Rogers AT&T Wireless customers in Canada can now access data and e-mail service through their Handspring Treo 180 mobile phones, the company announced Tuesday.
Customers using Handspring’s Treo model 180 mobile phones with Rogers AT&T Wireless service can download a General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) software upgrade, at no cost, that will enable users to access wireless Internet and corporate applications like e-mail, according to the company. The software upgrade will be available beginning Tuesday afternoon and can be downloaded from the Rogers’ Web site at www.rogers.com/treo. The download can be completed with a fully-charged Treo mobile phone, similar to the process of synching an application to a Palm device, according to Mansell Nelson, Toronto-based vice-president of interactive mobile services for Rogers AT&T Wireless.
The Treo 180 communicators will now be able to function as a mobile phone as well as a handheld computer with Web browsing capability and two-way text messaging.
The e-mail offering, called Treo Mail, is designed exclusively for the flip-open mobile phone, and will allow Rogers AT&T customers to access POP3 and Microsoft Outlook/Exchange-based corporate e-mail. The Treo 180 uses the Palm OS and comes with Palm Desktop software to synchronize Personal Information Manager (PIM) data between a customer’s desktop and phone.
Rogers AT&T previously featured a similar offering with Waterloo, Ont.-based Research In Motion’s BlackBerry product. The company decided to switch and target Palm users instead because of the vast potential market it will be able to tap into, Nelson said.
“We think there’s a great upgrade opportunity, so for the people who are dedicated Palm fans, now there really is a reason to upgrade the hardware,” Nelson said. “Although BlackBerry is a great product, and Rogers has had great success with it, Palm users are Palm users, and they’re not going to switch to BlackBerry.”
Customers interested in accessing the added services will have to subscribe to a data plan ranging from 5Mb availability for about $30 a month. For high-end users, the option of 80Mb for about $145 a month is also available, Nelson said. A special $50 offer for unlimited megabits is available until the end of September, he added.
Rogers AT&T Wireless can be found at http://www.rogers.com.