PalmOne Keyboard For Other Devices?

[Ed Hansberry]

<a href="http://www.engadget.com/entry/2364837625082350/">http://www.engadget.com/entry/2364837625082350/</a><br /><br /><i>In a slightly unusual act of corporate magnanimity, palmOne just upgraded their new Wireless Keyboard so that it’s also compatible with Pocket PCs from Dell and HP (it was probably an issue of releasing the right drivers, but whatever). The one downside is that they’re still using infrared; would it kill them to get some Bluetooth in there?</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/hansberry/2004/20040923-palmonekeyboard.gif" /><br /><br />It is $69.99 from the <a href="http://pressroom.palmone.com/investorrelations/PubNewsStory.aspx?partner=5150&storyId=120480">PalmOne</a> website. I can see this strategy working for PalmOne. Instead of being tied to one device and one platform, they could extend to a hardware supplier for all manner of mobile computing devices.

[Duncan]

Eh...? I've been using the Palm IR keyboard (re-branded Stowaway) with my Pocket PCs for several months...! You just download the PPC drivers from the ThinkOutside site...

No upgrade necessary...!

[mvv_hyd]

no bt?..... I'll pass it

[MikeUnwired]

Yup, it already worked with PPCs -- you just needed to visit the Think Outside web site for drivers.

I have a Bluetooth question though -- can you use the Bluetooth keyboard to type emails and such while a Pocket PC is connected through Bluetooth to an access point of mobile phone? Otherwise, IR isn't looking like such a bad option for a combined solution.

[Ed@Brighthand]

This isn't the same IR keyboard palmOne and Think Outside have been selling for almost a year. The new one has a dedicated row of number keys.

You can see a picture at:
http://www.engadget.com/entry/8536655998821755

According to Engadget, "they said they have no plans for a Bluetooth version, mainly because it’d have to cost a lot more and wouldn’t have the battery life of the infrared version."

[surur]

As Pa1m0ne just rebrands ThinkOutside's keyboards, there is no reason to buy a Pa1m0ne keyboard accept for the brand. Now the Pa1m0ne brand is not a great selling point for pocketpc owners, so I dont think Palm is planning to sell many to that market.

The obvious conclusion is that Pa1m0ne is adding WM drivers to support their OWN Windows Mobile users........ for their upcoming pocketpc product!!

Prove me wrong!! :devilboy:

Surur

[MikeUnwired]

This isn't the same IR keyboard palmOne and Think Outside have been selling for almost a year. The new one has a dedicated row of number keys.

You can see a picture at:
http://www.engadget.com/entry/8536655998821755


Good point Ed, I forgot they added that row. That's enough to separate me from my $69 regardless of the Bluetooth. I likey the number rows...

[Fishie]

As Pa1m0ne just rebrands ThinkOutside's keyboards, there is no reason to buy a Pa1m0ne keyboard accept for the brand. Now the Pa1m0ne brand is not a great selling point for pocketpc owners, so I dont think Palm is planning to sell many to that market.

The obvious conclusion is that Pa1m0ne is adding WM drivers to support their OWN Windows Mobile users........ for their upcoming pocketpc product!!

Prove me wrong!! :devilboy:

Surur

Its what I have been saying all along.

T5 VGA screen running WM2k3SE, first PPC with WORKING alarms.

:mrgreen:

[huangzhinong]

As Pa1m0ne just rebrands ThinkOutside's keyboards, there is no reason to buy a Pa1m0ne keyboard accept for the brand. Now the Pa1m0ne brand is not a great selling point for pocketpc owners, so I dont think Palm is planning to sell many to that market.

The obvious conclusion is that Pa1m0ne is adding WM drivers to support their OWN Windows Mobile users........ for their upcoming pocketpc product!!

Prove me wrong!! :devilboy:

Surur

Its what I have been saying all along.

T5 VGA screen running WM2k3SE, first PPC with WORKING alarms.

:mrgreen:

Not enough time to tweak T5 now. I guess a new model number or T6/7/8/9 maybe have WM2005/6/7/8 in it.

[Fishie]

Yeah true, but one IS in the works.

:mrgreen:

[Kevin Daly]

Gathering dust on my desk I have a Psion infra-red modem that I bought for my Jornada 545 back when connectivity largely came down to thinking "What if...?".
I always respected Psion for providing explicit information to help users of non-Psion devices use their modems, so I think this is a smart move by PalmOne.
(I won't be buying one myself: my next external keyboard is going to be Bluetooth for sure).

[lapchinj]

The obvious conclusion is that Pa1m0ne is adding WM drivers to support their OWN Windows Mobile users........ for their upcoming pocketpc product!!

Prove me wrong!! :devilboy:

Surur
Well I think that you hit the nail on the head. PalmOne has to make a living selling something and it doesn't seem to be with Palm Powered Products. Although 2 of my sons and 2 of their friends are die-hard Palm users that just upgraded to T3s. Spooky this Palm cult thing :crazyeyes:.

Jeff-

[Brad Adrian]

This sounds more like an approach taken by a company that is unsure of where its next meal is coming from. I don't think this is a bad idea, but selling and promoting products as compatible with competitors seems like a panic move.

[huangzhinong]

This sounds more like an approach taken by a company that is unsure of where its next meal is coming from. I don't think this is a bad idea, but selling and promoting products as compatible with competitors seems like a panic move.

Don't have to. If Apple still can be counted as MS competitor, MS did make office suite and IE for Mac.

[sponge]

Why does it have to be all these huge conspiracies like PalmOne dieing - can't it just be a very simple software upgrade they did and get a few extra sales? I don't see anything suspicious about this.

[lapchinj]

Why does it have to be all these huge conspiracies like PalmOne dieing - can't it just be a very simple software upgrade they did and get a few extra sales? I don't see anything suspicious about this.
Conspiracies are good in that they tend to bring out some really interesting points to think and talk about. And you must admit that it is food for thought - sometimes deep sometime funny. But I would tend to agree with you that it's nothing more than a company just trying to move product and I for one find no problem with that.

Besides what's wrong with Palm selling PPC's or Linux? IBM sells Microsoft products. Times are changing :mrgreen:.

Jeff

[TMann]

Geez...guys. Take the blinders off! You're starting to sound like the folks on PalmInfoCenter with all of their anti-PPC blather. :D

Why would Palm market their new keyboard to the PPC crowd? To make more money, of course! Apple makes their iPods compatible with both Mac and Windows. Microsoft makes a Mac and a Windows version of Office. Palm Reader (now eReader) has a PPC version, so that they can sell eBooks to PPC owners. It's not that complicated...

I will probably get myself one of these keyboards, (after I pay off this months credit card bill.) Why? Because I really like having a keyboard with a row of number keys. The recent ThinkOutside line of keyboards, with their "shift-to-type-the-numbers" design just didn't work that well for me. Also, I am a dual-platform (Palm/PPC) user so it will be nice to have a keyboard that works well with all of my devices, (one each of Sony, Palm and HP.)

And one more thing...wasn't it Ed Hansberry that was gleefully declaring that bluetooth is a dead technology? And yet here he is:

The one downside is that they’re still using infrared; would it kill them to get some Bluetooth in there?

Ah...we just can't pass up on any opportunity to bash Palm, can we? :D

TMann

[lol999]

And one more thing...wasn't it Ed Hansberry that was gleefully declaring that bluetooth is a dead technology? And yet here he is:

The one downside is that they’re still using infrared; would it kill them to get some Bluetooth in there?

Ah...we just can't pass up on any opportunity to bash Palm, can we? :D

TMann

Yea, he doesn't seem to know when to quite either. Check out this hilarious thread:

http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=32253

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

And one more thing...wasn't it Ed Hansberry that was gleefully declaring that bluetooth is a dead technology? And yet here he is:
The one downside is that they’re still using infrared; would it kill them to get some Bluetooth in there?
Ah...we just can't pass up on any opportunity to bash Palm, can we? :D

You should look more carefully before gleefully bashing Ed. The quote came from the referenced article, not from Ed himself!

BTW, does anyone have a direct link of where we can purchase from PalmOne? I quickly went through the site and I can only find the wireless keyboard sans numbers row. Has anyone else purchased this keyboard?

[TMann]

You should look more carefully before gleefully bashing Ed. The quote came from the referenced article, not from Ed himself!

BTW, does anyone have a direct link of where we can purchase from PalmOne? I quickly went through the site and I can only find the wireless keyboard sans numbers row. Has anyone else purchased this keyboard?

Ooops...you're right. Ed was quoting an article on Engadget.com where one Peter Rojas was writing about the new keyboard. Ed...I officially retract my "gleeful bashing" and apologize for the misunderstanding. (And in all seriousness, I hope it's obvious that anything I said in my post was meant in a decidedely "tongue-in-cheek" manner. :D)

As to the availability of this keyboard, I don't think that it is available yet. It was just announced this past week, so it'll be a bit before it shows up in the stores.

TMann :D

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

Has anyone checked out this keyboard yet?

It seems to be readily available now (http://store.palmone.com/product/index.jsp?productId=1861852&cp=1170719.1179767) on the PalmOne shopping site.

Wireless with a numbers row... I'm tempted to get this for my new hx4700.

-Ekkie