Cingular Denies Treo Is a Smartphone

Don't you just love it when people get their knickers in a twist just because something doesn't fit in their strictly defined version of the world? Top Tech News writes that Cingular is categorizing the Palm Treo as a PDA and not a smartphone. According to comments in a ZDNet blog, Cingular classifies the new Cingular 2125 (HTC Faraday)as a smartphone, but "does not consider the Treo 700w to be a smartphone, despite the fact that it too runs Windows Mobile 5.0." In Cingular view of the world, "a smartphone has to be a voice-centric device, which the Treo is not."

Yankee Group analyst John Jackson said, "What people care about is the functionality offered by a device."

David Linsalata at IDC added, "You get handheld devices which are basically cellphones, but which also have some of the capabilities of what would traditionally be considered a smartphone. Similarly, data-centric devices are getting voice capabilities. Ultimately, the question is what kind of experience do consumers get with a cellphone as opposed to a PDA or a smartphone when they want to carry out advanced applications," he said.

As Michael Gartenberg at JupiterResearch mentioned several times in his comparison review of the Treo 700 vs PPC-6700, it's all about personal choice. No one really cares what category the device falls under as long as it gets the job done....