PDA and Smartphone maker Palm Inc. announced a new version of its Palm Treo branded smartphones on Thursday, aiming to market the phone to professional consumers as well as business users.

The new Palm-Treo 680 is a quad-band GSM handset running on Palm's PalmOS operating system. The software, first introduced in Palm's PDA products, is known for its ease of use industry support. Unlike previous Treo smartphones, however, Palm will market the 680 to a wider range of customers, vying to capture prosumer customers as well as its base business customers.

Really what we focused on in the past is the mobile professionals, Palm CEO Ed Colligan said in a press conference.

The phone is slimmer than previous models, and is the first Treo device to feature a discrete internal antennae. It will also come in a number of colors.

The market we're trying to go after now is the 'mobile accomplisher', Colligan said, noting that market is nine times the size of the mobile professional market.

Two weeks ago, Research In Motion, maker of the industry leading Blackberry smartphone, targeted the prosumer market itself, unveiling the Peal and 8700 smartphones. Cingular and other carriers will begin carring the Pearl by the end of the year, while the 8700 is expected to be released in the next 6 to 12 months.

Market research firm IDC stated total shipments of smartphones reached a record 19.3 million units for the quarter, marking a 1.9 percent quarterly increase, and a 42.1 percent yearly increase.

Electronics Blackberry