Treo 750v lives in Pearl's shadow

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The dust has barely settled on today's announcement that Palm's Treo 750v will ship next month, but analysts have already started to give the news a fairly frosty reception.

Unveiled less than a week after Research in Motion (RIM) showcased its Pearl device, Palm's latest offering is unlikely to have as great an impact as its recently-born contender, according to analyst Ovum.

"Business devices seem to be a bit like buses - you wait ages for one, and then two come along at once," said Jeremy Green, Ovum's principal analyst for enterprise mobility.

"But the Pearl and Palm's new Treo are quite different takes on what operators need to address this market."

Green believes that RIM's offering is an innovative attempt to fill the current gap that exists between 'prosumer' demand and current supply.

However, he wasn't as complimentary about Palm's latest device.

"Palm's new Treo, by contrast, doesn't look like much fun. In fact, it looks remarkably like a late-model Blackberry."

The fact that the Treo 750v runs Microsoft's Windows Mobile 5.0 operating system will appeal to many IT managers due to its familiar interface and ease of integration with the rest of their infrastructure.

But, Ovum remains sceptical that Palm's use of UMTS will serve as another plus-point for businesses, claiming that it hasn't witnessed many enterprises running high-bandwidth application on such a small form factor.

While both devices are likely to have large fan bases, ultimately, Ovum is tipping RIM's device as having the edge over its competitor this time.

"In this world of amiable 'co-opetition', it seems almost mean-spirited to speculate on which device will be the long-term winner. After all, operators don't have to choose only one - they can have both," added Green.

"Nevertheless, we suspect the Pearl will make a bigger splash."

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