Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Boston, MA USA
Posts: 4

Well, I really wanted to support Handspring and update my old Pilot Professional with their product. I was particularly impressed, as a mac user, with their usb module. But, after trying to order online and having that crash, and after waiting waiting waiting on hold I decided to give palm a call. The phone was immediately answered and I placed an order and received the next day a Palm 3e clear edition. It's cool looking and works well. I support Handspring in theory, but in practice, annoucing a product and not allowing people to get through to buy it from you and not shipping it for months after are unacceptable. Just my two-cents worth.

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Salem, OR, USA
Posts: 91

Not a smart move. If you wanted a Palm now you could've purchased a new IIIx for $40 less. To think Handpsring is not allowing you to call is ridiculous, and they have already shipped the first units.

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Urbana IL
Posts: 144

Regardless of your perspective on Handspring as a company, that was not a very swift move IMHO. Ordering direct from Palm gets you a less able unit for more money than a IIIx from VA.

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Hong Kong
Posts: 200

The IIIe should keep you going till early next when all delivery bottlenecks are solved.

But, did you order from PALM directly? There are so many cheaper options for USA buyers....

PS: One of my office gals wanted to order a Palm V online ($299 - buynowcomputers.com) - but just got informed that export is restricted by 3Com. Back to square one.

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Boston, MA USA
Posts: 4

I got my Palm IIIe clear edition for 179. Not bad, eh? As for the comment that it is ridiculous for me to say Handspring didn't allow me to call, sorry. Fact is they are horrible when it comes to answering the phone. Last time I checked that is not a good business move. Fact is I got a good, proven product (not the first round which is bound to have many problems) at a good price and well, Palm answered the phone!!

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Salem, OR, USA
Posts: 91

I got my Palm IIIe clear edition for 179. Not bad, eh?

Bad. You could've gotten a Palm IIIx with flash ROM and twice the memory for $142 including shipping. Ordering straight from the manufacturer is never a smart thing to do when you can get their products cheaper elsewhere. The reason you didn't get to order a Visor is your own lack of patience to stay on hold. Apparently you didn't want the superior product enough to wait your turn behind the hundreds of other people on hold. Palm answered the phone because there is no new product to compel people to call and order from them, not to mention the fact that any informed consumer wouldn't pay full retail for an inferior product when a superior product can be had cheaper elsewhere. Remember, the people at Handspring were at the top of Palm little more than a year ago, and they brought others from Palm along with them. I bet they have more experience than all the people at Palm added together.

[This message has been edited by DKantola (edited 10-17-1999).]

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Boston, MA USA
Posts: 4

wow!! nice response. I wanted the IIIe edition because it had a clear design which none of the other palm's have. Vanity, I know but that was why I went for the IIIe. As far a the visor being a superior product I have no doubt it is. I just don't want to wait until December or January to find out and have a buggy first edition of a new product. I'll wait till round two when they have everything straightened out. As for your comment about being on hold because Handspring has a superior product there can never, ever be an excuse for keeping a potential customer on hold for over thirty minutes. By the way, how do you moderate your own postings

Registered: Sep 1999
Location:
Posts: 52

sterndesign, you've shown yourself to be shallow, impetuous, impatient and shortsighted. What surprises me is how many people have actually taken an interest in what you might have to say. As for me, well, good luck with your immediate gratification lifestyle. I am glad you have the resources to make rash, imprudent decisions which, generally, will prove to be costly in the long run.

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Streamwood, IL USA
Posts: 118

"I just don't want to wait until December or January to find out and have a buggy first edition of a new product. "

It runs the SAME software as the Palm Series, the SAME desktop software, the SAME processor and the SAME screen. There are only minor tweaks and as noted the tweaks were done by the prople who orginally wrote the software.

This IS round two. Palm is old tech and Handspring is the next generation.

I am not going to blast your for doing whatever you want to do, I couldn't care less, but your decision was uninformed.

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Indianapolis, IN, USA
Posts: 36

hey sterndesign, the visor is shipping!! Ha Ha

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Boston, MA USA
Posts: 4

Some of you seriously need to relax. We're talking about pda's here after-all. As far as the comment that I am "shallow, impetuous, impatient and shortsighted" now that's not very nice is it? I don't even know you and you don't even know me and yet based on nothing you make that sort of comment? Not nice at all. Furthermore, the comment, "I am glad
you have the resources to make rash, imprudent decisions which, generally, will prove to be
costly in the long run." is hilarious. Costly in the long run? How, I bought the IIIe that is twenty bucks more than the visor. Granted it doesn't have the proprietery springboard but so what? Product devolopment on the springboard, (if indeed it takes off) won't yield useful results for at least a year.
Lastly, I'm sorry I've upset some of you. I didn't intend to. Guess I didn't realize pda's could render enough passion for some of you to use big words like impetuous. How intelligent.

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Valparaiso, IN
Posts: 146

sterndesign,

I had to chuckle at your last reply because you're right, it is just a PDA. I think that some members of the forum (myself included) tend to be offended when someone makes a choice that we might not make ourselves.

Would I go with a IIIe? Probably not, but only because of the online deals for the IIIx. However, I still think you're right about the price. $179 isn't bad for that product. It's a great device. If the PDA does what you need it for and what you expect of it, then it's a great product, regardless of what big words people like me would use to try and persuade you otherwise.

BTW, good form, not taking anything too personal in the forum. Sometimes people type things that they would never ever say in person. Good luck with the IIIe!

Registered: Not Yet
Location:
Posts: N/A

Sterndesign,
I'm with you. People here take it like you insulted their mother if you say anything neg about visor. You should see what I got. Pretty hilarious.. and sad.
I think you hit the point quite well about not wanting to wait til december for a possible buggy first edition. Palm V's first edition had bug leading to recalls but in the subsequent editions it was taken cared of.
Handspring is such a small, beginning, company. The push to fill back orders will result in lower production quality standards.
Corners will be cut most likely in quality inspections.
Also technical support will not be there for quite sometime.
Palm will ship you a new unit OVERNIGHT if your becomes defective.
Handspring is on a 6 week back order for new units, How long do you think it'll take to wait for a replacement?? 6 months maybe.
So, I feel its best to play it safe and stick with something proven. As you said.
Sterndesign, have a good one! =)

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Milwaukee, WI
Posts: 74

Thank you Hawkeye, good response to a good response. I agree with Hawkeye, I hope you enjoy your IIIe. eye-sore, you are talking about things you do not know about (for that matter none of us do).

Registered: Oct 1999
Location:
Posts: 9

I agree with every other comment posted about people's frustrations with Handspring and their delivery schedule. I'm curious about the individual who said that they ordered their Visor in September, when the site didn't open up ordering until October.

I'm getting ready to cancel my order. The Palm V is getting cheap enough for me to make the switch (especially when I can have it in my hot little hands by tomorrow). How a company can announce a product and not be able to ship is beyond me. And to not anticipate the demand so that they can provide servers that can handle the traffic to their site is another stupid mistake.

Their phone support leaves little to be desired. On average, the three times that I've tried to call Handspring, I've had to wait around a half hour to speak to a real live person. And when I called to inquire about the status of my order, they told me that their servers were down and that they couldn't look up that information; giving me the same generic response about their slow shipping times.

Completely incredible marketing strategy, if you ask me. Perhaps they should hop in the sack with Apple's G4 geniuses.

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Pittsford,NY,USA
Posts: 223

They have been accepting phone orders since 9/14 (the day of the announcment) and they are now shipping product. (Started shipping on Friday.) Someone has already posted a message about getting theirs today.

-Eric

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Lexington, KY, USA
Posts: 50

I've been rather fascinated by this thread, and by what appears to be the prevailing attitude. Having spent most of my life in a third-world country, I tend to be a little more laid-back than some of the folks here, and I try to take that into consideration. But the amazing impatience and anger that folks seem to have truly baffles me. Sure, I can understand being anxious, and excited about getting your Visor. I've been like a little kid waiting for Christmas. But I realize that being impatient won't make Christmas come any sooner.

When I called and ordered my Visor, I was told that it would be 4-6 weeks for delivery. I thought that seemed like a little long, but, that's what they guy said, so I figured that's The Way Things Are. Now, I'm rather irritated that some of the articles posted here have made me start to get impatient, and spend inordinate amounts of time calling my credit card company to see if it has been charged yet.

When I decided to get a palm device, I did it because I realized that I needed something to help me keep track of the bzillion things going on in my life, retain my sanity, and save the dozens of acres of rain forest I was using up every week. I'm up to almost a legal pad a week now, just trying to keep track of things, and I still forget half the stuff that I'm supposed to be doing. I figured I should get the best one out there, and that it was probably worth waiting for. It was unfortunate that this decision was just at the time that Handspring was starting shipping, in that it means that I'll have to wait a lot longer than if I had decided a month earlier, and gotten a PalmIII, of if I had decided a month later, and the furor had already died down. But, that's The Way Things Are. Not that I'm usually a fatalist by any means, but ranting in this forum is hardly going to make my Visor get to me any faster. And since I've devided that it's the best buy, getting something else earlier would not be a good investment either.

So, anyways, I expect that it has something to do with our cultural obsession with instant gratification - something that I've not yet latched onto yet. Perhaps in another 10 or 15 years, I'll have it mastered. I think I can wait.