
Once the glittering crown jewel of the Windows Mobile world, HP has sat back, taken it easy on R&D, and watched its empire dwindle to an empty husk of what it once was. The reasons are unclear, but other manufacturers have certainly had no qualms about rushing in to fill the void -- most notably HTC, the ODM largely responsible for HP's success in the first place. Does it stand a chance of reclaiming the throne? Eh, with so many competitors in the game at this point, probably not, but that may not stop it from trying. Rumors have been swirling the last few days that HP will surround its
iPAQ 510 Windows Mobile 6 Standard smartphone with a wide variety of devices positioned both above and below it, and if the details pan out, there could definitely be a few winners in the bunch. The 600 series is said to be similar to the 510 in form factor -- candybar with a numeric keypad -- but will add tri-band HSDPA, a touch sensitive navigation wheel, double the RAM and ROM, and will sport Windows Mobile Professional in place of Standard. The 900 should be largely similar, but trades the numeric keypad for a QWERTY version. Word on the street is that these should be announced in September with availability late in the year -- if it all turns out to be true, we wish the best of luck to ya, HP!
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Don't Panic! @ Aug 13th 2007 10:49PM
While I'll agree that HP nee Compaq had a PDA empire, I'm afraid they waited to long to get in on the Smartphone market. Now with all those PDA firms abandoning the business I could see them reclaiming the PDA empire they once had but they have a long, long, long, way to go to stir up the Smartphone market.
GBot @ Aug 14th 2007 1:53AM
HP rightfully decided to hold out.
With Dell jumping ship, despite the Axim's oh-so-pimpness, and Microsoft giving us a sorry excuse for a WinMo upgrade, they saved themselves the financial burden of trying to anticipate what the iPhone-obsessed world would want.
HTC filled all our needs... but there's only one HTC.
Let the iPhone dust settle, and HP should have no prob getting back in the saddle.