Ha har me hearties!! Cap'n Billy spies cheap handhelds off the starboard bow... soon they'll be in the Palm of moi hand [evil cackling laughter to fade...]
Ahem, and on with the news:
Microsoft and Samsung on Monday announced they have teamed up to develop a design for low-cost handhelds, a market dominated by rival Palm.
Devices based on the design will use Microsoft's Pocket PC software and Samsung's 200MHz ARM9-based S3C2410 application processor and will have 32MB of memory. The design also calls for a 3.5-inch color or black-and-white display, Secure Digital and SDIO support, and a petite 4.1-inch-by-2.8-inch, 2.9-ounce case.
The announcement with Samsung underscores Microsoft's recent emphasis on the low-end market. The software giant and its hardware partners have traditionally offered devices with advanced features to the corporate market, where prices tend to be in the $500 range. The high end of the market is a smaller segment compared with the low end, but profit margins are larger.
"The last outpost for us is the low-cost category," said Microsoft spokesman Ed Suwanjindar. "A poor customer experience was the only aversion to the low end, but with component costs coming down, we can now offer advanced features for lower prices." Microsoft said the design is meant to help PDA (personal digital assistant) makers offer lower prices and get the devices to market faster than if they had to develop them on their own. Devices based on the design aren't due out until next year.
View: Microsoft extends its low-end PDA reach
News source: c|net
