WebProNews

Apple, Palm, and Hewlett Packard would like you to give the gift of increased value to their shareholders by picking up some cool new electronic devices.

By now only Nepalese Sherpas may not have heard of Apple's iPod Nano, which rapidly became the must-have device for 2005 upon its debut. Early adopters soon proved two things to the marketplace: black is a very popular color for sleek little music players, and carrying the Nano in the same pocket as your car keys is very bad for the screen.

Palm made the kind of deal with Microsoft that could only happen in a year when Apple makes a deal with Intel for processor chips. The latest Treo 700 smartphone, one of the few product types profitable for Palm, will sport Windows Mobile 5.0 and not a Palm OS as its operating system.

The Treo 700 will run on Verizon's EV-DO Broadband Access network, the companies announced at a conference this morning. Verizon's newest wireless network offers speeds of 400 to 700 Kbps, and can reach 1.5 Mbps in certain places. Unfortunately, Palm will miss out on the kind of holiday sales that could really boost the Treo 700's adoption; it won't be available until early 2006.

HP has mobile on their minds, as new iPAQ handhelds will debut from the Palo Alto firm along with a mobile wireless-enabled printer. Microsoft figures in this announcement as its Windows Mobile 5.0 will be on the rx1950 iPAQ and on the new hx2000 series iPAQ models. All of the new models will be Wi-Fi enabled.

David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business. Email him here.