VisorCentral.com - How soon will Handspring stop making PDAs?

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-- How soon will Handspring stop making PDAs? (http://discussion.visorcentral.com/vcforum/showthread.php?threadid=20847)

Posted by Rob on 01-15-2002 11:39 PM:

How soon will Handspring stop making PDAs?

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/cn/200...problems_1.html

"Although she did not give a time frame, Dubinsky also said that Handspring eventually plans to stop making traditional organizers in favor of focusing on wireless devices."

I wonder if this means the Neo/Pro models are the last PDAs that Handspring will make. I think that even if they had already decided to stop making PDAs, they wouldn't announce that yet, since it could negatively impact sales. (you have to at least empty out most of the units already in the retail channel)

When do you think HS will stop making PDAs?

Posted by foo fighter on 01-15-2002 11:54 PM:

Well, it looks like part of my prediction already came true. They have switched their focus.

Now we'll see if they can stay in business.

__________________
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Posted by Drakion on 01-16-2002 01:26 AM:

i think were done for...

I think us Visor users are done for, and the soon to be Treo users are in business. Make the switch to Treo, stay with Handspring, make the switch to another company, abandon handspring.

Posted by ernieba1 on 01-16-2002 01:30 AM:

Hey- the Treo, and things like it, are still PDAs. But this is a BUMMER!

__________________
-Bernie

"One word sums up probably the responsibility of any vice president, and that one word is 'to be prepared'.
-Dan Quayle

Posted by WorldCTZen on 01-16-2002 03:13 AM:

the Treo IS a PDA! Sheesh!

Ernieba's got it.. PDA - Personal Digital Assistant.. so where in that description does the Treo not fit? It's personal, it's digital, and it will now assist with wireless comms..

The whole hype over the death of 'organizers' sounds like the old joke;
What did Tarzan say when he saw a bunch of Rhinos coming over a hill?
"Look at all those rhinos coming over the hill."
What did he say when he saw a bunch of rhinos wearing sunglasses coming over the hill?
Nothing, he didn't recognize them.

Oooo.. we add wireless comms, give it a new class name, and suddenly an entire group of handheld computer owners become dispossessed...

As long as HS is putting out handheld computers, with or without wires,keyboards,graffitti,espresso makers, whatever.. they are still PDA's!!

__________________
"It's hard to find my guiding light with this lantern in the way..." Diogenes

Posted by recordond on 01-16-2002 03:16 AM:

I think it depends on Treo sales. If they sell a lot of Treos and Visor sales go down it may be sooner than we want. It also depends on price becuase if they can sell entry level wireless devices at reasonable prices it could happen very soon.

--David

Posted by Rob on 01-16-2002 03:57 AM:

Re: the Treo IS a PDA! Sheesh!

quote:
Originally posted by WorldCTZen
Ernieba's got it.. PDA - Personal Digital Assistant.. so where in that description does the Treo not fit? It's personal, it's digital, and it will now assist with wireless comms...

It was Handspring CEO Donny Dubinsky who said they are transitioning out of the "organizer" business. The Treo is an organizer isn't it? It has a date book, address book, to do list, memo pad...gee, Donna must not know what the heck she's talking about.

quote:
Originally posted by WorldCTZen

Oooo.. we add wireless comms, give it a new class name, and suddenly an entire group of handheld computer owners become dispossessed...
As long as HS is putting out handheld computers, with or without wires,keyboards,graffitti,espresso makers, whatever.. they are still PDA's!!

Let's not get hung up on semantics. The fact is that if Handspring's CEO didn't think there was any important distinction between the handheld organizer/PDA business and the communicator business, she would never have bothered to highlight it in the conference call. To quote her exact words:

quote:
Originally posted by Donna Dubinsky

"We are a company that is transitioning out of the organizer business and into the communicator business. At some point, we will have transitioned out of the organizer business."

If what they were doing before is fundamentally the same as what they are doing now (which is apparently what you are claiming -- it's just 'add[ing] wireless comms'!) then why even mention it? She would have just said something like 'we are furthering our committment to making the best [organizer/PDA/whatever term WorldCTZen wants] by adding always-on wireless communication to our line of products'. The fact that the CEO of Handspring has made it a point to explain they will be moving out of one business and into another business suggests this is, in fact, a BIG THING(tm). And I think it's entirely appropriate for customers of their current business to wonder how the company's transition to a NEW business is going to affect them.

So there.

Posted by KnightM on 01-16-2002 04:37 AM:

After taking a look at Handspring's site, and looking at the Treo models, I have got some concerns. First off, I do have a cell phone now, and it would be great to have the visor and the cell phone put together (yes, they did have visor phone, but that took up the springboard module slot) ... My cell phone carrier uses the TDMA cell system and not the GSM system (which I believe the Treo will run on)..
From Handspring's site:

quote:
*Separate GSM wireless service required and may not be available in all areas.

Second, the price.. at $400 with activation required, that seems a little steep for what in reality is a $200 PDA and cell phone (which many cell phone plans give to you for about $15 or less [e.g. my Nokia 5265]) Then if you want a color screen, you can add another $200 onto that price tag to a $600 price tag

Third, if Handspring is going to switch over to these communicators, we can only hope that they decide not to get rid of the only thing that made Handspring stand out in the first place, the reason I bought a Handsping and not a Palm, the Springboard module slot..

I have really loved my Handspring PDA, and I wished that they had come out with another color PDA that would rival the new Sony Clie and other color screens.. Let's only hope that the company doesn't go under from a move such as this...

__________________
~KnightM

Posted by foo fighter on 01-16-2002 05:44 AM:

quote:
Originally posted by KnightM
...Let's only hope that the company doesn't go under from a move such as this...

Handspring is as good as dead. They have jumped from the frying pan into the fire. In the PDA market, which the company is now abandoning, they were competing against the likes of Palm, Sony, and Microsoft. But in the mobile wireless market, they will be going head to head with Nokia, and that is a whole new ballgame. Nokia is the number one cell phone maker in the world. They have the biggest market share, the biggest Mindshare, and the best product line. As good as the Treo is, it won't be a contender against some of the innovative and stylish handsets of Nokia and Ericsson.

Handspring is burning its bridges. Now there is no escape route.

__________________
My blog: Pocketfactory

Posted by bbman84 on 01-16-2002 06:15 AM:

Chasing Corporate Dollars

I agree they are burning bridges and jumping into a much more competitive market. I'm wondering if they are really giving up on the consumer market (or at least not making it their focus in the future) and really going for the corporate market where there are more dollars. I don't see how they can survive against the phone companies unless they are bought out by one of them or have some special arrangement. On the other hand, maybe they don't have the capital and resources to survive against Sony and they saw this coming...

Regardless, as a loyal customer from the beginning, I'm not happy...

Posted by thorin on 01-16-2002 06:41 AM:

Re: Re: the Treo IS a PDA! Sheesh!

quote:
Originally posted by Rob

If what they were doing before is fundamentally the same as what they are doing now (which is apparently what you are claiming -- it's just 'add[ing] wireless comms'!) then why even mention it? She would have just said something like 'we are furthering our committment to making the best [organizer/PDA/whatever term WorldCTZen wants] by adding always-on wireless communication to our line of products'. The fact that the CEO of Handspring has made it a point to explain they will be moving out of one business and into another business suggests this is, in fact, a BIG THING(tm). And I think it's entirely appropriate for customers of their current business to wonder how the company's transition to a NEW business is going to affect them.

So there.

well, it is the business of sales marketers to boldly state they are moving into 'the next big thing', and not 'we're making making the same thing, but with a cellphone built in!'

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Posted by ernieba1 on 01-16-2002 05:53 PM:

So, what are you all (including Handspring) saying? That in five years all we'll see is Handspring cell phones?

__________________
-Bernie

"One word sums up probably the responsibility of any vice president, and that one word is 'to be prepared'.
-Dan Quayle

Posted by Toby on 01-16-2002 06:06 PM:

Incidentally, their stock has dropped a $1 through the course of today last time I checked.

Posted by freitasm on 01-16-2002 08:10 PM:

quote:
Originally posted by foo fighter

Handspring is as good as dead. They have jumped from the frying pan into the fire. In the PDA market, which the company is now abandoning, they were competing against the likes of Palm, Sony, and Microsoft. But in the mobile wireless market, they will be going head to head with Nokia, and that is a whole new ballgame. Nokia is the number one cell phone maker in the world. They have the biggest market share, the biggest Mindshare, and the best product line. As good as the Treo is, it won't be a contender against some of the innovative and stylish handsets of Nokia and Ericsson.

Handspring is burning its bridges. Now there is no escape route.

As I post in another thread, true. HS is now going into a different arena. Sony/Ericsson and Nokia are the big players. And I mean BIG. The market is different. Although PDA in USA is something they created (Palm and Handspring later), mobile is something Palm and Handspring have no idea of... It has standards, plans for future development, and products that live in a separate world from PDAs.

Posted by utz on 01-16-2002 08:41 PM:

Change in direction

Many interesting comments being said.

The reasons that I think Handspring will not anounce any more "organizers" as DD called them are the following.

1. The only reason for Handspring to make this decision is because they have limited resources and have decided to focus them all on communicators (in other words, they still sell lots of organizers, so that can't be the reason they are stopping).

2. They need those resorces now, not in a year. So I believe new organizer dev stopped months ago.

3. If they are not developing new organizers now, they won't in the future.

Will they put a Springboard slot in a communicator?
Probably not, since this would make the thing huge, and it would become a nitch device, only for the truly Springboard dedicated. Plus, the Springboard idea failed. The modules are too expensive for a commodity item like a phone or organizer. And the developers choose questionable projects (no ethernet, but damn, I can take a power nap for $100). I think that handspring has given up on the Sprinboard out of embarassment. Wouldn't you too, seeing as how the modules comming out are the "massage module", "power nap module", and "brain wave module"?

Last point: I believe in Hawkins and Dubinsky, so I believe Handspring will succeed. They invented practical PDA computing, then they revolutionized the market with expansion and cheap prices. Now they will find a nitch in the smartphone market and probably revolutionize it too.

__________________
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Posted by Rob on 01-16-2002 09:00 PM:

Re: Change in direction

quote:
Originally posted by utz
Will they put a Springboard slot in a communicator? Probably not, since this would make the thing huge, and it would become a nitch device, only for the truly Springboard dedicated.

I agree that HS probably will not come out with another Springboard-compatible device. However, I think it's entirely possible that a future HS communicator would include an SD/MMC slot.

quote:
Originally posted by utz
Last point: I believe in Hawkins and Dubinsky, so I believe Handspring will succeed. They invented practical PDA computing, then they revolutionized the market with expansion and cheap prices. Now they will find a nitch in the smartphone market and probably revolutionize it too.

I think they have the talent and the vison, but I'm not sure the technology is to the point that they can make a superior device at an attractive price point. Remember, wireless companies are still giving phones away to lock customers into paying for 2 years of poor service. It's hard to compete with free even if they have compelling new features or better usability. It's also hard to ensure a seamless end-to-end solution and a good user experience if you don't control half of the equation (actually more than half, if you count the wireless network provider, the ISPs, AND web sites that may not offer handheld-friendly content). It will be interesting to see what they come up with in the communicator space.

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