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`Copyright 1997 John Fairfax Publications Pty Ltd
`All Rights Reserved
`Sydney Morning Herald (Australia)
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`September 30, 1997 Tuesday
`Late Edition
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`SECTION: COMPUTERS; Information Technology; Pg. 7
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`LENGTH: 773 words
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`HEADLINE: IBM's corporate high flier;
`* HANDHELDS
`
`BYLINE: DAVID FLYNN
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`BODY:
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`IBM has taken another step away from big iron and hardware-centricity towards holistic "business solutions"
`packaging with this week's debut of the WorkPad, a rebadged version of the popular 3com/US Robotics PalmPilot
`handheld.
`
`Sharp-eyed sales representatives from Big Blue detected an opportunity when they saw PalmPilots sneaking onto
`corporate desks through the same well-oiled back door by which PCs entered en masse in the late '80s. Users aren't
`waiting for MIS reports, they aren't willing to fill in complicated purchase requests (it helps that the $US399 ($550)
`units fall below most capital expenditure limits), and they certainly don't want to wait a month or more until their latest
`productivity tool is delivered. What do they want? A pocket PC. When do they want it? Now!
`
`Initially offered in the United States only, the IBM WorkPad will be heavily marketed to IT managers and MIS
`administrators as a "PC companion" for road warriors and corridor cruisers alike, in addition to vertical industry
`markets.
`
`Those three initials on the plastic will give the PalmPilot the imprimatur desired by corporate buyers and allow it to
`stride through the front door, on contract and with full technical support. IBM has already given most field technicians
`full training on the PalmPilot and issued bulky manuals that were definitely not made with mobile computing in mind.
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`The WorkPad will be built by 3com/USR and will be based on the 1Mb PalmPilot Professional, which harnesses
`the small-footprint Palm OS 2.0 to a 32-bit 16MHz Motorola RISC chip.
`
`The only difference will be the name and the livery. The WorkPad's matt black case and red power button paint a
`colour scheme consistent with the company's ThinkPad notebooks - one of the few portables that stand out in a sea of
`
`VWGoA - Ex. 1009
`Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. - Petitioner
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`IBM's corporate high flier; * HANDHELDS Sydney Morning Herald (Australia) September 30, 1997 Tuesday
`
`look-alikes and an area in which IBM has almost unparalleled brand recognition.
`
`The price tag is identical and the peripherals and software are the same although, somewhat embarrasingly, the
`Expense Report application burnt into ROM supports only Excel and not IBM's Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet. IBM is
`believed to be having discussions with Palm Computing, creators of the PalmPilot, about programming new
`WorkPad-specific ROMs for the next version.
`
`Organiser 97 GS, from IBM's Lotus division, already boasts two-way synchronisation with the PalmPilot and
`before the year's end Lotus will release a free conduit enabling native support for Notes and NotesMail. Worldwide
`sales of "smart" handhelds - palmtop units with seamless PC connectivity - are expected to reach six million units in
`1998, according to a recent analysis from IDC.
`
`These bullish forecasts and the soaring success of the PalmPilot have reinvigorated the handheld market and
`unleashed a number of similar devices designed around a pocketable form factor, direct-to-screen pen input and an easy
`"link and sync" data exchange routine for Windows and Macintosh systems.
`
`Texas Instruments' Avigo aims to better the PalmPilot with a larger display, which switches between portrait and
`landscape view, and an infrared beam. The inbuilt applications include a spreadsheet, calculator, sketch pad and
`world-time clock.
`
`What's missing is a software development kit, the means by which third-party applications can be developed. This
`prevents software companies, corporate code-cutters and keen individuals from creating Avigo applets and can only act
`as a barrier to the device's success.
`
`Worse difficulties may befall the Sharp SE-500 Mobile Organiser. Pundits have applauded the built-in 14.4Kbps
`modem but are bemused by the lack of any pen input apart from freehand inking: the only way to enter text is to tap
`each character out on a minute on-screen keyboard.
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`The PalmPilot's most serious threat will come from - surprise, surprise - Microsoft. Team Bill is beavering away on
`its own "Pilot-killer". Codenamed Gryphon, the 32-bit pocket-sized device will employ a subset of Windows CE.
`Among the applications burned into ROM will be an organiser compatible with Microsoft Outlook and a spreadsheet
`similar in function to CE's Pocket Excel.
`
`The unit will permit pen entry based on the Inkwriter technology obtained through Microsoft's 1996 acquisition of
`AHA! Software. Infrared beaming and a software modem driving rudimentary Internet software are also rumoured to be
`in the hand-tooled alpha samples driven by a StrongARM RISC chip. This potent mix is enough to make all but the
`most dedicated Piloteer pull on a parachute and bail out, but with Gryphon not expected before February 1998, 3com,
`and now IBM, have enough lead time for the barnstorming PalmPilot to become a fixture in
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`corporate techno-culture.
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`LOAD-DATE: July 23, 2007
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