Brighthand and Pocket PC Thoughts have linked to a month-old Datamonitor article about Microsoft loosening the Pocket PC hardware requirements. According to Datamonitor, Pocket PC 2003 devices may have built-in keyboards and portrait QVGA screens as small as 2.8 inches.
At this stage that hardly qualifies as innovative.
Until recently Microsoft had done an excellent job of leveraging Moore’s Law to gain handheld marketshare while Palm kept their head burried in the sand, but the free ride is over. For some time now, PalmSource has been offering a single platform that can scale from the smallest cell phone to the most feature-packed handheld. Microsoft needs two different platforms to cover the same ground — SmartPhone and Pocket PC.
At this point, I’m not sure that either of Microsoft’s platforms offer any advantages over Palm OS. PalmSource’s lack of cellular integration hasn’t prevented Palm, Handspring, Samsung, or Kyocera from launching devices. Microsoft’s platforms can multi-task, but PalmSource will add that capability this year. Meanwhile, PalmSource’s single-platform approach offers something that Microsoft cannot: application compatibility across the entire product range.
By refusing to support multiple screen resolutions, orientations, and aspect ratios in their handheld platforms, Microsoft is now the one that is imitating the Ostrich.
