BSquare is ending its line of Power Handheld devices. although it will still be around to offer licensing and consulting to other licensees.
BSquare has announced that it has ended the manufacturing of its Power Handheld hardware device and restructured the Power Handheld business unit. The company will continue to sell the software included in the device to smart device makers as a complement to the consulting services and software that the company offers today.
BSquare insists that there is a market for converged devices, but it wasn't able to sell enough units to justify ongoing investments in the field. There was also friction between BSquare's own devices and other companies licensing BSquare's technology to compete with BSquare's units. BSquare will retain all of its patents and copyrights on the relevant technology, however, and says that it will continue to license its technology to other companies as part of its consulting services.
The BSquare Power Handheld line was originally released in 2002, and at the time boasted features and specifications unmatched by competing handheld devices. Running Windows CE .NET 4.1 instead of Pocket PC 2002, it ran a 400 MHz processor with 64 MB of RAM and a 640 x 480 pixel VGA display. Connectivity included an SDIO card slot and dual-band GSM/GPRS. Many of those features, however, are becoming commonplace on other high-end Windows Mobile for Pocket PC devices now with Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition, making it more difficult for BSquare to compete. Other enhancements, such as BSquare's radio interface layer, screen magnification, and power management functionality remain unique and the company intends to continue to offer those technologies to other licensees.
As a result of the end of the product line, BSquare is also laying off most of its employees in the Power Handheld division and restructuring much of the company. The company will continue to provide warranty support for devices previously sold.
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