AST Plans to Ship Handheld PDA for Corporate User Solutions; Will Demo Unit at Fall COMDEX ’93
IRVINE, Calif. — November 11, 1993 — AST Wednesday announced that it would introduce a multi-function PDA-style handheld computer for corporate user solutions that will begin shipping early first quarter '94.
The new Model 2390 will be marketed to users within corporations, businesses, and government agencies needing either horizontal or vertical application solutions. The Model 2390 will have a suite of personal information management (PIM) and financial management software running under GEOS system software from Geoworks, and will have an optional feature for running vertical market application solutions that have been developed under the PenRight! operating environment.
Weighing only one pound, the Model 2390 has a touch sensitive screen, uses a stylus for input, and has a battery life of more than 100 hours.
"AST is committed to providing mobile solutions that suit a wide range of business needs," said Howard Elias, vice president of worldwide marketing. "With the addition of the Model 2390 PDA, AST truly offers the broadest line of products for both the horizontal and vertical markets."
The Model 2390 complements the existing family of AST pen-enabled computers, and is designed to be used in such industries as health care, transportation, government, packaged goods, oil & gas, and utilities. The unit is designed to perform horizontal applications and such vertical data collection tasks as inspections, store merchandising, route accounting, inventory control, market research and surveys, and signature capture.
AST has the largest installed base, the largest number of corporate users, and the broadest range of products in the pen-enabled computer product category. The current product family includes pen-enabled notebook computers, pen tablet computers, and smaller handheld pen-enabled computers, such as the GRiD PalmPAD family.
As an optional feature to meet a wide variety of user needs for vertical application solutions, AST will offer the PenRight! operating environment, which will run from a SunDisk PCMCIA Type II storage card that can be inserted into the unit. PenRight! supports the more than 1000 vertical applications developed using the PenRight! family of application development tools, PenRight! Pro, Power PEN PAL, and PadBase.
Most of these vertical applications will run on the Model 2390 with minor modifications. According to market research firm International Data Corp., more than 80 percent of the pen-enabled vertical market solutions now in use were developed for the PenRight! environment.
The Model 2390 will ship with an application suite of personal information management (PIM) software from Palm Computing and Pocket Quicken financial management software from Intuit. The Palm Computing PIM includes an address book, note book, to-do list manager, travel data, calculator, dictionary, foreign language translation dictionary and thesaurus.
The Pocket Quicken is able to link the popular Quicken running on a desktop or notebook computer. These applications run under the GEOS operating system, also bundled in ROM in the Model 2390.
The AST Model 2390 will offer the option of providing on-line services from America OnLine, such as e-mail, a gateway to Internet, stock quotes, EAASY SABRE Travel Service, wire services and other on-line database services. The on-line services can be accessed through an optional modem card inserted in the unit's one PCMCIA Type II card slot or with an external pocket modem. The PCMCIA slot can also be used to load additional software and services.
The Model 2390 also provides a serial port and a port that will support infra-red communications. The Model 2390 is based on an Intel 8086 compatible 7.4 MHz custom ASIC processor manufactured by Casio. It comes standard with one megabyte of system RAM, 4 megabytes of ROM. The screen is a 320 by 256 line touch sensitive, LCD display. Power is supplied by three replaceable "AA" size batteries, that provide up to 100 hours of operation. An optional AC adapter is also available.
AST will be demonstrating the Model 2390 PDA at the COMDEX trade show in Las Vegas at booth number L2624. AST is currently distributing initial units to independent software vendors (ISVs) to encourage the development of custom vertical and horizontal applications solutions for corporate users.
"By including VARs and ISVs like ourselves in their distribution strategy, AST is ensuring that the Model 2390 will reach the hundreds of thousands of corporate users who have custom horizontal and/or vertical applications needs," said Robert Fairweather, president, Prosper Software Systems Inc.
The Model 2390 will be available in quantity in early 1Q94, and is expected to ship with the SunDisk storage card and the PenRight! operating environment for less than $1,000 through the existing AST distribution channels and major VARs and resellers in the United States and Canada. For product information, call 800/876-4AST.
AST Research Inc. ranked No. 367 on the 1992 Fortune 500 list of America's largest industrial companies, develops personal computer products with technologies ranging from hand-held portable computers to superservers.
In July 1993, AST acquired Tandy Corp.'s PC manufacturing business. The acquisition makes AST the No. 4 U.S. and No. 6 worldwide personal computer company, according to calendar year 1992 unit volume shipment data from International Data Corp. These figures include AST, Tandy and GRiD brands manufactured by AST.
AST's award-winning product lines include desktop, file server, notebook and pen-enabled computers, marketed under the Advantage!, Bravo, Premmia, Manhattan SMP, PowerExec, GRiD, PenRight!, and Victor product names.
The company is represented in 100 countries and operates 41 international subsidiaries and sales offices. AST's corporate headquarters is located at 16215 Alton Parkway, P.O. Box 57005, Irvine, Calif., 92619-7005. Telephone 714/727-4141, 800/876-4278. Fax 714/727-9355.
CONTACT:
AST Research, Westlake, Texas
Lauren Baker, 817/491-5369