HP, Cingular Partner on New iPaqs

This story has been percolating for awhile on the various mobile sites, but Technology News reports on HP and Cingular teaming up to offer the new iPaq 6500 series beginning October 31. The two companies are touting the devices as the first pocket PCs in the U.S. able to connect to Cingular's EDGE network. The devices will retail for $449 with a two-year, $40 monthly wireless plan.

Ken Dulaney at Gartner wasn't exactly bullish on the announcement. he said, "It's nice they've got EDGE, but they have not made a compelling reason to browse on the device, yet. A lot of times, the carriers throw things at the wall to see what sticks. They don't really understand what you want to do with it, so there is a lack of planning."

Dulaney also noted Cingular's customer support issues in the past. "Will Cingular let HP support the device?" Dulaney asked. Lastly, he was critical of the design and features. "I think HP has got to go back to the drawing board with iPaq. I think they lost their way a bit," Dulaney added, although he expressed more optimism toward HP's iPaq 6700 line.

Yankee Group analyst John Jackson, citing the recent industry trend of partnerships, commented that it is being drven by customer demand for more flezxibility and interoperability. "The market becomes more and more partnership-driven, and the driver is the end users' demand for a highly flexible solution," he stated.

As a Cingular customer, this partnership seems like a real yawner. No Wi-Fi and only EDGE. It seems more like a lateral transistion from my Audiovox SMT-5600, although it does sport a keyboard and slightly faster data speeeds. Cingular seems to be playing catch up to Verizon (Samsung i730) and Sprint's HTC Apache (PPC-6700), which offers Wi-Fi and EV-DO. They are going to have to pick up the pace significantly if they want make it a race....