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View Full Version : The Road To The Windows Mobile Powered Treo 700w


Ed Hansberry
09-26-2005, 12:00 PM
Rumors have been flying for months about the possibility of a Treo powered by Windows Mobile instead of the Palm OS. For the past few weeks, it has been almost certain it was real and today, it will be confirmed at <a href="http://ir.palm.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=105423&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=760556">9am Pacific time</a> in an event in San Francisco, including Bill Gates, the Chairman of Microsoft, Ed Colligan, Palm CEO, and Denny Strigl, Verizon CEO.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/hansberry/2005/20050830-treoincatalog.jpg" /><br /><br />For a look back though here are some of the highlights over the last few years at the sequence of events that have either directly or indirectly delivered us to where we are today.<br /><br />• <b>April 19, 2000:</b> <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2000/apr00/PalmKeynotePR.mspx">Microsoft launches the Pocket PC</a>, the long awaited and much needed replacement to its Palm-sized PC predecessor. Many considered this Microsoft's final attempt at some measure of success in the mobile operating system space, its earlier attempts never making much of a dent in the market. <!> PalmOS market share is above 80% and Microsoft is barely hitting double digits. Microsoft got the user interface right and Compaq delivered the iPAQ 3600 series shortly thereafter, producing a wildly successful combination of hardware and software that had it selling for over $900 on ebay, nearly double the suggest retail price. The Pocket PC is born.<br /><br />• <b>October 15, 2001:</b> <a href="http://www.palm.com/us/company/pr/hs_archive/101501.html">Handspring announces the Treo</a>, releasing the first batch during 2002. The lowest end model, the Treo 90 didn't even have a phone, it was just a square screen with a keyboard rather than the fixed Graffiti area. That model didn't last long though as sales of the cellular enabled devices took off. It was clear even then that the standalone PDA's life was limited and wireless was the future. Microsoft had no serious competition to offer at this point. Pocket PC 2002 had just been announced and it would be months before the "Phone Edition" software was ready to go, and longer still before you could buy it. The Treo is born.<br /><br />• <b>October 28, 2003:</b> <a href="http://www.palmsource.com/press/2003/102803_palmsourcespin.html">PalmSource is split off from Palm</a>, Handspring is reabsorbed into Palm which becomes PalmOne. PalmSource was to be the operating system and software maker and license product to all manner of OEMs, including PalmOne, Sony, Garmin, Samsung and many others. At one time, Palm thought it was really a serious contender with Microsoft in the arena of platforms and server software. How many of you recall the <a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=3699">Tungsten Mobile Information Management Server</a>? We posted on this in September of 2002. Virtually none of the links in that post work anymore as Palm has erased all vestiges of that product from its publicly available website. I'd kill to get my hands on that PDF again. The product pitted itself squarely against Microsoft Exchange 2000 and Microsoft's own Mobile Information Server, which seamlessly (to the user at least - not for the IT department ;)) allowed users to synchronize their PDAs with their email accounts at work. Microsoft consolidated all of that into one product, Exchange 2003 while Palm quietly abandoned the project. Anyway, my point is, PalmSource had big visions for the future. Palm and Handspring would merge, bringing the successful Treo line back into the fold. Newly renamed, PalmOne would focus on hardware and great devices, PalmSource would focus on the next generation of PalmOS and would be able to more easily work with outside OEMs like Sony without having a Chinese Wall between the hardware and software sides. The split is crucial to PalmOne and a Windows Mobile Treo though as it allows for the first time for PalmOne to be platform agnostic and just build the best devices possible.<br /><br />• <b>January 6, 2004:</b> <a href="http://www.palmsource.com/press/2004/010604_os6.html">PalmSource releases Cobalt</a>, or PalmOS 6 to its OEM partners. Cobalt is the ultimate Palm operating system. It will finally have real multitasking, or so we were told. Garnet, or PalmOS 5, is still largely PalmOS 4 sitting on top of new underpinnings that allow it to run on the widely accepted ARM processor. Applications run in PACE, or the <a href="http://www.palmos.com/dev/support/docs/simulator/Simulator_Concepts.html">Palm Application Compatibility Environment</a>. Most PalmOS 4 applications run in it, except for hacks, and development changes little. Target your application for OS4 and write it well and it will work on OS5. There is no point compiling directly for the ARM processor as, for the most part, it won't work. That is what OS6 takes care of. Multitasking is achieved by rewriting all applications to save the state to the user is given the illusion of multitasking. There is a way to write some threads to run in the background, like a thread to monitor chat conversations or download email, but again, the app must be rewritten to do this <i>and</i> your place in the UI can be lost. For example, open an email and read three screens down of one message while other messages are downloading. Switch back to your calendar then back to email. Emails are still downloading, but you are back to the message list, not the email message, thus losing your place. It is possible for developers to overcome this by saving the state properly, but many don't. Multitasking is the domain of an operating system, not applications, and OS6 is the fix. No devices are <i><b>ever</b></i> released with Palm OS6.<br /><br />• <b>January 27, 2004:</b> <a href="http://www.infosyncworld.com/news/n/4532.html">PalmOne admits it is looking at other platforms.</a>. No names are given, but it is obvious PalmOne, just three months after the split, is eager to increase sales and market presence with great hardware, using whatever OS makes sense.<br /><br />• <b>February 4, 2004:</b> <a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=24051">PalmSource revamps their OS strategy</a> again. OS 5, or Garnet, would still survive for low end devices while OS 6 would be targeted at more robust devices with its superior multitasking <i>(whoops - see March 1 events)</i> capabilities, multimedia features, better security, etc. Looking back, this announcement was simply to say that they were struggling with OS6, no one was buying it and if they didn't resurrect the OS5 development life cycle, PalmSource would quickly have nothing to sell.<br /><br />• <b>March 1, 2004:</b> <a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=25165">PalmSource releases the OS 6</a> emulator to allow developers to get their applications ready. According to a PalmInfoCenter member, you must still write applications to save the state, so it <i>still</i> doesn't do true multitasking. Untold hours are spent by developers playing with the emulator and reworking their applications to make the most of OS6, all to no avail. They might as well have been writing applications for <a href="http://www.wildcrest.com/Potel/Portfolio/InsideTaligentTechnology/WW87.htm">Taligent</a>.<br /><br />• <b>March 4, 2004:</b> <a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=25276">Pocket PC Thoughts breaks story</a> on the press conference held by PalmOne that week where Todd Bradley, the palmOne CEO and Chairman, answered a question by an analyst about the possibility of a Microsoft based Treo. You can still hear the audio in the original post.<br /><br />• <b>May 6, 2004:</b> <a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=27722">Rumors of a Windows Mobile powered Treo</a> surface in mainstream media sites.<br /><br />• <b>June 18, 2004:</b> <a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=29159">Frustration continues</a> with writing device drivers for PalmOS devices. Unlike Windows Mobile devices, where as long as the developer targets the right <i>year</i> of the platform, it should work on every single device made with the platform, writing device drivers for PalmOS devices is maddening by comparison. Regardless of who's fault this is, PalmOne takes the hit because it is their devices people are complaining about. The introduction of SDIO WiFi cards heightens the tension as a plethora of SDIO equipped Palm devices can't use them while Windows Mobile drivers flow like hot syrup at your local IHOP. This has to factor to some extent in PalmOne's decision to license Windows Mobile.<br /><br />• <b>September 28, 2004:</b> <a href="http://www.palmsource.com/press/2004/092804_cobalt.html">PalmSource releases Cobalt 6.1</a> to its licensees. No devices have been released to date with this operating system on it.<br /><br />• <b>October 5, 2004:</b> <a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=32972">PalmOne signs a deal with Microsoft</a> to incorporate Exchange ActiveSync component into its devices. The Tungsten Mobile Information Management Server project is long since dead and if PalmOne doesn't get its hooks into the enterprise, RIM's Blackberry and Microsoft's Windows Mobile devices will clean Palm's clock. I think the Treo 650 is the first device to ship with this in ROM, allowing it to seamlessly connect to Exchange 2003. <a href="http://www.dataviz.com/solutions/enterprise/roadsync/index.html?redirect=roadsyncinfo">DataViz creates a client</a> for other PalmOS devices to give them the same functionality. Still no PalmOS Cobalt devices.<br /><br />• <b>November 1, 2004:</b> <a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=33936">Bad news for PalmSource</a>. <i>"Shares of PalmSource, the handheld operating system developer, dipped Monday on an investment bank's report that said key licensee PalmOne will use Microsoft's OS in its Treo line of devices. The research note from Needham &amp; Co. said PalmOne "tacitly admitted" it was working to make Microsoft's handheld OS available on the popular Treo line of phones."</i> PalmSource was trading above $20/share back then, at least 15% above the $17/share they are worth to Access, the Japanese company buying them.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/hansberry/2004/20041102-mstreo.gif" /><br /><PAGEBREAK><br />• <b>November 10, 2004:</b> <a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=34263">PalmOne begins to back off of any OS6 device commitment</a>. <i>"Nobody knows when we'll start the shift to Cobalt, OS 6, or on which devices," Mr. Colligan said. "For now, we're saying that we've built the functionality we need into the Treo and the Tungsten T5 and there's no need to confuse developers by switching. I'm not even prepared to commit us to a change next year, or the year after, at this stage."</i> Or, ever it would seem.<br /><br />• <b>November 26, 2004:</b> <a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=34852">Rumors of Dell seeking a Windows Mobile Treo</a> crop up. Of all of the Windows Mobile Treo rumors, this is the one I gave the least credence to, but it is an interesting hypothesis. Still no PalmOS Cobalt devices.<br /><br />• <b>December 15, 2004:</b> <a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=35488">First rumors of Windows Mobile square screened</a> devices start to flow. Of course, this capability was first made available in Windows Mobile 2003SE but no devices had yet made use of it. It was a central feature of Windows Mobile 5, what was known as Magneto back then. I saw mockups of this sort if thing back in February 2004 and was very excited about it. Sure, you have less screen real estate to work with, but for reading emails and sending replies, having the QWERTY keyboard built in is just a no brainer. The iPAQ 4300 showed it was ridiculous to put that into a 320X240 screen as the device length rivaled that of modern DVD remote controls. The success of the RIM Blackberry and Palm Treo with this type of short screen and keyboard input was instrumental in Microsoft's decision to go this route. It paved the way for a Windows Mobile Treo.<br /><br />• <b>February 7, 2005:</b> <a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=37382">PalmOne released the Treo 650</a>, the most successful Treo to date, and it included the ActiveSync conduit directly to Exchange 2003. The device had limits though, coming with only 23MB of RAM and the inability to use any WiFi SDIO cards to date and instead of being able to play WAV files for ring tones, you are limited to polyphonic ring tones. That said though, it got rave reviews and has been a successful device. Microsoft has no competition for it. At the time though, HP must have been deep in development of the iPAQ 6500 and 6700 line of Messengers. Oh yeah, Samsung backed out of PalmOS devices, abandoning the i550 as Sprint seems focused on non-PalmOS platforms, though Sprint protested that interpretation at the time of the press release. Except for the Treo, they have moved to Windows Mobile for their top of the line devices.<br /><br />• <b>March 14, 2005:</b> <a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=38424">Engadget releases spy photos</a> of the Windows Mobile Treo. It is made by HTC and I think for the first time, is given the Treo 670 moniker.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/windowsmobiletreo.jpg" /><br /><br />• <b>April 26, 2005:</b> <a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=39602">Gartner declares the mobile OS war over</a> and doesn't <i>even mention PalmOS</i> as a serious contender. This has to bolster the decision by PalmOne to bring a Windows Mobile Treo to market.<br /><br />• <b>May 9, 2005:</b> <a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/index.php?topic_id=39950">PalmOne scrambles to save hardware line</a> by releasing a "Mobile Manager." Yeah, it has a hard drive, and that is cool, but other than that, it doesn't do anything Windows Mobile hasn't been able to do since 2000 with the first iPAQ and in fact, does less because it <i>still cannot multitask</i>.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/hansberry/2005/20050510-pa1monecool.gif" /><br /><i>PalmOne tries to show it is still relevant with a misguided device</i>: It isn't the hardware that is the problem, and PalmOne knows this. By the way, Windows Mobile 5 now supports hard drives and gigs of internal flash storage with its persistent storage model. You think Palm doesn't have a next generation Mobile Manager in the lab with Windows Mobile on it? Think again. No sign of a Palm OS 6 Cobalt Mobile Manager anywhere.<br /><PAGEBREAK><br />• <b>May 10, 2005:</b> <a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=40102">Handango says its Windows Mobile customers are the most satisfied</a>. Market research like this matters. If you are Microsoft, you pat yourself on the back and keep marching forward. If you aren't Microsoft and are making mobile operating systems, you scratch your head wondering where you went wrong, especially if you used to have over 80% share. If you are making devices that aren't running Microsoft's Windows Mobile platform, you think about doing it. There are no PalmOS 6 Cobalt applications for sale on Handango's site.<br /><br />• <b>May 23, 2005:</b> <a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=40384">First PalmSource obituary written in</a> mainstream press. <i>"With a few million users hooked on an obsolete software platform, not even the hardware side could get moving."</i> Solution: Hardware side to switch to a non-obsolete platform.<br /><br />• <b>July 1, 2005:</b> <a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=41234">PalmSource effectively kills PalmOS</a> - Cobalt and Garnet shoved into the basement with its BEoS properties. Shifts focus, yet again, to PalmLinux. Of course, one could argue that Cobalt never left the musty basement as there are still no devices shipping with it. PalmOne has to take notice. The word "Palm" will never mean the same thing again. Palm, Inc. is fully engaged by this time with Microsoft and Windows Mobile. A Windows Mobile powered Palm device is inevitable.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/hansberry/2005/20050708-palmosdead.jpg" /><br /><br />• <b>July 18, 2005:</b> <a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=41606">Windows Mobile Treo rumors kick in to high gear</a>. This picture, which is an obvious fake did get the model number right and threw gasoline on the fire of speculation surrounding the next Treo.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/hansberry/2005/20050718-treopocketpclg.jpg"><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/hansberry/2005/20050718-treopocketpcsm.jpg" /></a><br /><i>(Click for larger image)</i><br /><br />• <b>August 5, 2005:</b> <a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=359169">Authentic pictures leak!</a> Howard Forums member <i>Roc a fella</i> lets the cat out of the bag by posting pictures <i>and</i> video of the new Windows Mobile Treo with a Verizon logo on it. <a href="http://www.1src.com/forums/showthread.php?t=94062">Palm apologist propaganda goes to DEFCON 1</a>. We are told everything from it is a fake video running on a 650's video player to it is a prototype released to drive the price of PalmSource down to it is a slide show because no one tapped the screen during the video. Oh yeah, there are rumors of a Treo running Cobalt too, of course, but almost two month later, not a single picture or video of that has come out.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/hansberry/2005/20050805-wmtreo.jpg" /><br /><br />• <b>August 11, 2005:</b> <a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=42240">Palm CFO Andrew Brown endorses Windows Mobile</a>. <i>"In an interview, Palm Chief Financial Officer Andrew Brown said that building a Treo that runs on the mobile version of Windows might help the company woo corporate customers who have been reticent to buy its Palm OS-based gadgets. "CIOs don't get fired for using Microsoft products," Brown said, though he did not say whether Palm has such a product in the works."</i> Still no PalmOS Cobalt devices.<br /><br />• <b>September 9, 2005:</b> <a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=42874">ACCESS buys PalmSource</a>. We later learn that several companies, including PalmOne, are interested in PalmSource, but a Japanese company that makes browsers for mobile devices wins the bid. They want the Chinese mobile phone market and through PalmSource, they get the properties of China Mobile and Linux expertise. It is increasingly clear that a next generation PalmOS for mobile devices like PDAs and smartphones is not likely. Many had hung their hopes on PalmLinux to replace Garnet by 2007 or 2008. <br /><br />• <b>September 20, 2005:</b> <a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=43101">Business Week confirms the existence</a> of the Palm Windows Mobile Treo. No one confirms the existence of a Cobalt powered anything.<br /><br />• <b>September 22, 2005:</b> <a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=43159">Revealed! The Treo 700w, running Windows Mobile</a>. Engadget gets the scoop. Denials <a href="http://www.palminfocenter.com/view_story.asp?ID=8096">reach a crescendo</a> eliciting howls of anguish not heard since Smeagol lost the ring to Bilbo in that dark dank cave... where Cobalt 6 also happens to reside.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/hansberry/2005/20050922-wmtreo700w.jpg" /><br /><br />• <b>September 26, 2005:</b> <a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=43181">Bill Gates to help announce the Windows Mobile Treo</a>. That brings us to today. <i>Palm, Inc., Microsoft Corporation and Verizon Wireless Announce Press Conference for Sept. 26 - SUNNYVALE, Calif.--Sept. 23, 2005--Ed Colligan, Palm, Inc. president and chief executive officer; Bill Gates, Microsoft chairman and chief software architect; and Denny Strigl, president and chief executive officer of Verizon Wireless, invite the news media to join them for a press conference on Monday, Sept. 26, at The Palace Hotel in San Francisco beginning at 9 a.m. PDT."</i><br /><br />The web casts will be available in 3 bandwidths. I have confirmed the 56KB link works over GPRS on a Windows Mobile 2003SE device with Windows Media Player 10 on it and a Windows Mobile 2003 device with WMP9. I couldn't get it to work with Pocket PC 2002 and WMP8. I don't know about Window Media Player version 8.5. <a href="http://metahost.savvislive.com/microsoft/20050926/sfo_press_conference_20050926_56.asx">56 kbps</a>, <a href="http://metahost.savvislive.com/microsoft/20050926/sfo_press_conference_20050926_100.asx">100 kbps</a> and <a href="http://metahost.savvislive.com/microsoft/20050926/sfo_press_conference_20050926_300.asx">300 kbps or broadband</a>. Thus, <b>the Windows Mobile powered Palm Treo is born.</b> Enjoy the show!

Mike Temporale
09-26-2005, 06:05 PM
Wow, nicely detailed Ed! Thanks.
8)

bbarker
09-26-2005, 11:56 PM
• April 19, 2000: Microsoft launches the Pocket PC (http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2000/apr00/PalmKeynotePR.mspx), the long awaited and much needed replacement to its Palm-sized PC predecessor.
It may have been "much needed" because MS did a poor job marketing the Palm-sized PC. But I found those devices perfectly fine and superior to the Palm Pilot. I owned 3 of them, including the original Cassiopeia E-10 and the color Cassiopeia E-105. The Pocket PC was a significant improvement, but the Palm-sized PC has long been unfairly maligned. It even had a better handwriting recognition tool than the PPC's because of its great learning ability.

Ed Hansberry
09-27-2005, 12:11 PM
• April 19, 2000: Microsoft launches the Pocket PC (http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2000/apr00/PalmKeynotePR.mspx), the long awaited and much needed replacement to its Palm-sized PC predecessor.
It may have been "much needed" because MS did a poor job marketing the Palm-sized PC. But I found those devices perfectly fine and superior to the Palm Pilot. I owned 3 of them, including the original Cassiopeia E-10 and the color Cassiopeia E-105. The Pocket PC was a significant improvement, but the Palm-sized PC has long been unfairly maligned. It even had a better handwriting recognition tool than the PPC's because of its great learning ability.
I had two of them as well, so I do have experience with them. they were strictly power user devices, not appealing to the mass market much at all. Yes, they had some great features that didn't make it to the new platform, but they were also incredibly slow compared to their PalmOS counterparts and incredibly expensive.

aicon
10-01-2005, 01:00 PM
Beautifully detailed article! Well done, Ed!

From the way the mobile device OS landscape is looking, I guess the next thing that comes to mind is: Look out, Symbian!

While Symbian enthusiasts always have (mainly valid) points to make regarding the competition from WM but seem to miss the fact that WM is, so far, not aimed at the lower to middle end of the mobile phone market in which there are quite a few Symbian devices. Where I expect Symbian to lose ground is the high-end 'mobile office' device (Nokia's 9xxx series and Sony Ericsson's P9xx).

Other (assumably) more knowlegdeable people have stated the same thing (Symbian will lose to WM -or mobile Linux). See this article at msmobiles:

http://msmobiles.com/news.php/4231.html

It'll be a long hard 'fight' mainly because of the deep pockets and big market share of Nokia (and S-E to a lesser degree) who have major vested interest in holding on to Symbian but in the end WM will prevail as the OS of choice for both OEMs and users.

Aide

Kacey Green
02-20-2006, 04:24 PM
sorry to resurrect this, but I too have to vouch for the hand-held PC my nino was awesome until it burst into flames in the charger. RIP my friend.


(it didn't really burst into flames but there was visible smoke and she never worked again)