mmO2 to introduce Handspring Treo in Europe

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By Peter Sayer

(IDG) -- Mobile phone operator mmO2 PLC will distribute the Handspring Treo, a combined mobile phone and PDA (personal digital assistant) for use on its GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) networks in Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands and the UK, the company announced Tuesday.

Handspring Inc.'s Treo combines a GSM phone and a PDA running Palm Inc.'s Palm OS in a compact package, so users needn't carry two separate devices. As well as storing contacts and a date book, it will be able to make and receive phone calls, and access the Internet over GSM networks -- and, with a software upgrade due later this year, GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) mobile data networks too.

The Treo -- and a GSM version of Research In Motion Ltd.'s Blackberry wireless e-mail device, announced by mmO2 last year -- will be joined in May by the XDA, an mmO2-branded PDA running Microsoft Corp.'s Pocket PC software. The network operator plans to use the XDA as a way to promote new services based on other Microsoft software, announced separately Tuesday, according to mmO2 spokesman Simon Gordon.

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The two companies plan to deliver the services, aimed at business users, starting in the second quarter. The services will include mobile access to e-mail, contacts and calendar information stored on Microsoft Exchange servers, and secure access to corporate intranets over VPNs (virtual private networks). The services will be available over GPRS, and over the circuit-switched GSM network. The companies' plans also extend to service delivery over future 3G (third generation) mobile networks, the companies said in a statement.

Initially, Microsoft and mmO2 plan to let enterprises develop their own services based on Microsoft Mobile Information Server Enterprise and Carrier editions, selling the necessary software through their existing systems integrator and reseller channels, according to the statement.

Managed services may be offered by ASPs (application service providers) later, Gordon said.

"We are in talks with a number of ASPs to offer this. We want to open it to as many customers as we can," he said.

But the primary route to market for the services is going to be the XDA, a phone-cum-PDA to be manufactured by High Tech Computer Corp., the company behind Compaq Computer Corp.'s iPaq PDAs. The XDA, when it arrives in the UK and Germany in May, and in the Netherlands and Ireland in July, will be available bundled with back-end software, according to Gordon.

"We want to sell it packaged up, you buy the devices and you buy the packaged software and services," he said.

The XDA will sell for about £400 (US$580) in the UK for users signing an airtime agreement with mmO2, according to Gordon. The airtime will be an additional cost.

Access to the new enterprise services over GPRS will not be restricted to users of the XDA, however: "The Handspring (Treo) will be one of the devices that will support the services," Gordon said.

Handspring and mmO2 plan to issue a software patch for the Treo enabling GPRS operation in the third quarter of this year. As yet, no price has been set for the upgrade, Gordon said.

"It could be free, or we might levy a small charge," he said.

Handspring already charges for one software upgrade: Blazer, the Web browser included in the Treo, is available to users of older Handspring devices for US$19.95 in the U.S., or £16 in the UK

European distribution of the Treo will begin by the end of March, according to Gordon. The device will go on sale in the UK for about £350, but that price "will involve subscribing" to an airtime agreement, Gordon said. "The end game is to drive up revenue and traffic across our network."

In comparison, Handspring will sell the U.S. version of the Treo 180 for US$399 to users signing an airtime agreement, according to its Web site. This version of the Treo will work on 900MHz and 1900MHz GSM networks.

A different version of the Treo is needed in Europe, however, where GSM networks operate at either 900MHz or 1800MHz, but not at 1900MHz. The network of mmO2's German subsidiary, VIAG Interkom GmbH & Co., operates at 1800MHz, and so would not operate with the U.S. Treo.

No problem, said Gordon: "We will have a special 900MHz/1800MHz version built for the European market."

But users wishing to take their European Treo to the U.S. will be out of luck. It won't work there.

However, this is of little concern to mmO2. "We don't have a presence there -- it's not a market we are looking to sell into," Gordon said.