In the midst of the Palm PC hoo-ha, 3Com Corp’s Palm Computing Inc division has officially announced the latest addition to the PalmPilot family, the PalmPilot III. The latest model comes shortly before Microsoft Corp starts selling its new Palm PC devices (CI No 3,363) and at the beginning of legal proceedings 3Com is taking against the software giant (CI No 3,362). The latest connected organizer has new infrared beamimg capabilities, more memory, an optimized user interface and a new industrial design. Following the company’s decision to chop the prices of its PalmPilot devices this week (CI No 3,363), the PalmPilot III at around $400 will sit at the high end of the product range. The device will run on the Palm OS 3.0 operating system and is said to be flash upgradeable, meaning users can upgrade the Palm OS software without having to replace the memory card. The new beaming facility enables users to share records and applications, on a wireless basis, letting them beam information to one and others Palm Is at the touch of a button. It has 2Mb of Random Access Memory and can synchronize data over corporate intranets and the Internet using Palm Computing’s enhanced HotSync technology. The company has also announced a series of upgrades to enable existing Pilot 1000, Pilot 5000, the PalmPilot Personal and the PalmPilot Professional Edition products, to upgrade the software, beaming capability and extended memory facility of the Palm III, with the help of the Palm 2Mb upgrade which is expected to be available in June. 3Com claims its Palm Computing division currently hold a 66% share of the standard handheld computing market and it now looks to be pinning its hopes on retaining leadership with the assistance of this latest offering. The PalmPilot III will be available in April.