The salesman said that this was the best and told me to listen to it

The salesman said that this was the best and told me to listen to it. I gave him a price range, but ended up spending a bit more anyway. I have never had any problems with it. I like this one because the sound comes from behind the speakers, so it fills the whole room. But 3Com is about to go toe to toe with the most aggressive player in the information technology sector. It probably has a year to build up its marketing muscle; if it doesn't, this could be a one-round fight.The Palm III will be introduced next month, at pounds 299, inc VAT.. At 16, I had a record player and two speakers It was nice to have, but it wasn't a particularly good one. I needed to buy a hi-fi, because before I just had a portable midi-system.

I had been meaning to get a decent system, and had earned a bit of money and wanted to spend it on that. Odd, then, that Philips and other Palm PC manufacturers promise infrared synchronisation on their devices.Then there are more basic questions. Why does the Palm III not switch off when you close the lid? Why not overhaul the application software, which often qualifies for the also-ran prize in this market sector? And why, oh why, no Mac support? 3Com offered Mac facilities on its last version, but Mac support for the Palm III will be offered "at a later date". Even after the demise of the Newton, 3Com officials would not give a firmer message.The Palm III is a modest improvement on an already excellent product. But the new Pilot does itself no favours by under-using its technology and marketing opportunities, for example the infrared function. The Pilot will use this technology just to swap business cards and files between Pilots. Apparently, it is too difficult to communicate with notebook computers via infrared: too many types of signals are used.

Psion was once the third-largest player in the US, but has seen its market share collapse to 2.9 per cent, according to the analysts IDC. Psion was not squeezed only by Microsoft, however; the Pilot has an amazing 51 per cent of the US market, and 33 per cent worldwide.But the Pilot fills a different niche to keyboard-centred devices And Bill Gates is coming. Microsoft has had considerable success in the US market with its Windows CE operating system in keyboard- based hand-held computers. Palm Computing, the 3Com division that produces the Palm Pilot, has begun legal action in Europe against Microsoft, alleging trademark infringement.Until the Microsoft product ships, it will be hard to see what the technology can deliver.

In January Microsoft announced the cheekily named Palm PC, which runs Microsoft's Windows CE operating system, and was developed solely to attack the Pilot But Microsoft may not have everything its own way. And with its improved operating system, the Pilot III now offers better e-mail facilities. With more than 5,000 people developing applications for the Pilot, the increased memory and improved operating system promise lots more benefits.But long term, the Pilot is under threat. This has been available in the US for some time, and is now coming to Europe.