August 2001
In August Palm talked about the way handhelds based on the Palm OS are employed in the travel industry, enhancing customer resource management, tracking demanding maintenance routines, and managing rigorous inspection schedules.

Then, on August 6, DataViz, Inc. (at http://www.dataviz.com) and Palm, Inc. made an important announcement for mobile professionals. The announced the release of Documents To Go Professional Edition Version 4.0, which enables you to create, view, and edit Word and Excel documents and view PowerPoint presentations in one complete package. Besides the ability to view PowerPoint files with a new application called Slideshow To Go, other improvements in Version 4.0 include the ability to create and edit Excel-compatible spreadsheets with Sheet To Go, save and synchronize large documents directly to Secure Digital (SD) and MultiMediaCard media using Palm m500 series handhelds, and synchronize documents between multiple computers.

Also in August, Palm talked about how some of the nation's largest and most innovative real estate companies and lenders are improving productivity, customer satisfaction, and bottom lines by using wireless Palm VII series handheld computers. Wireless handhelds offer real estate industry professionals timely information onsite at properties, letting them access listing databases and schedule appointments on the fly, track walk-through tours, get real-time interest rates, and even calculate loan amounts.

On August 16 Palm, Inc. and Be Incorporated announced they had signed an asset purchase agreement for Palm to acquire the intellectual property and technology assets of Be, and on August 30 Palm reported on how the medical community is turning to Palm OS handhelds to obtain better-quality research data than that available via traditional paper-based survey and observation methods. Three initiatives, Palm stated, were underway in Irvine, California, Toronto, Canada, and Chattanooga, Tennesee,to demonstrate the use of these devices in medical research.

In August's issue of PalmPower's Enterprise Edition, Editor-in-Chief David Gewirtz had an opportunity to conduct yet another exciting PalmPower interview. This time he spoke with Jay Highley, Vice President of Business Marketing at Sprint PCS to learn more about the groundbreaking strategic relationship between Sprint PCS and Palm. This relationship resulted in the release of the Sprint PCS Phone QCP-6035 by Kyocera and the full-color-screen SPH-I300 from Samsung, two great tools for mobile workers. Meanwhile, Associate Technical Editor Theodore Durst had a chance to sit down with Joanne Taylor, Media Relations Manager for Extended Systems, to learn more about the company and its exciting relationship with Palm, Inc.

Also in that issue we surveyed the many enterprise software and hardware solutions for the Palm OS that were on display at the 2001 TECHXNY, and we took a look at the variety of ways the U.S. Navy is putting Palm handhelds to use. Many of the tasks undertaken by the U.S. Navy are performed in environments such as cramped submarines, aircraft, and ships and without access to power outlets. Considering these factors, it's no wonder the Navy is such a major consumer of Palm OS handhelds. You can find the August issue at http://www.palmpowerenterprise.com/tocs/issue200108.html.