palmOne has announced the launch of the new Treo 650 smartphone into the Middle East, one of the first regions to launch the cutting edge mobile outside the USA.

The Treo 650 – which is scheduled to be available in retail outlets in the Middle East at the beginning of March 2005, for AED2,750 RRP–, offers a compact, fully-featured mobile phone with email, a Palm OS organiser, messaging, web access, digital camera and QWERTY keyboard.

With Calendar, Contacts, Tasks, Memos and more, the Treo 650 is designed to let customers organize and simplify their business and personal lives in one place. They can dial contacts by name from their contacts list or enter a name or number on the QWERTY keyboard or the touch-screen dial pad. It also has a speakerphone, speed dial, conference calling, call history and caller ID, which makes managing, calls that much easier.

Stuart Maughan, palmOne Middle East general manager, said: “According to Canalys, sales of smartphones grew by 160 percent year-on-year in EMEA last quarter, highlighting the great demand we are seeing by the public for innovative smartphones. We are delighted to be introducing the Treo 650, a world-class smartphone, into the Middle East, a region which is finally grabbing people’s attention and is one of the fastest growing markets in the world.”
Maughan continued: “Research in Europe shows that 61 percent of business decisions are being delayed because of people waiting for email replies. Having access to email on the move using a mobile device, such as the new Treo 650 smartphone, should help people overcome these challenges and give our customers the freedom to communicate at any time.”

Source: Strategiy