In a move designed to undercut the Blackberry's dominance in the handheld PDA (personal digital assistant) market, former software rivals Microsoft and Palm have teamed up to produce a Windows-based version of Palm's Treo 700 mobile smartphone. The announcement, which was staged at an official press conference in San Francisco, included three of the biggest names in the computing and telecommunications industries: Microsoft's Bill Gates, Palm CEO Ed Colligan, and Denny Strigl of Verizon Wireless.

Like the wildly popular Blackberry PDA, the Treo 700 wireless handheld device provides access to email, corporate data, phone, Web, and organizer features. Until now, the Treo has run only on Palm's own operating system. But the new Treo for Windows will utilize the well-known Windows interface, enabling users to operate powerful programs like Microsoft Outlook, Excel, and Word in the palm of their hands.

According to spokespersons at Palm, the Treo 700 will ship in early 2006, and analysts say the handheld device could run between $600 and $700. The timing of the release is important to both Palm and Microsoft, as the Trio will be jockeying against other leading PDA products, including Dell's Axim, Hewlett-Packard's iPAQ, and the near-ubiquitous Blackberry.