In June Intel launched the 3.2GHz Pentium 4 processor, further taking the lead on AMD as clearly the Athlon XP 3000+ and the just released 3200+ couldn’t keep pace. The end user sees a further drop in processor prices, as the two processor manufactures fight for the consumer’ purchase, which means a fast system now becomes really affordable. Top of the line processors such as the Athlon XP 3200+ no longer carry a price premium and are priced below $500.



Fig 9. The Asus MyPal a620 PocketPC, featuring a Windows Mobile 2003 and 64MB memory.
Microsoft unveils the successor to PocketPC 2002, their operating system for handhelds. The new operating system, dubbed Windows Mobile 2003 offers no real improvements over the previous version other than better compatibility with Intel Xscale processor and DirectX as well as the inclusion of Windows Media Player 9, which was recently introduced for Windows XP. Windows Mobile 2003 is also easier to setup, manage and use in a wireless environment, which become increasingly popular in 2003.