SUCCESS STORY: Palm Treo 650c

By Staff On Jul 17 2006 - 6:00am

Palm's Treo 650c, available through Cingular Wireless, topped the list of top smartphone sellers despite consumer preference for lower priced smartphones lacking a PDA form factor, lacking full PDA functionality and lacking a big screen. Among the Top 10 smartphones, all but three featured phone-like form factors, small screens and no QWERTY keyboard or touch screen. Those three were the top-ranked Palm Treo 650c and Treo 650g, both with QWERTY keyboard and touch screen, and Samsung's SPH-i700, also based on the Palm OS with touch screen but lacking QWERTY keyboard. The Treo 650c has been advertised by Cingular at $150 after rebates and with two-year service contract, but when launched in 2004. Compared to its Treo 600 predecessor, the Treo 650 added more e-mail functions, gave users the ability to edit e-mail attachments, and added such features as Bluetooth, an integrated MP3 player, a back-lit keyboard, improved LCD display, and a more phone-like interface. It also added high-speed EDGE (Enhanced Datarates for GSM Evolution) wireless-data technology. It's a world phone operating in 850/1,900MHz networks in the U.S. and other countries and in the 900/1,800MHz bands in other countries.