Cingular Denies Treo Is a Smartphone

Is Palm's Treo device a smartphone? Not according to U.S. wireless carrier Cingular, which says the wireless device is a PDA. But do consumers really care?

In a posting on a ZDNet blog about the launch of a Microsoft Windows Mobile smartphone by Cingular, John Kampfe, director of media and industry analyst relations at Cingular, said that the Treo 700w handheld device is not a smartphone but a handheld. He also said that the Treo 650, which Cingular sells, is not a smartphone.

The just-announced, Cingular-branded 2125 smartphone, made by High Tech Computer Corp., is on sale now for $199. Cingular, a joint venture between AT&T and BellSouth, is targeting the smartphone at both business and consumer customers.

The 2125 runs Microsoft's Windows Mobile 5.0 software and offers Bluetooth connectivity, quad-band international roaming, and high-speed wireless data communications over Cingular's nationwide EDGE network.

Voice-Centric Device

In the ZDnet blog posting, Kampfe said that Cingular does not consider the Treo 700w to be a smartphone, despite the fact that it too runs Windows Mobile 5.0.

He argued that a smartphone has to be a voice-centric device, which the Treo is not. Rival U.S. carrier Verizon Wireless launched the Treo 700w at the Consumer Electronics Show earlier this month. The Treo 700w offers high-speed data communications over Verizon's EVDO network.

Yankee Group analyst John Jackson said that the millions of people using Treo devices do not care whether it is classified as a PDA or as a smartphone.

"What people care about is the functionality offered by a device," Jackson said. Palm, in its promotional material for the Treo, clearly sees the device as a smartphone.

Kampfe declined to comment for this article.

Blurred Distinctions

David Linsalata, an analyst with IDC, said that, from the consumer perspective, the distinctions between the different types of devices -- cellphones, PDAs, and smartphones -- are becoming increasingly blurred.

"You get handheld devices which are basically cellphones, but which also have some of the capabilities of what would traditionally be considered a smartphone," Linsalata said. "Similarly, data-centric devices are getting voice capabilities."

Linsalata said that, while a cellphone might allow a user to do Web browsing or e-mail, these applications would be much easier on a data-centric device with a proper keyboard.

"Ultimately, the question is what kind of experience do consumers get with a cellphone as opposed to a PDA or a smartphone when they want to carry out advanced applications," he said.