Entelligence: Happy 10th birthday, Pocket PC

Microsoft introduced the world to Pocket PC on April 19th, 2000 at a relatively small gathering in Grand Central Station in New York City. Pocket PC was the company’s response to Palm, which at that time was leading the PDA market — for many geeks, using a personal digital assistant was indeed a public display of affection. I was at the launch event — in fact, I was even quoted in the press release. Microsoft introduced four devices that day with their partners: the Casio EM500, the HP Jornada 545 & 548, the Symbol Technologies PPT2700, and the Compaq iPAQ. The iPAQ was the flagship of the Pocket PC line and the hottest handheld you could buy at the time: it had a slim form factor with “sleeves” that could be attached to add functionality such as Compact Flash or PCMCIA cards, a “fast” ARM processor and a killer indoor/outdoor screen. Availability was limited and prices on eBay quickly topped $1,000 for the scarce unit.

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Entelligence: Happy 10th birthday, Pocket PC originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 25 Apr 2010 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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