SAN FRANCISCO, United States—News of the official launch of Microsoft’s new personal digital assistant (PDA) operating system sparked dozens of major wireless, software and device company announcements of new products and support for Pocket PC 2002.
Microsoft and its industry partners celebrated the launch with simultaneous events in San Francisco and London. Steve Ballmer, Microsoft’s chief executive officer, gave the keynote at the San Francisco event. He announced the widespread retail availability of Pocket PC 2002-based devices from a range of manufacturers, including Compaq, HP, Audiovox and Toshiba, and that Acer, Audiovox, Eten, Fujitsu, Inventec, Itautec, NEC and O2 (formerly BT Cellnet) are among Microsoft’s new Pocket PC licensees.
“It’s incredibly functional,” said Jessica Figueras, an analyst with research firm Ovum, of the new operating system. “It’s stuffed full of new features.”
Microsoft’s stock was up slightly on 4 October to about US$58 per share. Microsoft’s chief rival in the PDA space, Palm, also saw its stock increase 12 percent to US$1.73 per share.
