Older Palms to get wireless Web access

LAS VEGAS--Delivering on its promise to connect its older handhelds to the wireless Internet, Palm on Monday said it has started shipping a $40 kit that allows Palm III, Palm V and m100 handhelds to connect to the Internet by using a cell phone as a wireless modem.

In an evening press conference at its Comdex booth, Palm also showed off a revamped Palm.net portal, dubbed MyPalm, that will allow users of Palm VII and Palm VIIx wireless handhelds to surf the Web, schedule meetings and access standard Pop3 email accounts, the kind used by most dial-up Internet service providers.

MyPalm, which will be available in a free, downloadable beta version by late December, builds upon the Web-based calendar that Palm got when it acquired Anyday.com earlier this year. Other features include the ability to download applications directly to the Palm and the ability to wirelessly sync data.

"You are no longer tethered to the cradle," said Barry Cottle, Palm's chief operating officer for access and content. Even the wireless Palm VII has used a cradle to share data with a PC.

Monday's announcements had been expected to come at Comdex.

Palm said it is partnering with Yodlee to deliver personalized content and with Google to provide searching capability to MyPalm users.

Owners of the Palm III and Palm V can gain access to some, but not all, of the features of MyPalm by using the mobile Internet kit. The kit is software that allows Palm users to access data wirelessly by connecting to a cell phone, either using an infrared port or a cable.

Along with allowing access to the Web-clipping applications available on a Palm VII, the mobile Internet kit includes a Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) browser.

The mobile Internet kit also includes the latest version of the Palm operating system, version 3.5. The upgrade will also be available later this week as a $14.95 download or for $19.95 on CD-ROM.