It is interesting that no one connected with Palm, Inc., has responded to the question concering the longevity of the "universal" connector.
It is revealing that three out of the current eight handhelds no longer support the "universal" connector.
It is also worth noting that those three devices are the two low-end Zire devices (Zire and Zire 21) and the low-end Tungsten (Tungsten E). Basically, I see that Palm's strategy is to have two connector mechanisms -- a sync-only connector for low-end devices, and a multi-purposes connector for high-end devices. Any device that supports connecting to peripherals will support the Palm Universal Connector, just like any device that supports expansion media will support the Secure Digital slot.
I think Palm recognizes that people want to connect handhelds to other things. They are just making the statement in the market that the ability to connect to anything other than a host computer is a feature that is worth paying more money to get. I don't think you'll see another peripheral connector show up to replace the UC -- you just won't see the UC everywhere.
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Ben Combee <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
CodeWarrior for Palm OS technical lead
Palm OS programming help @ www.palmoswerks.com
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