Saturday, July 27, 2002
Dell to sell Windows CE device?
Posted by Ed Hansberry in "NEWS" @ 03:00 AM
http://news.com.com/2100-1040-946651.html?tag=fd_top
Rumors have been flying about Dell possibly selling a Pocket PC device in the coming months. It appears they may have changed course, slightly. "Dell is looking for a manufacturer to supply about 1.5 million devices, First Albany analyst Walter Winnitzki said in a note to clients. Winnitzki cited sources as saying that Dell will turn to Taiwan's Compal for the device, which will likely go on sale in the fall and use a variant of Microsoft's Windows CE operating system."
This doesn't mean it won't be a Pocket PC. In fact, the Pocket PC could be considered a variant of the Windows CE OS. But it could also mean they will grow their own, similar to what Casio did with the BE-300. For a company looking to get into the PDA business with a sub $300 device, going the CE route versus the Pocket PC route could make sense. As I understand the Pocket PC license, Microsoft has some minimum hardware requirements such as a microphone for voice recording, a speaker for rich audio, a 240 X 320 screen, a stereo headphone jack, 32MB flash ROM, etc. While it makes for a standard platform, it drives the price up.
So, maybe it is a Pocket PC, and maybe it isn't. What do you think? Source: Peter West
Rumors have been flying about Dell possibly selling a Pocket PC device in the coming months. It appears they may have changed course, slightly. "Dell is looking for a manufacturer to supply about 1.5 million devices, First Albany analyst Walter Winnitzki said in a note to clients. Winnitzki cited sources as saying that Dell will turn to Taiwan's Compal for the device, which will likely go on sale in the fall and use a variant of Microsoft's Windows CE operating system."
This doesn't mean it won't be a Pocket PC. In fact, the Pocket PC could be considered a variant of the Windows CE OS. But it could also mean they will grow their own, similar to what Casio did with the BE-300. For a company looking to get into the PDA business with a sub $300 device, going the CE route versus the Pocket PC route could make sense. As I understand the Pocket PC license, Microsoft has some minimum hardware requirements such as a microphone for voice recording, a speaker for rich audio, a 240 X 320 screen, a stereo headphone jack, 32MB flash ROM, etc. While it makes for a standard platform, it drives the price up.
So, maybe it is a Pocket PC, and maybe it isn't. What do you think? Source: Peter West
