Motorola pins its hopes on PDA with GPRS

Motorola has become the latest manufacturer to jump on the smartphone bandwagon, announcing plans for a device that combines both phone and personal digital assistant functionality using GPRS network technology.

The company has already started testing a GSM version of the device, the Accompli 008, in Asia, and is set to commence beta testing in Europe. It will be available in Asia at the end of May, with the European version following in the summer.

Bob Schukai, Motorola's European director of Accompli 3G product marketing, said the phone had been well received during trials conducted so far.

He said the Accompli 008 was originally targeted solely at enterprise users and early 'gadget' adopters, but has been surprised at its diverse appeal.

"We've dabbled in this area before," said Schukai. "We recognise that the world doesn't suddenly want to do 100 per cent data downloads, so this lets you do all the things you would do on a PC."

The use of smartphones is set to explode, according to researcher IDC. In a recent report it said that by 2004 there would be 23 million users and a year on year growth rate of 43 per cent.

Also published in Computing