VisorCentral.com - Handspring pulls out of Japan

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VisorCentral.com (http://discussion.visorcentral.com/vcforum/index.php)
- Visor General Chat (http://discussion.visorcentral.com/vcforum/forumdisplay.php?forumid=31)
-- Handspring pulls out of Japan (http://discussion.visorcentral.com/vcforum/showthread.php?threadid=21663)

Posted by foo fighter on 02-21-2002 10:10 PM:

Handspring pulls out of Japan

Read: http://www.palminfocenter.com/view_Story.asp?ID=3015

Sayonara Visor...

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Posted by kamizuno on 02-22-2002 05:34 AM:

That can't be good !!!

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Posted by yardie on 02-22-2002 03:34 PM:

Who cares?

Who cares? Who really knew that Handspring even sold Visors ni Japan? There is no way Handspring could compete in a market where people change their gadgets like how they change their clothese anyways.

Posted by dkessler on 02-23-2002 03:21 PM:

Re: Who cares?

quote:
Originally posted by yardie
Who cares? Who really knew that Handspring even sold Visors ni Japan? There is no way Handspring could compete in a market where people change their gadgets like how they change their clothese anyways.

I care! Handspring has actually done quite well in Japan and Kopsis has a lot of customers there. Sales of Innopocket FlashPlus modules have been much stronger there than in the US. If I had to guess, I'd say that the Springboard slot is more appealing to Japanese consumers (who love to customize thier gadgets) than it is to Americans.

Unfortunately, a 160x160 display is not well suited to Japanese characters. Handspring would have to upgrade to a high-res display to compete with Sony and clearly they aren't interested in doing that. The Treo is useless in Japan (it's not compatible with NTT/Docomo's wireless system), so without a competitive PDA, Handspring has no choice but to abandon the Japanese market. It's really a shame because from what I've seen, the Japanese liked Handspring products.

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Posted by traveler on 02-24-2002 03:54 AM:

I actually had a visor that I bought in Japan, and display of Japanese and Chinese was fine. It is really too bad that Handspring is pulling out. From what I saw in Tokyo, there were plenty of shops carrying visor products and Handspring seemed to be doing pretty well. Unfortunately, Japan's phone system is not compatible with anything else around the world (except maybe Korea), so it must not provide a big enough market to justify development. Or at least not a market that would easily fit within current strategies.

Posted by macminer on 02-24-2002 03:24 PM:

A broader range?

Just came to my mind - after reading the info that Handspring is going to pull out of Japan: is it any good concentrating on just one product? Is there any product that will have a universal appeal? (well, some like milk and bread may have, but what about PDAs?)

I could say the Treo looks promising and going along the Treo line seems fine, but certainly it won't appeal to everybody. The world is not just about GSM and not everyone has $500+ to spare for a PDA+mobile phone. On the other hand there are some who will spend 1000+ if it satisfies all their needs. Why not develop several lines of product - even if it means hiring some engineers and doing some marketing research abroad. If Casio can make PDAs in the $100-1900 range, with different specifications for different markets, this has to make some sense. Obviously, I am not trying to prove that Casio's own system or WindowsCE is any good, but they certainly know how to stay in the market!

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