(July 12, 2002) - There's frantic Web activity going on as the Palm fraternity worldwide tries to work out whether it's been hoaxed or not. At www.pocketpcthought.com a photo briefly appeared online of a purported PalmPC named Oslo, with a full-color screen with six photos displayed in a slide show format. The provenance of the photo was suspiciously anonymous, and no specs were provided about the PalmPC's features, capabilities, or dimensions. Jason Dunn, the site administrator, reported that he'd posted the photo originally because of the beauty of the hardware, but he'd removed the image at the request of Matthew Archibald, Palm's director of Global Information Security.

Another site,www.davesipaq.com/palm.htm, also ran the photo, but by 1:00 p.m. EDT on July 12,that photo of "Oslo" disappeared as well. Sites mirroring the photo include
http://members.rogers.com/kawaichan/palm.jpg
http://www.wiretapped.us/palm/
http://home.earthlink.net/~ahecht/newpalm-large.jpg
http://www.jeffwilhelm.com/files/Palm.jpg
http://hisham.cc/files/pics/palmaroo.jpg

WBT tried contacting Mr. Archibald and Palm for comment, but as of this writing, they have not yet responded.

The big questions remain unanswered: is the photo legit, or a clever hoax? Comments posted in discussion forums range from compliments on the design, to questions on its functionality (battery capacity, conjecture on size and purpose of buttons, speakers and other physical features, whether there is an area that slides), to skepticism over the photo's authenticity. One post asks,"Why on earth would Palm use their old resolution screen on a new device?" Is this photo a product of Palm or of Photoshop? Here's the photo, you decide.

Reader response: What do you think? Real or hoax? And if real, is this a product that can steamroll Sony?