the Jornada 928 is still scheduled for release "within a few weeks" in the UK. Did anybody inform about whether it will be released in the US ?

Thanks,

Fernando

[Jason Dunn]

Jason. Can you say or do you know if the Samsung Smartphone 2002 is for CDMA carriers or GSM.

Samsung is a big CDMA supporter, but they also make GSM/GPRS phones, so I'm pretty sure they'll be doing that first. Microsoft did the GSM/GPRS radio stack first, and from what I've read about the Sendo phones the OS isn't 100% complete yet, and up next is the CDMA radio stack - when will that happen? No idea. My hunch would be early 2003 - GSM will be the first Phone Edition and Smartphone devices. CDMA simply doesn't have the wide-spread adoption that GSM does, no matter how much you might want it to. :-)

[JMountford]

I remember that you had some time ago said that there were issues with the CDMA radiostack. I was aware that Samsung makes both CDMA and GSM phones. I was just hoping that maybe you had heard something a little more specific. Oh well thanks for the post. It suprises me with how huge CDMA is in the States and the fact it is taking off in Asia too that there is not more support for it.

[jpzr]

Can you say or do you know if the Samsung Smartphone 2002 is for CDMA carriers or GSM.

For GSM I think. Samsung is an agnostic company and it will (or is) producing phones with any OS.

Why do I think so? Samsung already has 2 smartphones with Palm OS for CDMA for US market, so most probably they will not release smarpthones with other OS than than Palm OS for CDMA in order not to cannibalize themselves...

[Duncan]

Hmmm... wonder if the lack of a mention of a partner for the Loox might be a background confirmation of the rumour/suggestion that FS have made a deal with Hutchison 3G - the new mobile network...

[Ed Hansberry]

Hmmm... wonder if the lack of a mention of a partner for the Loox might be a background confirmation of the rumour/suggestion that FS have made a deal with Hutchison 3G - the new mobile network...
Oh heck yeah! Now that TDMA is dead I was beginning to worry that we in the US would only have two network standards to deal with. Bring on another standard! Woohoo!

[disconnected]

The idea of one device instead of two (PDA/phone) is beginning to appeal to me, but I keep reading stories about flight attendants not allowing people to use the PDA part on the plane, even if the phone part is turned off. This would be a major drawback. Do you know if any of the airlines have an official position on these devices?

[semsoid]

One correction to your article Jason, There is not a PocketPC 2002 Phone edition actually. It uses Sierra Wireless 555 integrated card and Sierra Wireless Watcher software. So it is a hybrid product.

Cheers,

Sems

[Paragon]

One correction to your article Jason, There is not a PocketPC 2002 Phone edition actually.

Sems

I assume you meant to say "The Thera is not a PPC 2002 Phone edition"

Dave

[semsoid]

D'oh, I was in a hurry to attend a cocktail and I guess my fingers slipped 8O . I stand corrected, Thera is not a Pocket PC 2002 Phone Edition...

Sems

[Marc Zimmermann]

mm02 - XDA, June 2002

According to O2, delivery has slipped to July. See the left hand image in web shop (German):
http://shop.viaginterkom-shop.de/avalanche/WebShopStartpageServlet

T-Mobile - HTC hardware, 2002

Which would presumably be the same as the XDA. I've seen several images from T-Mobile presentations and it is apparently the same device. So the differentiation between "XDA" and "HTC hardware" might confuse people.