Palm Enterprise

PalmSource, the provider of Palm OS, recently claimed the number of registered enterprise Palm OS developers has surpassed 100,000, with over 12,000 new enterprise developers registered in the last six months.

Registered enterprise developers building mobile applications for Palm Powered mobile devices span business processes, including customer relationship management, sales force automation, supply chain

AppForge Joins Microsoft Council

AppForge, which sells multi-platform mobile and wireless application development solutions, has joined the Microsoft Mobility Partner Advisory Council, which aims to allow companies to work more collaboratively.

AppForge Crossfire is an application development environment that extends and simplifies Microsoft .NET and Visual Basic 6 development to mobile and wireless devices. With Crossfire, developers can create enterprise applications for PDA's, Smartphones and industrial devices.

Productivity to Priority

The top priority for equipping employees with mobile devices and solutions is to increase worker productivity. According to a recent survey of enterprise decision makers and mobile technology managers from IDC's Mobile Advisory Counsel (MAC), increased worker productivity ranked higher than any other potential strategic benefit of mobility, including reduced field service time, increased revenue and market share, and reduced costs.

Enterprises ahead of the mobility curve are no longer satisfied with basic wireless access and limited mobility - 36% of the organizations surveyed currently provide wireless access to their back-end servers, applications, and/or data for mobilizing corporate applications, and another 28% plan to do so in the next 12 months. The true leading-edge organizations have already mobilized applications such as CRM, field service, and sales force automation tools.

Chroma Games

Astraware along with Whitehorse Games has released Chroma Games, long available for the Palm platform, for Pocket PC. The Chroma Games bundle includes checkers, chess and backgammon. It sells for $19.95.

In related news, Astraware has also release their first conversion of a Digit Eel title with Strange Adventures in Infinite Space ($19.95) for the Palm OS and Pocket PC.

Originally released for PC, the cult classic Strange Adventures in Infinite Space was an Independent Games Festival Finalist and has spawned multiple fan sites. Strange Adventures in Infinite Space (or SAIS to its friends) puts the player at the helm of a deep space exploration vessel at the edge of the infamous Purple Void.

The game consists of short (between 5-20 minutes) mini adventures of which no two are ever the same. Infinite possibilities arise from randomly generated star maps consisting of 21 different ship types, over 60 different weapons, drives, shields, gadgets and artifacts, 18 alien life forms and 17 different planets and star types.

In other news, Astraware is also developing a version of PopCap's Zuma, an action puzzle game, for Palm OS and Pocket PC handhelds.

SMART BlackBerries

Philippine carrier SMART Communications has introduced two new BlackBerry Wireless Handhelds, the BlackBerry 7230 and BlackBerry 7730. Supporting international roaming on GSM/GPRS networks, the new Java-based BlackBerry handhelds feature high-resolution color screens with the BlackBerry 7730 having the larger display, while, while BlackBerry 7230 comes in a compact design. Like most BlackBerries, these models integrate email, corporate data, phone, SMS, web and organizer applications.

7730

7230

In related news, Cable & Wireless will offer the BlackBerry 7280, a tri-band 850/1800/1900MHz device, in Jamaica. And the first BlackBerry offering available to Vodafone customers in Ireland wil be the BlackBerry 7230.

Sprint Gives Symbol Thumbs Up

Sprint has certified two industrial handheld computers from Symbol Technologies for use on its PCS Network. The Symbol MC9000-K and MC9000-S are the first set of Sprint-certified rugged devices to offer both voice and data services.

As part of a Sprint Business Solutions Program membership agreement, Sprint and Symbol will work jointly to co-market and sell the two new handheld computers through the business sales channels of both companies.

Pocket Controller-Professional

Pocket Controller-Professional ($27) from SOTI Inc. has been updated to version 4.11. The application allows users to quickly enter data into their Pocket PC using their desktop/notebook computer keyboard and mouse. The product includes a variety of features such as real-time remote control, view in skin or windowed mode, file transfer, DOS Box, screen capture, printing, training and demonstration tools.

Some of the enhancements include support for Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition, and smartphones, new Skins, an enhanced Windows XP user interface, automatic installation of device side software, an enhanced explore tool that handles removable disks and more.

Aeon of Discovery

Aeon of Discovery ($9.95) from Trisystech is a new turn-based strategy game for the Pocket PC involving four major maritime powers during the Period of Exploration and Discovery. As England, France, Spain, or Portugal, explore and colonize the New World during the 15th Century and beyond, players must deal with Native Americans, pirates, plagues, and an onslaught of enemy raids. Send historically-based explorers on expeditions into uncharted territory or lead your soldiers on raids against enemy colonies.

Handango InHand for Java Phones

Handango InHand for Java-enabled mobile phones is an intelligent, device-resident download client. Using InHand, Handango claims operators and OEMs can increase download revenues by delivering an on-device, fully-managed and branded customer experience on any Java-enabled mobile phone. Handango InHand for Java-enabled phones was developed with Ascendo.

In addition to the Java edition, Handango InHand is available for Symbian OS 7.0+ and Windows Mobile-based devices. Handango InHand is currently bundled as the Sony Ericsson Application Shop Client on all Sony Ericsson P900's and as the Voq Software Store on the Voq Professional Phone.

AT&T Wireless Joins Palm Program

AT&T Wireless has joined PalmSource's Palm Powered Mobile World program, which aims to connect mobile operators, application developers and users of Palm-based mobile devices. AT&T Wireless joins existing mobile operator partners Orange, Sprint and Telefonica Moviles Espana, as well as more than a dozen other infrastructure and middleware partners. As a partner in the Palm Powered Mobile World program, AT&T Wireless will collaborate with PalmSource on marketing and distribution and more.

Mahjong

Absolutist.com has released Mahjong for Palm OS and Pocket PC PDAs and smartphones. Mahjongg is a universally played board game. Play Classic or Shuffle game, Word Mahjongg or Math Mahjongg. All these games train attention, eye memory, as well as, due to the new and original game variants, help kids learn alphabet and reading. The application sells for $16.95.

Handheld Portal

five-alive.net is a handheld optimized portal that supports almost all common PDA´s and smartphones. The person who runs the portal says he created it back in December 2001 as a result of inconveniences in getting mobile content. It features 450 PDA friendly links.

Most of the links lead to content such as financial and business news, national portals and international press. But it also covers mobile technology, weather, travel, sports and even private Web sites, as long as they are PDA friendly.

Pocket Tunes 3.0

Version 3.0 of NormSoft's Pocket Tunes audio player for the Palm OS, is now available. Included in this latest version are support for WMA files, Windows Media Player Integration, tag-based song selection and enhanced support for new audio formats using plugins. Pocket Tunes is the first Palm OS audio player to support WMA.

Two versions of Pocket Tunes, Basic ($14.95) and Deluxe ($27.95), are available. The Basic version c offers customizable displays (Skins), a hi-fidelity equalizer and WMP desktop integration, among other features. The Deluxe version contains all of the Pocket Tunes Basic features, along with WMA (unprotected) file support, crossfade, gapless playback, ShoutCast support and bookmarks.

AnotherBall

Paragon Software presents the new release of the Time Killer edition of AnotherBall ($14.95) game for Palm OS. The new 3.0 version has 10 new additional levels, the possibility of unlimited bettering of the score, new graphics and stereo sound effects.

powerOne Finance 5.0

Infinity Softworks has released version 5 of its powerOne Finance ($60) financial calculator software and its Finance Pack ($30) add-on for powerOne Graph graphing-scientific calculator software. Templates are included for calculating loans, leases, amortizations, net present value, and internal rate of return in TVM and Cash Flows. Other templates include unit and currency conversions, percent change, markup/margin, sum, depreciation and bonds.

The Finance Pack integrates with powerOne Graph. powerOne Graph offers graphing and plotting, descriptive and inferential statistics, algebraic and multi-line stack RPN input modes, and advanced mathematics for powers, trigonometry, calculus, matrices, complex numbers and more. The Finance Pack includes all templates available in powerOne Finance v5, plus plotting from the TVM and Cash Flow templates.

Treo 600 Case

JAVOedge is offering a new JAVOLeatherCase design for the palmOne Treo 600. Design 2 ($34.95) features a slim top flap design with an locking clip mechanism. This insures full functionality of your Treo 600 with it is locked in the case. It also features a magnetic closure.

Sync AvantGo from MAC

AvantGo, the popular mobile internet service, is now available to Mac OS X users through The Missing Sync from Mark/Space. Using this technology, AvantGo subscribers can synchronize thousands of channels of news, sports, entertainment and more between a Mac OS X-based desktop and a number of popular handhelds.

Treo Battery Upgrade

PDAparts.com in collaboration with Mugen Power today released a Treo 600 internal battery upgrade. With the new Treo 600 Internal battery, the company said you will see a 25% - 30% increase in battery life. D

BlackBerry IM

Antepo has a new BlackBerry add-on client to OPN System, the company's client-server EIM solution. The BlackBerry client extends enterprise connectivity to mobile executives using BlackBerry Wireless Handhelds, offering access to OPN System's instant messaging capabilities while in meetings or on the move.