New Palm comes at a handy price

Mobile computing vendor Palm is specifically targeting the consumer market with a low-cost personal digital assistant (PDA) that it plans to sell through outlets such as supermarkets.

With a retail price of £70, the new device - called the Zire - will undercut Sony's entry-level Palm-based device by around £40.

Palm hopes that by introducing the device it will be able to buck the current downward trend in handheld sales. The Zire will be launched on 7 October.

But Palm has not deserted its traditional customer base and has revamped its pricier, higher-end models, which will go on sale on 28 October.

One will be a model based on ARM architecture with built-in Bluetooth capability and the next-generation Palm operating system, OS 5.

While Bluetooth capability is currently available through Secure Digital slots in Palm devices, by building it in as standard the company has freed up the slot for other applications.

The third model will also include GPRS connectivity and come with a suite of applications for accessing enterprise data.

This PDA is aimed at the corporate market, which Palm hopes to woo into seeing handheld devices as legitimate and integral business equipment.

Pricing for these models has yet to be finalised.