InHand Electronics, Inc., a leader in creating ultra-portable handheld device platforms for OEMs, today announced the availability of its new Fingertip platform. This new version is based on Intel’s StrongARM CPU and builds on the original high-performance, low-power Fingertip platform by adding an integrated Bluetooth wireless network interface, an integrated Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver, and support for additional color and monochrome LCD displays.

“The response to our original Fingertip platform has been outstanding, with customers lauding its very low-power consumption and high-level of integration,” said Andrew Girson, InHand’s CEO. “This new Fingertip platform ratchets up the integration and leverages our third-party relationships with Socket Communications and Trimble, by incorporating their low-power peripherals. Together with Bluetooth and GPS, handhelds based on the new Fingertip platform can still achieve sub-watt power consumption.”

The new Fingertip platform incorporates all of the features of InHand’s BatterySmart system software suite for StrongARM and XScale CPUs, including dynamic clock-scaling, reduced power peripheral software drivers, and advanced measurement and analysis tools. Both the Bluetooth and GPS peripherals interface with the main CPU through BatterySmart’s power-optimized software drivers. Using BatterySmart, Fingertip’s power consumption is kept below one watt, even with Bluetooth, GPS, and QVGA LCD peripherals in operational mode.

“As location-based services become increasingly important in a variety of industries, InHand’s Fingertip and Trimble’s M-Loc MPM GPS module provide an ideal platform that allows OEMs to rapidly develop location-enabled handheld devices,” said Dennis Workman, vice president of Trimble’s Component Technologies Division.

And, Mike Gifford, Executive Vice President of Socket Communications (Nasdaq: SCKT) adds, “With Bluetooth implementations becoming increasingly important for handheld devices, InHand’s Bluetooth-enabled Fingertip reference platform provides a great solution for OEMs interested in building state-of-the-art low-power handhelds. With our Bluetooth modules and software natively supported on the Fingertip, OEMs will benefit via short range wireless connectivity device-to-mobile phone, device-to-mobile printer, and other operating scenarios where cabled connections are cumbersome.”

New Fingertip Development Platforms will be available in early January with BatterySmart 2 for Microsoft Corp.’s Windows CE 3.0. Pricing is at $2,995 for the base platform and $3,995 with integrated Bluetooth and GPS hardware and software.