Qualcomm rolls out a new version of its Eudora email suite as well as a universal messaging package for Windows.
Continuing its support of Internet messaging standards, Qualcomm released Eudora Pro Email 4.0, priced at $39, which offers support for IMAP4 (Internet Message Access Protocol) and LDAP (lightweight directory access protocol). The package also includes enhanced filtering capabilities.
Priced at $59, the Eudora Pro CommCenter 4.0 combines Pro Email 4.0 with voice messaging, chat, and paging applications for the desktop, according to the company.
Along with the Internet messaging standard support, Eudora Pro Email 4.0 includes a newly designed user interface which includes a message preview pane, floating dockable windows, and a "make filters" command which lets users create filters.
It also features enhanced directory services like support for LDAP; Ph, the protocol for Internet-based white pages; Finger; and Local Address Book. Such services will allow users to query multiple services simultaneously.
With some of the latest design changes, industry observers say Qualcomm is looking to gain more customers in the corporate market.
"It's looking more like a corporate product rather than the software hobbyist product it used to be. I think that with this release, [Qualcomm] is clearly looking to compete in the corporate market," Giga Information Group analyst Rob Enderle said.
However, Enderle isn't sure if the company is making the right move. "I don't think Eudora has the back-end support to handle [a whole corporation]."
Moving into the corporate market might even risk losing some of the company's existing customer base. "They might loose some of the customers who appreciate the trendy design thing the company has achieved with previous versions of Eudora," he said.
Qualcomm boasts having more than 18 million Eudora users, but observers have long wondered what the company will do to maintain that market as software titans like Microsoft and Netscape Communications hone the messaging applications they provide with their software suites.
Eudora Pro CommCenter 4.0 supports all the Internet-messaging standards of Eudora Pro Email 4.0 as well as fax and voice mail capabilities. Users can set up a "virtual office" with a phone number in more than 25 cities worldwide to send and receive faxes and voice mail using their CommCenter mailbox, the company said.
CommCenter also features Eudora Internet Pager by Ichat, which lets users page and chat in real time. According to the company, users can contact anyone connected to the Internet without having to disconnect from CommCenter 4.0 and place a phone call.
In addition CommCenter delivers news to users' inboxes from such sources as InfoBeat, Individual, and other online personalized news providers.
Both products are available on the Qualcomm Web site, and Eudora Pro Email users are eligible for a $20 rebate on CommCenter 4.0.