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Pocket PCs enable reading on the move

Microsoft has renamed its next generation Windows CE-based palm sized PCs as Pocket PCs and said they will feature technology that enables consumers to carry around a library of books in their coat pockets.

  • Jan Howells at CES in Las Vegas
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Microsoft has renamed its next generation Windows CE-based palm sized PCs as Pocket PCs and said they will feature technology that enables consumers to carry around a library of books in their coat pockets.

Microsoft showed off its first pocket eBook at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week and confirmed that Microsoft Reader with Cleartype will be built into its up and coming family of Pocket PCs. Microsoft Reader is claimed to deliver an on-screen computer reading experience that, for the first time, matches the convenience and quality of traditional printed books.

Expected to ship in the first half of this year, Microsoft maintains its Pocket PCs will put the best of PCs into a pocket sized device giving users the freedom to better manage their work and life, any time, anywhere.

"With Reader software, consumers really will be able to carry a library in their pocket," said Dick Brass, vice president of technology development at Microsoft. "A typical Pocket PC will be able to store hundreds of books, from today's latest titles to long-revered literary classics."

Purchasers of the first Pocket PC devices will be able to choose from thousands of titles. Microsoft Reader includes a built-in dictionary as well as a library that can store and manage a large collection of books and other documents. It also features a flexible copy-protection system that allows publishers to distribute titles with protection from piracy and illegal copying.

Microsoft Reader is scheduled to be available with the first Pocket PCs during the first half of 2000. Microsoft Reader will be available for Windows-based PCs and notebooks in 2001.

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