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SUNNYVALE, Calif., May 15, 2006 - Demonstrating its commitment to providing mobile professionals with a choice of smartphone operating systems, Palm, Inc. (Nasdaq: PALM) today announced the Palm Treo 700p smartphone, which includes hardware and software innovations centered around usability, connectivity, multimedia and compatibility. As the first Palm OS(R) CDMA-based Treo smartphone to offer the broadbandlike speeds of the EvDO (Evolution Data Optimized) network, the Treo 700p smartphone helps customers better balance their personal and professional lives by combining an easy-to-use mobile phone with high-speed wireless data access to web, email, business and multimedia applications.
Pricing and availability for the
Palm Treo 700p smartphone will be announced later by Sprint and Verizon
Wireless.
“The release of this Palm OS based product on the latest
high-speed network technology is music to the ears of our dedicated installed
base of Palm OS customers and clear validation that we intend to continue to
focus on multiple platforms for our solutions,” said Ed Colligan, president and
chief executive officer of Palm, Inc. “This flagship product – the
second new smartphone Palm will introduce this calendar year -- offers our
world-class usability combined with a smarter phone, wireless email, built-in
browser, and rich media capabilities – all at blazing speeds on the EvDO
network.”
As the newest member of the Treo family, the Treo 700p smartphone
combines the award-winning hardware design of the Treo 700w smartphone with Palm’s
innovative software that has shipped on approximately 3 million Palm OS based
Treo smartphones worldwide. Palm differentiates this smartphone from others in
the Treo line by offering the following features along with many additional
enhancements:
First Palm OS Based Treo Smartphone on EvDO
Adding a fast data connection to the already efficient Palm OS platform
speeds email, messaging and large attachment downloads, and dramatically enhances
web browsing. The speed of EvDO also allows for an enjoyable experience when
streaming multimedia content, and the Treo 700p smartphone ships with Palm’s
first built-in streaming application. The Treo 700p streams mobile content, such
as live TV, movie clips and audio from radio stations, as well as training
videos or company communications.
“With the rapid growth of next-generation networks and with burgeoning content becoming available, customers have soaring expectations for a high-quality mobile experience,” John Hartnett, senior vice president of worldwide sales and customer relations for Palm. “By delivering products like the Treo 700p, we will continue earning the loyalty of consumers, mobile professionals and businesses large and small.”
First Treo Smartphone with Built-in Dial-up Networking (DUN)
Capabilities
Treo 700p smartphone users can take advantage of broadbandlike EvDO
speeds on their laptop computers by using the new smartphone as a wireless
modem via USB or Bluetooth(R) wireless technology. This functionality
may eliminate the need to purchase Wi-Fi or other connectivity services at coffee
shops, airports and hotels. For the first time on any Treo product, this
capability is available out of the box. Individual carriers will set pricing for
appropriate data plans.
Supercharged Multimedia
In addition to the new streaming application, the Treo 700p
smartphone now includes a 1.3-megapixel camera and camcorder, offering four times
the resolution of a VGA camera. To help Palm customers organize and share their
photos, the new product makes it significantly easier to create and manage
photo and video albums. Once albums are created, Treo 700p smartphone customers
can use the slideshow application to add music, audio captions and transitions.
The Treo 700p includes Pocket Tunes from NormSoft, Inc. for
playing music files. The new application, with an easy-to-use Palm-customized
user interface, offers customers more options for sorting music and making play
lists. With an upgrade to Pocket Tunes Deluxe, Treo 700p customers can play
content from all music stores that use Microsoft’s PlaysForSure/Janus
technology.
Additional Memory
The Palm OS based Treo 700p smartphone includes 128MB of memory
(60MB user available). By using SD memory cards, currently available with 2GB
of storage (sold separately), in addition to the 60MB of dedicated user
storage, users have plenty of room to download and carry important documents
and multimedia content.
Other Treo 700p Features and Benefits
Superior
phone functionality, including personalized ring tones for various categories
of callers and the ability to ignore a call with text messaging;
New
voice-memo application, which can be used to create custom ring tones, add
voice annotations to photos or simply record a memo;
Enhanced
email and messaging, including better Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 ActiveSync
support, which now includes contact sync in addition to email and calendar, as
well as threaded SMS/MMS messages in a single chat view and out-of-the-box
support for Yahoo!, AOL, and Gmail;
Smarter,
faster web browsing using a new and improved version of the award-winning
Blazer browser;
Full
PDF support using DataViz(R) Documents To Go(R) Version
8.0, which also offers native support for Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint;
and
The fast, friendly and familiar Palm OS platform, Version 5.4.9.
In-box Treo 700p Smartphone Applications
A CD in the Treo 700p smartphone box includes
extra applications -- some free, others for a fee -- such as VoiceSignal, for
users who want voice dialing, and Avvenu, for those who want access to
their home- or work-computer files while on the go. A secure VPN software
client is provided by anthaVPN. Anyone with downtime could appreciate games from
Handmark (Solitaire) and Astraware (Bejeweled), while those with a commute may
find Palm Traffic to be a useful application. For book-lovers, the CD also
includes Palm eReader as well as software from Audible Inc. for
listening to audio books.
New applications for the Palm OS platform continue to be
developed. Two recent additions include scanR, which cleans photos of
whiteboards and documents and delivers the results as a PDF file, and Lower
Mars’ Mobile Golf Pro, which uses the Treo 700p smartphone’s streaming
application and the Blazer web browser to stream videos of golf lessons and
tips.
About Palm, Inc.
Palm, Inc., a leader in mobile
computing, strives to put the power of computing in people’s hands so they can
access and share their most important information. The company’s products for
consumers, mobile professionals and businesses include Palm(R) Treo(TM)
smartphones, Palm handheld computers, and Palm
LifeDrive(TM) mobile managers, as well as software, services and
accessories.
Palm products are sold through
select Internet, retail, reseller and wireless operator channels throughout the
world, and at Palm Retail Stores and Palm online stores (http://www.palm.com/store).
More information about Palm, Inc.
is available at http://www.palm.com.
DONT FORGET TO LISTEN TO OUR PALM TREO 700P OVERVIEW PODCAST



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