No WM2003 Update for Dell Axim?

[Brad Isaac]

There are a lot of comments on several sites indicating that Dell has stated there will be no Windows Mobile 2003 for their Dell Axim X3 or X5. I don't know why I am having trouble believing Dell would actually follow through with this considering the ground they've gained in the Pocket PC Arena. I am going to go out on a limb here and say, "I believe there will be an upgrade available for the Axim X3s and X5s." Now whether people will have to pay for the upgrade or not. I'll leave that to the real fortune tellers.
"Dell will deploy Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition in future Axim products. We have no plans at this time to offer Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition updates for current Axim X3 or Axim X5 products."
Looks like Dell won't be offering existing users of their Axim X3 or X5 Pocket PC's free upgrades to the bug fixing and improved Windows Mobile 2003 Second edition (Not even an option to buy it either from the looks of it. So if you are looking at buying any Pocket PC's from Dell right now - don't! Shame as both Hewlett Packard and Toshiba are offering updates from April/May. The stranger thing is that at the current MDC show they (Dell, Toshiba and HP) are flashing Pocket PC's to the new OS after users sign an NDA.
Well, what do you think? Am I full of beans? Or on the money? Will Dell offer the upgrade?

[knelson]

I am very curious about who will offer what upgrade when and for how much. Right now I have an Ipaq 3950 which I got free from Dell about a year ago... we also got an Axium but my partner has that one... I had a GPS Pharos serial that I wanted to keep so I went with the IPAQ.
Anyway we are a Dell Premier reseller and they have been pushing us to start selling the Axium line, since they know we sold the IPAQs before, but I have always wondered about Dell in the PocketPC market, they were late to the market and internally they have had turn overs in that group.
I will be getting a new PocketPC later this year and really can not decide what I want, I want a IPAQ with VGA but it does not exist... so I am open., Dell has nothing that really excites me.

[sracer]

Brad, I believe that you are correct. Dell will probably offer an upgrade for their X3 devices and quite possibly their X5. The specifics will be based on what kind of deal they can strike with Microsoft and the in-house development and testing associated with it. (hopefully they'll actually test THIS upgrade)
We have no plans at this time is corporate-speak for, "there is currently no line item in our management powerpoint presentation relating to an upgrade". It is a standard CYA (Cover Your patootie maneuver. The company doesn't want to publicly state that there will be an upgrade, just in case something happens that prevents them from doing it.
The common person on the street looks at that and immediately thinks that there will definitely not be an upgrade. "at this time" is the operative phrase here.
However, this is DELL we're talking about. DELL Axim users should make themselves very, very vocal about them offering an upgrade. As a former DELL customer, I know full well that they only respond to very loud and very public comments.
DELL grudgingly acknowledged problems with their WM2003 upgrade only after a few of us vocal and persisent customers brought the matter to the attention of CNet who ran the story. In less than 24 hours after that, DELL admitted to the problems. Before that, they simply ran a campaign of "deny, deny, deny". Even going as far as instructing their customer support staff to refuse to accept any problem reports related to WM2003.
knelson, it's spelled Axim (no "u")

[knelson]

I hear HP will not offer upgrades to some of their older lines, ie the 3900 series which I own.