New Products

NEW PRODUCTS

.smp Makes Palm Pilot a True Notepad

by Steve Friedberg

Two million people own Palm Pilots, according to the latest estimates. If you're one of them, you probably have a love/hate relationship with it: you love its simplicity and its convenience, but you hate trying to take notes on it.

For instance, most people have given up trying to take notes on it during a meeting or when they're speaking with someone. Even the guy who invented the Graffiti writing method used in Palm Pilots can only write 25 words a minute using it. That's…hardly…the…speed…at…which…most…of…us…speak. You realize your Palm Pilot is great, but only up to a point.

What if you could write directly on your screen in your own handwriting? Better yet, what if you could take your handwriting or a sketch and transmit it by email to friends or clients, retaining the intelligence that went into writing or drawing it? Right now, you can send so-called "digital ink" files between similar palmtops, like a Newton or Zaurus. But there's no cross-platform standard for sharing handwriting files.

To put this into perspective, when you send or receive a picture on your browser or via email, you can be pretty sure it's in a generally recognized format, such as .gif, .jpg or .tif. The same goes for sound files shipped over the Web (.au, .wav, .snd). But there's no such agreement when it comes to electronic handwriting.

Until now.

Using technology developed by Lucent Technologies Bell Labs, a small Philadelphia-based company is setting the standard format for files that contain handwriting or drawing. NewCo Partners calls it .smp, short for StrokeMap Format. "We believe .smp has the potential to transform the way people share information," says NewCo's president, John C. Gregory, Jr. "Right now, if I take a note and want to send it to my partners by email, I have to type it in, or reformat a sketch into a file that may not be readable on the other end. .smp establishes a uniform format, in much the same way that Adobe established a recognizable, cross-platform format for documents with .pdf."

The parallels between .smp and .pdf are clear: NewCo will distribute a free browser plug-in via its Web site, so that everyone can read .smp files. It is also introducing its first product, Virtual NotePad for 3Com's Palm Pilot. It's a software-only product, which can be downloaded from the NewCo Partners Web site for $15.

"Virtual NotePad does two things," says NewCo's Director of .smp Business Unit, Lawrence Husick. "First, it allows people to use the Palm Pilot as a true notepad in real time. They no longer have to spend more time looking at what they're writing than concentrating on the information. Second, it shows people that .smp is more than just another promising technology. It's here and it's now."

The potential is clearly there and several top industry analysts agree that .smp is poised to change the way we send written files and the information that's in them. "By enabling Palm Pilot users to write directly on the device with their own handwriting, instead of being forced to learn Graffiti, .smp makes it easier to capture and utilize information. Long-term, .smp could be the first viable way for users to share handwriting-based files across all platforms," says Summit Strategies Analyst Joyce Gavenda. Business Research Group's Fran Firth says Virtual NotePad "has clear and immediate applicability for business people who want to electronically generate and capture both notes and sketches. It represents a new way of thinking which, given the proper level of market education and product performance, could quickly become an industry standard."

Husick says that standard could become even more important in the next several years. "Voice recognition is becoming accepted to the point where keyboards could be offered as an option with many computers, hand-held companions, and other electronic devices," he comments. "That's when handwriting input becomes a necessary adjunct. .smp has the clearest ability to make that happen."

But that's down the road. Here and now, pick up your Palm Pilot, try to quickly sketch yourself a note, a drawing, even a phone number, using your handwriting. When you find that you can't, be happy that there is now a better way of writing, of drawing and of sharing that information with others over the Net.

Steve Friedberg is Vice President of Public Relations at The DEM Group.