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Feb 04, `08 — The first chip to pack more than two billion transistors has been launched by silicon giant Intel. The quad-core chip, known as Tukwila, is designed for high-end servers rather than personal computers.

It operates at speeds of up to 2Ghz, the equivalent of a standard PC chip. A large number of the transistors on the new Intel chip are used for memory. “[It] contains lots off onboard memory and registers which are just a very efficient computer architecture to process data faster. Cache memory holds data to be processed by the chip. The closer it is to the processor, the quicker the data can be crunched.

Intel will also show off a chip designed for ultra-mobile devices, known as Silverthorne. The processor is based on the firms latest transistor technology which contains features just 45 nanometers (billionth of a meter) wide.

Both chips will be shown off at the International Solid State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) in San Francisco.

LONDON, England, and TOKYO, Japan, February 4, 2008—LiMo Foundation, a global consortium of mobile leaders delivering an open handset platform for the whole industry, today announced the on-schedule availability in March 2008 of the first release of the LiMo Platform—the first globally competitive, Linux-based software platform for mobile handsets—together with the immediate public availability of the application programming interface (API) specifications.

LiMo’s technology will be showcased in Booth 8b135, Hall 8 at Mobile World Congress, February 11-14 in Barcelona.

LiMo’s initial Founder members—Motorola, NEC, NTT DoCoMo, Panasonic Mobile Communications, Samsung Electronics and Vodafone—collaborated on Release 1 (R1), and nearly all of the enabling technology within R1 has been commercially deployed and proven within handsets enjoyed by consumers today.

The LiMo Platform—leveraging standards and open-source projects—is a modular, plug-in-based, hardware-independent architecture built around an open operating system, with a secure run-time environment for support of downloaded applications. Linux was selected as the core technology for the LiMo Platform for its acceptability by the whole mobile industry, its rich functionality and scalability, its record of success in embedded systems and mobile phones and its potential to easily “cross-platformize” with other product categories.

Third-party developers will use LiMo’s API specifications—available in beta form immediately at www.limofoundation.org—to build new applications that deliver next-generation consumer experiences across a tremendous, stable base of globally deployed mobile devices. Middleware components for the LiMo Platform can be implemented in either C or C++ programming languages.

Launched in January 2007, the LiMo Foundation is open to all vendors and service providers in the mobile communications marketplace, including device manufacturers, operators, chipset manufacturers, independent software vendors, integrators and third-party developers. More at Limofoundation.org.

WASHINGTON — Feb 01, `08 — Although a major auction of prime public airwaves, the 700 MHz, is far from finished, there already appears to be a big winner: the US consumer.

A bid on the largest portion of public wireless airwaves, now being auctioned by the US government, reached $4.7 billion Thursday, surpassing a threshold price that would trigger so-called open-access rules that would allow any legal mobile device or software program to use those airwaves.

While bidding was anonymous, analysts speculated that Google and Verizon Wireless, a joint venture between Verizon Communications and Vodafone Group, were the likely bidders on that swath, or about one-third of the total spectrum being auctioned.

Winners, however, will not be known until the entire auction by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission ends, a process that could take several more weeks. The auction began Jan. 24.

To retain the open-access conditions on that spectrum, a minimum $4.6 billion bid was required. The commission is selling a spectrum that is being freed as part of the switch to digital television in February 2009. The airwaves are considered especially valuable because the frequencies travel long distances and can easily pass through walls.

The rules, advocated by Google and a coalition of consumer and public interest groups, will help pry open traditionally closed wireless networks that prevent people from taking their phones with them when switching providers.

Google, AT&T and Verizon Communications are among 214 qualified bidders for nearly 1,100 licenses to pieces of the spectrum that vary from a nationwide swath to regional slivers.

Because of strict rules to prevent collusion, bidders won’t be identified until the auction ends, and companies are forbidden from commenting on their activity. Based on the limited bidding information available, Verizon is probably the high bidder on the open-access chunk, but Google is also a possibility, said Blair Levin, an analyst at brokerage Stifel, Nicolaus & Co.

“The amount of activity that we’ve already seen occurring demonstrates just how significant the interest is in this piece of spectrum,” FCC Chairman Kevin J. Martin said.

“The openness requirement is important both in terms of the innovation it will lead to on the edges of the network and the ability of consumers to take advantage of that innovation,” Martin further added during a briefing with reporters yesterday.

CES 2008 — Las Vegas — Jan 07, `08 — Intel unveiled 16 products today, including the company’s first 45 nanometer (nm) processors for Intel Centrino Processor Technology based laptops.

With the introduction of the new processors, Intel will offer 32 desktop, laptop and server processors based on these innovations. Intel also announced continuing momentum in ultra mobile computing and WiMAX.

Mobility: Intel Announces Santa Rosa Refresh Product Line
Santa Rosa Refresh – Intel launched “Santa Rosa Refresh,” an update to Intel Centrino processor technology that includes the next-generation 45nm high-k (Hi-k) mobile processor (codenamed “Penryn”) and improved graphics capabilities.

• 45nm Hi-k Intel Core 2 Duo mobile processor for Centrino — Taking advantage of the Hafnium-based, Hi-k metal gate reinvented transistors inside, Santa Rosa Refresh-based notebooks deliver improved platform performance and great battery life. Graphics improvement focuses on HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc support with an optional third-party decoder, as well as enhanced content and gaming capabilities.
• Santa Rosa Refresh for Desktop — Intel will also use this new mobile technology foundation with the energy-efficient performance of the 45nm Intel Core 2 Duo processor to enable a variety of smaller, cooler and quieter, stylish desktop designs.

Mobile Internet Devices:
• Intel confirms “Menlow” platform shipments in the first half of 2008: Intel is getting ready to ship its first-generation low-power platform, codenamed “Menlow,” in the first half of the year. The Menlow platform is comprised of the “Silverthorne” processor and the “Poulsbo” chipset, both being designed from the ground up for MIDs and UMPCs. At CES, Intel provided a sneak peek of some of the upcoming “Menlow”-based devices and applications that are being optimized for this platform.
• Intel unveils customers planning to launch Menlow-based platforms at CES: In a sign of growing momentum behind MIDs and UMPCs, Intel is showcasing a range of Menlow-based devices from customers who expect to ship these products later this year. In its technology showcase, Intel has Menlow-based MIDs and UMPCs from Aigo, Asus, BenQ, Clarion, Compal, Digifriends, EB, Gigabyte, Lenovo, LG-E, LiteOn, Quanta, Toshiba, USI, and Willcom.
• Skype announces support for Intel-based MIDs: Skype announced a collaboration with Intel to develop a mobile Skype experience for MIDs based on Intel low power processors and chipsets. Mobile users will be able to make Skype voice and video calls and send instant messages on the move while harnessing the PC-like performance of Intel’s MIDs. This new category of small, truly mobile consumer devices with WiMAX and Wi-Fi capabilities will enable free Skype-to-Skype voice and video calls and cheap SkypeOut calls to be made on open wireless networks.

WiMAX: Mobile WiMAX Takes the Stage in 2008
Intel’s integrated Wi-Fi/WiMAX module (codenamed “Echo Peak”) will debut in certain next-generation Intel Centrino processor-based laptops (codenamed “Montevina”) beginning in the middle of the year. The company’s low-power mobile WiMAX silicon specifically designed for mobile Internet and consumer electronic devices (codenamed “Baxter Peal”) will also be available this year.

Consumer Desktop PCs: 45nm Goes Mainstream this Quarter
• “Penryn” family of processors comes to mainstream desktop PCs – Intel announced three quad-core and four dual-core 45nm-based processors for consumer desktop PCs arriving later this month and throughout the first quarter of the year. The new 45nm Intel Core 2 Quad and Intel Core 2 Duo processors have a range of speeds and feature large L2 caches and Intel HD Boost, which delivers increased performance on such multimedia applications as video editing and encoding.
• Intel Core 2 Processor with Viiv technology – Intel will also extend the performance and energy efficiency of the new 45nm processors with Intel HD Boost to the Intel Core 2 Processor with Viiv technology platform. The company will also focus future plans on delivering silicon-driven capabilities that support the areas of better connecting, protecting and managing digital content – as well as delivering the performance required to view, share and enjoy it.

• Later this quarter:
– The Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9770 Processor (3.2 GHz/1600 MHz system bus 45nm Hi-k metal gate processor formerly codenamed “Yorkfield”) and Intel X48 Express Chipset targeted at high-end PC users and enthusiasts. The Intel X48 Express Chipset continues to push the performance envelope with native support for XMP 1600 DDR3 memory.
– “Skulltrail” is a new dual processor-based platform that will provide extreme high-end enthusiasts with a fantastic professional media creation and gaming experience. The platform will feature two quad-core Intel Core 2 Extreme processors for 8-core performance and 4 PCI Express x16 Gen 1.1 slots with planned support for up to 4 graphics cards. More at Intel (in pdf).

Irvine, Calif — Dec 31, `07 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX News Network/ — Broadcom announced that a federal judge today issued an injunction against Qualcomm’s continued infringement of three Broadcom patents.

As ordered by US District Court Judge James V. Selna, the injunction prohibits Qualcomm from making, using and selling certain chipsets and software that infringe the three Broadcom patents. Qualcomm is also barred from engaging in a range of marketing and customer support activities related to its WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) and EV-DO (EVolution-Data Only) chips, which are used to process data on high-speed wireless networks.

A Qualcomm spokeswoman said the company was reviewing the ruling and declined further comment. Qualcomm, based in San Diego, is the world’s second-largest chip supplier for mobile phones after Texas Instruments Inc. It earns much of its money from licensing fees on its patented technology.

Broadcom, based in Irvine, California, is a newcomer to the cell phone business but gained ground in 2007 in a wide-ranging court battle with Qualcomm.

In May 2007, a jury awarded Broadcom $19.6 million in damages for the same chip patents. In November, Selna indicated he would up the award to $39.3 million, but reversed himself when a a federal appellate court raised the bar for proving willful patent infringement.

The judge then took up the question of whether future sales of the chips should be stopped, resulting in Monday’s order.

“The ITC order did not go nearly as far in prohibiting other activities from Qualcomm,” said David Rosmann, vice president of intellectual property litigation with Broadcom. “The U.S. District Court order has in some respects much broader remedies. So the activities that are going to be barred by this injunction go a long way to stopping Qualcomm’s continued operations in support of these infringing chips.”

Broadcom is also suing Qualcomm on other patent infringement and antitrust claims, Rosmann said. The antitrust case is expected to go to trial in 2009. More at Broadcom.

PORTLAND, Ore –BUSINESS WIRE– Dec 19, `07 — The WiMAX Forum today announced its lead certification lab is now open for formal Mobile WiMAX certification testing and evaluation of Mobile WiMAX products.

WiMAX Forum vendors may begin immediately submitting their 2.3 GHz and 2.5 GHz Mobile WiMAX equipment for testing. The WiMAX Forum’s lead certification lab is headquartered at AT4 Wireless in Spain. The WiMAX Forum expects its four other certification labs in the US, Taiwan, China and Korea to open for formal Mobile WiMAX certification testing shortly.

“Certification facilitates Xohm’s model for open access,” remarked Barry West, president of Sprint’s Xohm Business Unit. “We applaud the WiMAX Forum for this important and timely step, which will encourage device innovation in anticipation of Sprint’s WiMAX network launch in the US”Throughout 2008, service providers are expected to expand current Mobile WiMAX deployments to broader populations in their regions. The WiMAX Forum currently estimates that more than 300 operators in over 65 countries have deployed Mobile WiMAX pilots and trials.

As Mobile WiMAX deployments continue to grow in size and scope in 2008, the WiMAX Forum plans to open new certification labs in India and Taiwan to address the demand for equipment certification. Based on the proliferation of certified equipment, the WiMAX Forum will conduct additional product interoperability activities for new Mobile WiMAX profiles and features, such as testing for the planned certification for 3.5 GHz and 700 MHz profiles and core network certification through Mobile WiMAX PlugFests in 2008. More at WiMAX Forum.

Taipei, Taiwan — Dec 19, `07 — DigiTimes is reporting on Motorola’s plan to launch its next-generation Linux-based “Ming” handsets in the second quarter of 2008, with the hand input intelligence handsets to be available in both high-end and entry-level versions, citing Bill Chen, general manager of of mobile device business at Motorola Taiwan.

DigiTimes further reports, “While Motorola’s R&D center in Beijing will continue to handle the development of the high-end version of the new Ming handsets, the US vendor will outsource the production of the new entry-level Ming handsets to the Taiwan-based Inventec Group, according to market sources, who also noted that the new Ming handsets will continue to support the 2.5G standard.

Motorola on December 17 launched its high-end 3.5G RAZR V9 in Taiwan, and the company plans to introduce in Taiwan a Symbian-based ROKR Z8, Windows Mobile-based Q9 and three entry-level models, including the W360 and W213, before the end of this year, Chen said.” More at DigiTimes.

Washington — Dec 18, ‘07 — A venture led by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen has applied to bid in an upcoming auction of 700 MHz wireless airwaves, according to FCC’s “Accepted Applications” list released on late Tuesday, Reuters reports.

Allen was listed with an entity called Vulcan Spectrum LLC among the applicants who filed to bid in the FCC auction of 700-megahertz spectrum, which is scheduled to begin on January 24.

Allen and Vulcan Spectrum were on a list of scores of potential bidders who filed applications ahead of a December 3 FCC deadline. The auction applicants also included, Google, AT&T, Verizon Wireless and Qualcomm.

The FCC-run auction is expected to take several weeks, or even months, of daily, back-and-forth bidding, with the identities of the bidders kept secret. The radio waves are being returned by broadcasters as they move from analog to digital signals early in 2009. The signals can go long distances and penetrate thick walls.

FCC List of “Accepted Applications“, “Incomplete Applications” (in pdf). More at FCC (in Word).

BASKING RIDGE, NJ and SUNNYVALE, Calif — Dec 17, `07 /PRNewswire/ — Verizon Wireless and Palm today announced the immediate availability of the Palm Treo 755p smartphone in exclusive deep blue- green.

Beginning today, customers may purchase the Treo 755p online at VerizonWireless.com or by calling 1-800-2 JOIN IN. The device will be in Verizon Wireless Communications Stores on Jan. 7.

Compared to its Treo 700p predecessor, the Treo 755p has a sleeker design with an internal antenna and a soft-touch feel.

Featuring a large, high-resolution, color touch-screen for quick stylus access to applications, the Treo 755p offers a full QWERTY keyboard for easy e-mail creation, Web browsing and text messaging.

It also includes features such as a 1.3 megapixel camera and built-in support for Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents and PDF documents. Customers can view and edit Microsoft Word and Excel files, and view PowerPoint and Adobe PDF files.

Built-in Support for Direct Push Technology for E-mail
The Treo 755p offers VersaMail 3.5.45 with built-in Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync support for Microsoft Direct Push Technology that delivers e-mail and calendar updates from a home or office PC using Outlook. Businesses connected to a Microsoft Exchange Server get fast, automatic wireless updates of e-mail, calendar and contact information with added IT security and remote manageability.

Treo 755p users also have the option of using Verizon Wireless’ Wireless Sync for quick and easy access to personal or corporate e-mail, contacts, calendar, and tasks from their home or office PC. Customers can sync up to 10 POP3 or IMAP e-mail accounts, including AOL, Yahoo! Premium and more with their Treo 755p. Wireless Sync supports Microsoft Exchange, IBM Lotus Notes and IBM Lotus Domino.

Pricing
The Palm Treo 755p from Verizon Wireless is available for $399.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate and new two-year customer agreement. Customers who purchase a qualified voice plan along with a data plan may be eligible for an additional $100 credit making the Treo 755p $299.99 for those customers. More at Verizon.

BURLINGTON, MA, Dec 17, `07 – Cognos today announced that it has extended its wireless business intelligence solution, Cognos 8 Go! Mobile, to support Windows Mobile 6 smartphones.

Cognos 8 Go! Mobile is the industry’s first business intelligence solution designed to make it convenient to view, consume and interact with highly relevant performance information on mobile devices.

Cognos 8 Go! Mobile delivers enterprise data through an intuitive interface optimized for each different type of mobile platform. It now brings timely decision-support information directly to Windows Mobile 6 devices. All decision makers who need to access BI content across the enterprise, either through a mobile device or on the Web, are able to use the same consistent, trusted source of operational information. More at Cognos.

Dec 13, `07 — A Canadian man has been shocked to receive a mobile phone bill for nearly $85,000, BBC News reports.

The 22-year-old oil-field worker from Calgary, Piotr Staniaszek thought he could use his new phone as a modem for his computer under his $10 unlimited mobile browser plan from Bell Mobility.

He downloaded high-definition movies and other large files unaware that this incurred massive extra charges. Bell Mobility has since lowered the bill to $3,243, but Staniaszek says he intends to fight the charges anyway.

“The thing is, they’ve cut my phone off for being like $100 over,” he told CBC News. “Here, I’m $85,000 over and nobody bothered to give me a call and tell me what was going on.”

Bell Mobility said they would lower the bill to $3,243 in a “goodwill gesture” to match the best data plan available for using mobile phones as a modem, the Globe and Mail reported. More at BBC News.

Dec 13, `07 — Igor Skochinsky didn’t take too long to crack Amazon Kindle’s DRM. On his ‘Reversing Everything’ blog he details the workaround to read encrypted Mobi books on Kindle, which involves two Python scripts.

In his words, “We’ve known for some time already that Amazon’s AZW files are actually Mobi files, but Amazon didn’t share Kindle’s Mobi PID which would allow one to buy encrypted Mobi books for Kindle.

Well, I’ve discovered the algorithm used to generate the PID and was able to use it on Fictionwise, but there was another catch. AZW files have a flag set in the DRM info which is not present in books bought from other vendors. After fixing that, I could read the book on Kindle.”

And there goes Kindle’s DRM, so whats next?  Free EV-DO I guess! More at Igor Skochinsky’s blog ‘Reversing Everything’.

KYOTO, Japan –BUSINESS WIRE– Dec 13, ‘07 — Kyocera announced today that it will introduce a new external modem for the iBurst wireless Internet access system that will transfer data at speeds up to two megabits per second (2Mbps), a rate twice as fast as that offered by current iBurst modems. The new product will be available in March 2008.

Kyocera’s iBurst system provides commercial Mobile Broadband Wireless Access (MBWA) services in 11 countries worldwide, including Australia, Malaysia, Lebanon, Norway, Kenya, the United States and Canada. The iBurst concept is receiving industry-wide attention as a full-mobile, all-IP, end-to-end Internet access system.

The iBurst system provides high spectrum efficiency of 32 Mbps total throughput per base station (24Mbps downlink; 8Mbps uplink) over just 5MHz of bandwidth. The new 2Mbps modem will double user data throughput by aggregating two data streams for a single user.

HOLLYWOOD, Fla –BUSINESS WIRE– Dec 13, ‘07 — MySpace and Sprint announced today that Sprint will be the first US wireless carrier to link to the free MySpace Mobile Web site once it officially launches in early 2008, at no additional charge to Sprint data subscribers.

This means that Sprint customers with enabled phones will be able to click to access MySpace from the Sprint portal. The new version of MySpace Mobile will feature rich graphical design, a revamped email interface and other new features. The site is currently in beta at http://mobile.myspace.com.

In addition to the new MySpace Mobile, Sprint customers will also be able to directly link to other leading mobile Web sites from Fox Interactive Media (FIM), including IGN, FOXSports.com on MSN, RottenTomatoes, AskMen, its network of MyFOX local affiliates and the newest addition Photobucket. The agreement was announced this morning by FIM President Peter Levinsohn at Sprint’s annual Application Developer Conference in Hollywood, FL.

MOSCOW, Russia — In an effort to bring people faster, lower cost and a truly mobile, data broadband technology, Comstar, Russia’s leading telecomm provider, and Intel Corporation on Tuesday, Dec 11, announced a collaboration to develop mobile WiMAX in Russia.

The joint effort will initially focus on building a city-wide mobile WiMAX network in Moscow. Comstar plans to use its 2.5-2.7Ghz spectrum footprint in the city to build the network and is targeting its commercial launch for late 2008. Intel will drive an ecosystem of the client devices with embedded WiMAX solutions.

Intel is already developing embedded mobile WiMAX solutions for notebook PCs and ultra mobile and mobile Internet devices. Starting in mid-2008 the company will offer its first embedded mobile WiMAX/Wi-Fi module, codenamed “Echo Peak,” with its next-generation Intel Centrino processor technology for notebooks and ultra-mobile devices. A solution optimized for mobile Internet devices with low-power consumption, codenamed “Baxter Peak,” is also expected to be available next year.

Mobile WiMAX is a broadband wireless technology that provides low-cost, multi-megabit speed, and great throughput for accessing large amounts of such data as movies and multi-media content. It is based on the IEEE 802.16e standard and is expected to be deployed around the world starting next year.

Intel will work manufacturers worldwide to develop and test notebook PCs and mobile devices to work with mobile WiMAX networks. A number of PC and device manufacturers have already expressed intent to embed these solutions into systems next year and more are expected in the next several months.

Comstar, part of services conglomerate Sistema, provides voice, data, Internet, pay-TV and other services. It has around 452K broadband Internet subscribers in Moscow. More at Intel.

Finally Dell has released details of its first Tablet PC, Dell Latitude XT, which will have multi touch capabilities at a later date.

Dell Latitude XT Specs:

- Intel Core 2 Duo 1.2GHz ULV processor U7600 or Core 2 Solo 1.06GHz ULV processor U2100
- Vista Business (32-bit or 64-bit); Vista Ultimate (32-bit) or Windows XP Tablet Edition 2005
- 12.1″ 1280 x 800 WXGA  Display; Optional LED-backlit Display
- Multi Touch - Capacitive Touch Screen
- Integrated ATI Radeon X1250 UMA Adapter
- Memory up to 3GB
- 40 or 80GB 1.8″ 4200 RPM / 120GB 1.8″ 5400 RPM Hard Drive OR 32 or 64GB Solid State Disk (SSD) Drive options
- 802.11a/b/g/n; HSDPA or EV-DO rev A; Bluetooth 2.0 and Gigabit Ethernet
- ExpressCard54 and SD slots, 1394, VGA and USB 2.0
- Scroll Wheel, Biometric Reader, TPM 1.2, Super Low Profile Power Adapter
- Up to 5 Hrs Battery life with standard 43WH pack or up to 9 Hrs with extended 45WH pack
- Weighs 3.57 lbs, 1-inch thick
- Starts at $2500

More at Direct2Dell here and details and video about Multi-Touch Capacitive Touch Screen here.

Dec 07, ‘07 — The brand new Motorola Q9 with Wi-Fi, TheBoyGeniusReport got, has Windows Mobile 6.1 on it! And following up on the Windows Mobile 6.1 details and pictures, Boy Genius has a video walk-through of the latest Microsoft Mobile OS. BoyGenius.

Dec 05, ‘07 — PhoneScoop is reporting on Sprint Nextel soft launching its XOHM WiMax network in the next few days, citing Bin Shen, VP of Product Management and Partnership Development.

PhoneScoop further writes, “Chicago, Washington DC and Baltimore will all go live at soft launch, and though Shen did not discuss what devices would be available, a number of data cards have been tested on the network. XOHM will officially launch in the second quarter of 2008 as will several laptops with WiMax embedded in them. Later in the year a number of special purpose devices will launch, as will dual-mode CDMA / WiMax handsets.” PhoneScoop.

LONDON — Dec 5, ‘07 /PRNewswire/ — OQO, creator of the world’s smallest fully-functional Windows Vista PC, today announced availability of the new model e2 with embedded HSDPA mobile broadband capability, providing customers in Europe and Asia with widely-available high-speed Internet connectivity.

The model e2 with embedded mobile broadband supports data access through UMTS/HSDPA at 2100MHz, and is downward compatible with GPRS/EDGE networks at 900MHz and 1800MHz. Download speeds of up to 3.6 Mbps are supported. The product is available SIM-free and network unlocked, allowing customers maximum flexibility in selecting their preferred wireless operator and data plan. Users of the model e2 have their choice of connectivity options, including tri-band wide-area wireless, WiFi 802.11a/b/g and Bluetooth 2.0.

Specs

The OQO model e2 with embedded HSDPA is currently not offered for sale in the United States.

With a suggested retail price starting at £1099 + VAT, the model e2 with embedded HSDPA is available immediately through multiple international distributors and resellers, including eXpansys.

Free Update Adds Improved Calendar Functionality, Enhanced Email Support and HSDPA Capabilities for AT&T Customers.

SUNNYVALE, Calif –BUSINESS WIRE– Dec 04, ‘07 — Palm today announced an update to Windows Mobile 6 for Palm Treo 750 smartphone customers in the United States. Windows Mobile 6 brings increased functionality, enhanced user interface and strengthened security and performance to the Treo 750 smartphone, which is offered exclusively in the United States by AT&T. The update is available today as a free download for existing Treo 750 smartphone customers.

The Treo 750 currently is available in the United States on AT&T’s 3G BroadbandConnect network, which is available in more than 200 major metropolitan areas and provides average download speeds between 600Kbps (kilobits per second) and 1,400Kbps. For those customers, the update will facilitate High-speed Download Packet Access (HSDPA) capability, allowing faster data-download speeds on 3G/UMTS/HSDPA networks and access to AT&T Multimedia services: AT&T Music, CV (Video), and AT&T Mall.

Windows Mobile 6 combined with Exchange Server 2007 support is available out of the box and delivers a wide range of enhanced features, including the following:

* Microsoft Direct Push Technology connection to email, calendar, contacts and tasks;
* Email enhancements such as HTML-formatted email messages;
* Ability to set an out-of-office message from the Treo smartphone;
* Mini-SD storage card encryption, password and PIN improvements, and remote data wipe;
* Ability to search for email messages on the Exchange server;
* Meeting request and scheduling conflict improvements; and
* Improved Calendar with Day-at-a-Glance bar.

Palm’s Windows Mobile 6 update for the Treo 750 is available as a free download at Palm.com/750UpdateATT.