Richard Shim of ZDNet News writes that 3Com has taken a different tack from other Internet appliance vendors, by going after early adopters with its new Audrey device. The $499 Audrey Internet Appliance takes aim at a segment of the market that other competitors, such as Netpliance, Compaq, eMachines, and the newly minted S3 spin-off Frontpath, have been ignoring: the connected household. 3Com also bucked the trend of using Embedded Linux, choosing instead to embed QNX. Shim writes . . .

“3Com Internet Appliance Division Vice President and General Manager Don Fotsch defined the connected household as families that already have Internet access and productivity tools such as devices from Palm Inc. It's those types of users who tend to want to break through a new category.”

“Audrey is a trapezoid-shaped Web tablet (see photo) that comes with an 8-inch touch screen. The device will be powered by National Semiconductor's Geode GX1 chip, which is optimized for multimedia technology with integrated graphics, audio, memory control, and PCI interface.”

“In fact, Audrey is based on National Semiconductor's WebPAD (personal access device) reference platform, which, according to National Semiconductor Marketing Director Camillo Martino, has been customized to meet their target audience. Martino cited the user interface as the area that has most been changed to make the device more consumer friendly.”

“The WebPAD design has been available for about 18 months and has agreements from the likes of Vestel, Ericsson, ProView, ViewSonic, and eMachines to produce devices based on the design. Martino said users can expect to see MSN Companion devices based on the WebPAD design in the near future.”

“Audrey uses the QNX OS and Palm's HotSync technology, allowing, for example, two family members to synchronize schedules from their separate Palm devices into a master calendar. Palm is a 3Com spinoff.”

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