HB: We've got compelling ROI (Return on Investment), that's being justified, behind the applications that are being deployed today. For instance, consider a delivery driver that's out on the road making beverage deliveries; there's no way for him to be able to do his job, print invoices, and delivery quantities of different types of packages without being able to have a device he can use to do that remotely. If he can do this while he's on the road it's going to save time, and it's going to keep the information more accurate. And, just to stay competitive, we need to be able to do that. So, that's one reason that we do have the applications already available and the users demanding it.

Second, we're not talking about just one vendor or a couple of vendors here. The enterprise software companies have all recognized the need. SAP's in the lead here because I think we've taken a different approach than others. But, our competitors are also out there, mobilizing their applications.

And, it's not just about the software application providers or the hardware providers, but we also have the telephone companies out there, enabling their wireless framework so that we can support much, much faster connections, as well as online, all the time, connectivity. As all of these converge over the next couple of years, the demand is growing and driving that, so that we'll come to a period where this is just expected.

We've seen the demand. For instance, look at some of the stories that have been in some of the papers over the last few weeks. They're calling the people "addicts" now because they're hooked on wireless email, and they can't get away from wireless. It's part of their job, and they wouldn't know how to function without it. And, these aren't just your typical sales and service folks, but these are CEOs of major corporations. As the devices and the connectivity converge it's going to become pervasive out there.

DG: This gives us a great opportunity to segue into Palm and the Palm relationship. Tell us a little bit about the relationship between SAP and Palm.

HB: Palm, as the leading provider of handheld devices in the industry, is in a great position to actually move forward into the enterprise space. We've been working with Palm now for about a year and a half, developing a joint enterprise strategy to target the enterprise space. I can't give you all the information, quite yet, but there're some great things in the works.

DG: Obviously, you guys will keep us informed, and write about it, in depth, as time goes on.

HB: Definitely.

DG: What excites you most about the relationship right now?

HB: Besides great people on both sides, working on a joint cause…

DG: That's a pretty important asset.

HB: It's a great asset, and we've got a great team in place. It's really the interest that we've seen from the customers and from the market. We already have and we've already spoken with quite a few customers together. The customers are really excited about the possibilities.