PalmSource: PDAs are poorly designed

NEWS Handheld PCs today include "everything but the kitchen sink", pack in costly hardware and lack design focus, said David Nagel, chief executive of PalmSource. According to the engineering journal EETimes, he said that this sort unimaginative design was hurting the market. PalmSource owns the Palm OS, which runs the majority of handhelds today. The softening market for handhelds means poorer results for software makers like PalmSource. Nagel was speaking at the Wireless Ventures conference held in the US on Thursday. He complained that there should be a sub-$200 (£124) phone-PDA hybrid to perk up demand in the market. The current $500 tags are too high, he said. In previous CNETAsia stories, IDC analysts have said that while the growth in the market for pure handhelds has slowed, the dollars are going to PDA-phone hybrids, such as the P800 from Sony Ericsson which uses the Symbian operating system. Worldwide, Palm maintains its number one position in the market with 36 per cent, followed by HP and Sony in third place. HP uses the Microsoft Pocket PC operating system, while Sony licenses the Palm OS from PalmSource. By CNETAsia staff