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Jornada "viable alternative to PC notebook" says Vodafone, launching

Proof, if it were needed, that the world's mobile phone operators are living in some kind of dream world when it comes to mobile data: Vodafone is "first to market" with the Jornada 928 Wireless Digital Assistant - as a PC replacement!

The Jornada 928 will be Vodafone's answer to mmo2's XDA - a Pocket PC with a built-in GPRS cellphone. Like the XDA, it has no Bluetooth, and since it is, basically, a PocketPC 2002 design, it will be several degrees short of the proper systems integration that any PC user would want.

It's a coup for Vodafone to be "first to market" with this - though at press time, they still weren't able to clarify how long this exclusive arrangement would last. And it's certainly a "stylish tool to surf the Internet and send messages to friends and family, as Vodafone's Valde Ferradaz, director of device strategy, put it.

But Vodafone did also say, with an apparently straight face, that it was: "a potential business notebook PC replacement," and that "for mobile businesses seeking to avoid carrying large amounts of PC equipment around, the 928 provides a viable solution to the traditional laptop PC."

The good news is that everybody who has seen the 928 says it's a step up from the old Jornada; and that Vodafone claims this will do GPRS roaming to 15 countries. But the machine is going to have to be rather special to live up to this sort of hype.

We look forward to getting a review sample ...