SanDisk Drops WiFi Card Plans for OS 4

Posted By: Ryan Monday, August 25, 2003 10:53:09 AM

SanDisk has removed the release date for Palm OS 4 drivers for it's still unreleased WiFi SD card. The company no longer plans to make the accessory compatible with such devices. A version compatible with Palm OS 5 devices is expected in the fall.

SanDisk was previously advertising that the company would make the card compatible with Palm OS 4 and above. Just recently the company removed the OS 4 driver release from it's product page. Now only Palm OS handhelds with OS 5 or greater will be able to use the WiFi SD card accessory.

Previously, Hagiwara Sys-Com, a Japanese semiconductor company, had announced they are developing four wireless cards for Palm OS devices. The company plans to release both Secure Digital (SD) and Memory Stick (MS) Bluetooth and WiFi cards before the end of this year. Thier cards will work with Palm OS 4 and higher.

SD Connect WiFi Card The SanDisk cards was previously scheduled to be available in March. SanDisk posted an update to their product page in May, indicating the card will not be ready until the Fall. The 256 MB memory and WiFi SD Card combo has also been pushed back to a fourth quarter estimated release date.

The Wi-Fi (802.11b) SD Connect cards will have a suggested retail price of $99.95, the dual-function 256MB SD cards will be priced at $149.95. SanDisk did not respond to questions for this article.

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First Post!

Bartman007 @ 8/25/2003 11:54:16 AM #
That sucks for people with older Palms.
I don't mine cause I have a T|T. I may get one of these guys cause I really want WiFi.

Peace,
-Bartman007

RE: First Post!
orev @ 8/26/2003 3:02:11 PM #
"I don't minD..."

First Post! <-So what?
RAMdŽd @ 8/27/2003 11:08:52 AM #
That sucks for people with older Palms.

Well, ya know, that's life.

Nobody ever said that any piece of gear will be supported past that version, let alone for years to come. It *may* be that SanDisk will change their mind, if the costs are justified. But they have a business to run.

That's just the way it is, especially with technology.

Yes, it's too bad, and life goes on.

______________________________
An armed society is a polite society.

What is the delay?

Louis Berk @ 8/25/2003 12:03:50 PM #
Expansys are already advertising that the Socket SD WiFi card will be available in the next 7 days.

I'd like WiFi but I'd prefer to get the integrated WiFi Memory card, re the Sandisk with 256MB. I would have thought these guys would be working flat out to get this to market!

But if they are already giving up on OS4 gawd knows how long we'll have to wait for the integrated card.

Come on guys, you're missing a great market here!

RE: What is the delay?
mikemusick @ 8/25/2003 1:17:22 PM #
The delay is that SDIO is an INCREDIBLY DIFFICULT form factor to engineer for, and, in the current market, even that much more difficult to cost justify all that engineering. That Sandisk - likely the #1 vendor of SD cards - is having trouble getting their device to market is a great indication of this difficulty.

This is one of the issues that I face every day in trying to sell Palm OS-based business solutions. Everything is "just around the corner" or "so-and-so just announced" and there are precious few actual deliveries of anything, with nearly nothing released before it's obsolete (or the platform it runs on is obsolete, witness Handspring and HandEra).

Palm (and partners) continuously miss the boat by failing to adopt expansion standards with existing products in the market, such as CF or PCMCIA. (Before somebody mentions "but HandEra did!", yes, fine... but they released a new B&W device while everyone else already made the jump to color. Their market was limited the moment it hit the shelves. Then there's the OS licensing controversy. Happy now? :-p )

Hope the 7 days is accurate
skennedy1217 @ 8/25/2003 3:01:35 PM #
That Expansys card looks small--and thin, too. I wonder how far it sticks out of the case? The problem I have with the SanDisk card is that there looks to be no good way to carry it. You can't leave the card in the PDA for fear of breaking it. The antenna thingy also makes it too thick to fit in a card slot of a PDA case. If the Expansys card is thin enough, then it just might fit in the flap of my case w/o harming the card or the screen of my T|T. I could live w/o the memory integrated with the wi-fi card, so long as I leave enough room in RAM to download stuff.

Scott

RE: What is the delay?
DaleReeck @ 8/28/2003 8:06:08 AM #
Sandisk's prblems in getting the card to market have more to do with greed and incompetence and little with technology. Their latest week and a half delay of the SD card was so that they could add DEMO software to the package. Yep, DEMO software. You know, the stuff that 99% of us toss out or can download a newer version online.

I hope Sandisk got a carload of money from Bitstream (it was Thunderhawk demo that they added) that was worth a 10 day loss in sales advantage that Sandisk would have gotten for being the only one on the market. Now, Socket is closing in and will release shortly, if not concurrently, with Sandisk's offering. Nice going Sandisk blowing a chance to grab some market for being first. I hope that demo software was worth it.


Why does noone support OS4

ronnieb @ 8/25/2003 12:48:47 PM #
I have a Clie SJ30 and am annoyed that there won't be any os4 drivers for the memory stick wifi device.

Why is it that no one wants to support OS4 devices - I bought my Clie less than a year ago and would like to think that it won't be obsolete just yet.

There must be a hugh market for wifi compatible with older OS4 devices.

RE: Why does no one [two words] support OS4
RAMdŽd @ 8/27/2003 11:12:39 AM #
I bought my Clie less than a year ago and would like to think that it won't be obsolete just yet.

Why would you think that?

Did your Clie stop doing what you want it to do?

Does it not do what you intended it to do when you bought it?

Did you by that particular PDA with the thought that someone will make a Wi-Fi solution for it down the road? That would have been a mistake.

Do you now need Wi-Fi? That would be the one thing that would *seem* to make your choice obsolete.

______________________________
An armed society is a polite society.

Pathetic

EdH @ 8/25/2003 2:25:38 PM #
So, Pocket PCs with SDIO slots can have either 2002 or 2003 on them, which goes back to early 2002 devices. PalmOS4 devices, however, which are STILL BEING SOLD won't get this capability. Pathetic. You'd think PalmSource would jump in here and fund the driver costs.

RE: Pathetic
java_jonez @ 8/25/2003 3:00:23 PM #
This is pathetic. However, why would they support drivers when they really want you to upgrade to a Palm with built-in WiFi?

RE: Pathetic
guesswho @ 8/25/2003 3:36:31 PM #
eh, nobody will support T|C about 5 months from now.
RE: Pathetic
arielb @ 8/25/2003 6:18:23 PM #
pocketpc's with sdio don't have dragonball cpus. They all have ARM now. PalmOS 5 devices all have ARM too. but there were the days when pocketpc's used other cpus such as SH and MIPS and there were quite a few compatibility problems

RE: Pathetic
helf @ 8/25/2003 6:38:41 PM #
Are you joking? The os5 devices will be supported for much longer than 5 months..

RE: Pathetic
snugglefart @ 8/25/2003 8:14:35 PM #
I am sad on this news


RE: Pathetic
Foo Fighter @ 8/25/2003 8:52:14 PM #
Quote: "The os5 devices will be supported for much longer than 5 months.."

Yeah, but the problem is OS4 devices make up well over 90% of the PalmOS market. It doesn't matter that OS5 is supported if the vast majority of PalmOS users are being left in the cold. My sister uses an M505 (which I sold to her). What is she supposed to do? Throw it out and buy a Zire 71? So much for the "Zen of Palm".

-------------------------------
My blog: www.pocketfactory.com

RE: Pathetic
rsc1000 @ 8/27/2003 4:49:33 PM #
>>Yeah, but the problem is OS4 devices make up well over 90% of the PalmOS market. It doesn't matter that OS5 is supported if the vast majority of PalmOS users are being left in the cold.

Yes. In fact, OS 4.x palm OS devices probably outnumber OS 5 devices AND all pocket PC devices combined. However - the issue here is not how many OS 4 devices there are, but rather, how many OS 4.x devices there are with SD slots (for example: the original Zire has sold more than any other PDA - but has no SD slot). The m125,130,500,505 and 515 are the only devices that this would work with. Yes - there are probably more of these out there than there are OS 5 devices with SD slots - but not for long. Also - Palm users tend not to 'geek out' by adding 3rd party software and hardware as much as PPC users do (ie: the 'Zen of Palm' thing tends to attract more newbies) - so i doubt many m125 users would know what this was, where to get or what to do with it (no offence to the m125 users who read PIC - yr not the people im talking about). Still, it seems silly of Sandisk to lose out on this rather large market when a few thousand bucks in development would get them an OS 4 driver.

Eh

Lucky Bob @ 8/25/2003 6:19:54 PM #
Hey, more money for Hagiwara. :)

(Why do some people say you can kill two birds with one stone when it's hard enough killing one bird with two stones?)

Socket WiFi SDIO Card doesn't support PalmOS?

epreseley @ 8/26/2003 10:22:52 AM #
According to the Socket website, http://www.socketcom.com/product/WL6200-480.asp,
their SD WiFi card only has drivers for PocketPC.

Did someone else hear that a PalmOS4 driver is going
to be released for this card?

I'm amazed at all the R&D and Marketing experts here...

RAMdŽd @ 8/27/2003 10:59:40 AM #
They know so much more about what any given manufacturer should be doing, and why they are doomed, because they didn't come up with the "latest and greatest" thing for them.

It cracks me up to see these self-proclaimed experts toss numbers and opinions around as though they are facts.... "90%"... "Palm missed the boat..." "They don't know what they are doing..." "How come I can't get Wi-Fi for my Palm 5000???" yadda yadda... "Now my Palm is obsolete!!!!"

Geeeze. I'd like to know the extensive business background of the clowns who seem to know so much more about product development, cost analysis, and marketing than Palm and other businesses, and how much money they've invested in R&D.



______________________________
An armed society is a polite society.

RE: I'm amazed at all the R&D and Marketing experts here...
rsc1000 @ 8/27/2003 1:38:44 PM #
Well - as a Palm OS developer who has written OS 4 drivers for a couple of different peripherals - i can tell you that it should not cost that much - this is not cutting edge rocket science (the wifi card in sd form factor is the hard part - which they have already done). There is nothing requiring any significant outlay of R&D resources to do the OS 4 drivers. Its is rather odd - and thus a valid point to complain about (especially since Sandisk said 6-7 months ago such drivers were coming)- that they would choose not to support devices which outnumber OS 5 devices.

In any event, if sandisk makes the information available, it should be possible for a 3rd party to develop a driver.

RE: I'm amazed at all the R&D and Marketing experts here...
orb2069 @ 8/29/2003 4:59:04 PM #
An armed society is a polite society.

The irony inherent in putting a tag like this on an message that does nothing but imply that other posters are idiots is deeply amusing.

That's the most fun I've had all day. Thank you.


OS5 driver release date?

Reemul @ 10/11/2003 6:36:21 PM #
Does anyone know when they are releasing the Palm OS drivers? I have emailed them several times via different addresses on their site with no reply. If someone from Sandisk is reading this, bad form.
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