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Calling Dick Tracy! A Palm PDA for you?

Eat your heart out, Dick Tracy! America's most famous comic detective had a wrist-radio - but never one with his whole life in it - but Palm and Fossil have done one!

They said there would be some "exciting new licensees" of the Palm PDA; the one announced at Comdex is the wrist-Palm - strange notion, but there it is. Fossil has produced Palm's response to the old Casio wrist-calculator; a wrist-PDA.

Fossil is showing prototypes of the Wrist PDA with Palm OS this week at Comdex and is running a special promotion on its web site where you can buy its old one - a read-only version - online, for $145, while getting details of the forthcoming model.

Fossil's wrist palm is "the first truly wearable Palm Powered device that provides consumers convenient access to information while on-the-go, in a sleek and compact form factor," says the official announcement from PalmSource. The Wrist PDA "is fully compatible with the Palm OS platform and will run all Palm OS applications."

Which may be true; what isn't clear is whether any ordinary human, without buying a watch-makers's glass, would be able to read The Guardian on AvantGo using this toy. And what is clear is that you can join a queue to order it today - but you can't have it for Christmas. Fossil will launch the Wrist PDA under two brands, Fossil and ABACUS, a new tech brand that targets electronics distribution. Both versions are scheduled to be available in stores in the United States - and internationally - by mid-2003. Price? We don't know, yet.

"We believe consumers want the functionality of a handheld with the style and portability of a wrist watch," said Donald R. Brewer, vice president of technology for Fossil. "The Palm OS enables Fossil to provide customers with a fashionable wrist-worn device that is incredibly useful, yet lightweight, small, and powerful."

Fossil worked with Flextronics, provider to assist in the development and manufacturing of the device.

The Wrist PDA also features an illuminated touch screen with a stylus integrated into the band for Graffiti input, 2MB internal memory, Rocker switch user interface, infrared port to support beaming between all Palm Powered devices, rechargeable battery, and loaded applications including: Address Book, Date Book, Memo Pad, Calculator and To Do List.