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-- Palm IIIxe = Death of Visor Deluxe? (http://discussion.visorcentral.com/vcforum/showthread.php?threadid=1016)

I just read in VisorCentral News, that palm will be making the 8 MB Palm IIIxe available in late February for a list price of $249 at CompUSA. Should Handspring be nervous? Knowing that online stores such as Outpost.com, etc., provide deep discounts and immediate shipping, Handspring should be very nervous. I just ordered a VSDx today. Should I cancel the order and wait to see what Handspring does?

Palm IIIxe = Palm IIIx with extra memory

Visor Deluxe = Palm IIIx with extra memory, USB, Springboard slot, a few freebie program extras in ROM, and faster code.

This is not to say they aren't targetted for the same users, but it is to say that they are certainly not made equal. The market is too open now (or will soon be) for one Palm unit to dominate. It's like WinCE devices, or even laptops - some brands are indesputably DUDS, but they still sell enough to turn a profit and keep peoples' options open, which is a great thing for us. The Palm line hasn't killed the daVinci or other handhelds with a much smaller user base, so I have no worries that Handspring will fold. Vive la competition!

-Doug

Doug,
I would tend to disagree with you. Yes, the springboard slot provides expandability, but most people would probably tend to buy a product directly from palm. Though this sounds like a bad deal to you and I, people like simplicity. There have been a number of software bugs found in Palm OS software running on the Visor. People with budget constraints will go for something they know will last, and has little chance of defective software.


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VisorGuy2000

VisorGuy2000,
People may want simplicity, but those people that don't take the time to do enough research are usually the ones with budget constraints. Thus the only ones to find out about any software defects will also do enough research to know that the Visor is an excellent product. It can go either way.


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Richard Kettner
Handspring Weekly Editor
Palm Weekly Editor

I would guess HS will drop prices fairly soon. In addittion most people will probably not buy the IIxe b/c they have already bought a visor or a IIIx with the recent price drops. The rest of palms user base will be waiting for color. I would also guess based on HS's success that they have more than made enought money to survive a small dry spell. I think we may also see a price drop in Dlx's to $200-$220 range so that HS can capture even more of the general consumer market. I think palm has all but ignored this market up until recently. There are a lot of people out there dying to get simplistic scheduling devices to integrate with their current electronic systems (lotus notes, outlook etc.)that corportaions force on their employees. These people are tired of writin down all of their appointments into their pencil and papter notebooks. These people do not want to pay $300-$400 for this convienince, but once you start getting down to $100-$150 for a basic model and $200-$220 for a deluxe model, now consumers will begin to listen just as they have with HS right now!

I was just wondering where everyone got the assumption that the palm IIIxe has 8megs. The link that was posted said that it had 4 megs. And if you think about it this follows palm's previous product history.

Palm 3 2mb
Palm 3x 4mb and 5 2mb
Palm 3e 2mb and 5x 8mb

Sih,

The Palm IIIxe is not a IIIx. The IIIx has 4 megs and the IIIxe, which is yet to be formally announced, has 8 megs. That's why you don't see it on the Palm site.

But if you follow the logic of their product line 8megs does not make sense. They introduced the 3e which had the same memory as the 3, so why would the the 3xe have more memory than than the 3x. Just my .02

it would have 8 megs in order to compete with the visor. also just my $0.02

The IIIxe will clearly take some sales away from the Visor. Absent Springboard modules, there is no compelling reason to stick with the Visor - - cool colors and USB cradles not withstanding.

And, to my knowledge, virtually none of the Springboard modules (or the GoType for Visor) that were promised for January have shipped. Certainly the killer Springboard modules are still MIA, so the more conservative buyer will feel even more comfort buying a IIIxe from Palm. This scenario would still see a reasonalbe number of Visors shipping.

However, should the Springboard modules be significanly late to market, that plus the IIIxe probably will be the death of the Visor. This might not be that big a deal - - if Handspring has another rabbit to pull out of its hat.

[This message has been edited by yucca (edited 02-01-2000).]

Perhaps it's because I'm in Canada that I see things a little differently with respect to the Visor's staying power. Since I'm one of three people in Winnipeg to own these, I don't really consider them to be available yet...those at work who own Palms drool over my Visor, and if they _could_ own one in an easy way, they would. Visors are still a very coveted technology here even though their hype may be waning in the States.

In Canada, the Visor will be widely available after Handspring has already started advertising in national magazines. It'll be available at about the same time Springboards are released. And it'll most likely see a price discount by then, as someone here already mentioned.

It just makes a bit more sense this way, eh? But I consider myself an early adopter and so the things that really ticked us off about Handspring's initial product release will, I believe, be largely unseen by the general public at the time of public availability.

Regardless, I still can't foresee any technology with this much hype behind it, even before it's widely available, being shelved. Even products with a much less prominant install base have found their niche and continue to survive; I expect no less of Handspring.

What I do see, though, is Handspring being VERY quick in releasing their next incarnation and drastically dropping the price of the Visor as soon as it hits retail store shelves.

I see no reason other than shipping, serial cradle (not much of an issue for me at least...I have an iMac) and better customer support for the palm IIIxe to be a threat. I know that no really good springboards have come out yet, but they will ( I can't wait!!) and the only other three reasons to go with the IIIxe would be shipping (once it comes out I assume you could get overnight shipping), the serial cradle is not an issue for those of us who have computers made recently at all, and the customer support is all thats left. Now what would you rather have, a springboard slot so that you can upgrade your PDA and make it a NPE player or a GPS reciever etc... or would you rather have better customer support. For me it's a no brainer, but if you really think you need the improved tech and customer support, I guess you could go with the IIIxe. Just my two cents
Spaceman Spiff