Registered: Oct 2001
Location:
Posts: 10

Calm down about the news

Okay, I've been watching everyone go nuts about the comments that Donna said. I swear, I've never seen people get more paranoid, or read more into one comment in my entire life.

First of all, Donna said that "At some point, we will have transitioned out of the organizer business." Pay close attention to that sentence. Note the lack of phrases like "within a few years", "definitely", or "we're never making visors again". She was talking in the conference call about Handspring's financial state. She was trying to imply that Handspring sees a good future for their wireless products. Handspring has spent so much effort promoting the Treo, it only makes sense that they'd focus on that right now.

Okay, and then the various public relations people and even Jeff Hawkins came out and issued statements saying that they are still producing Visors and will be for quite some time. But this doesn't stop the paranoid comments. The newest article on the front of VisorCentral itself has Marcus Adolfsson saying that Hawkins' statement "makes it pretty clear that Handspring will not develop any new Visor models". No it doesn't! Hawkins said "we are consolidating the line into a few key products, Visor Pro, Visor Neo and Visor Edge". Notice the use of present tense. No where in that entire statement did he say "we are ceasing all development of all visor-related materials and will never resume developing the visor line." The assumption that there will never be any new visor models is as far from "pretty clear" as possible. Also, Hawkins said that they would reduce supply channels and markets for the visor as demand dictates. That doesn't imply a darn thing! If no one bought any Visors, who in their right mind would expect Handspring to continue making them! Saying that they'll react to demand has nothing to do with arbitrarily deciding to discontinue the Visor line.

Also in that article, a comment was made how since Handspring doesn't even use Palm OS 4, that it's obvious they will never use OS5 on ARM processors. Okay, Handspring doesn't need to use ver 4. Okay, version 4 has support for 16 bit color. Hmm, the Prism already has that thanks to Handspring's modifications. Okay, version 4 supports expansion cards. Yeah, ditto for Handspring there too. Okay, okay, so we don't have Notepad. Like that's a killer app. Don't read too much into the fact that Handspring doesn't have version 4.

Now, I'm sorry if I came across as being kinda mean here. But some people on this board are just getting a little ridiculous. Donna's comments may have just been some corporate double-speak. True, the Visor line may take the back seat as soon as the Treo finally debuts. But look at it this way, Sony doesn't only make handhelds, yet I don't see people going nuts that they emphasize their music products more.

Simply put, relax and stop reading into these comments too much. Visors are safe for quite some time.

Registered: Sep 2000
Location: Raleigh, NC
Posts: 832

Word to your mother.

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Metro Station, Hollywood and Highland
Posts: 1018

Dubinsky's statement is rife with negative implications for potential and actual Handspring customers and, perhaps more importantly, Springboard manufacturers.

It understandably went down as well as John Lennon's statement that the Beatles were more popular than Jesus. Unfortunately, Handspring has been, well, a little less popular than the Beatles.

Hawkins' "clarification" of Dubinsky's remark was a de facto affirmation that Handspring has, if nothing else, shut off the afterburners on standalone PDA production.

NovaStrike wrote:
Hawkins said "we are consolidating the line into a few key products, Visor Pro, Visor Neo and Visor Edge". Notice the use of present tense.

That's exactly the point: the consolidation is happening now. The Prism will remain in production for long enough to prevent reinforcing the quite reasonable inference that the Visor line is being (present tense) orphaned -- er, "consolidated."

No where in that entire statement did he say "we are ceasing all development of all visor-related materials and will never resume developing the visor line." The assumption that there will never be any new visor models is as far from "pretty clear" as possible.

It's pointless to ask for a negative proof. Consumers don't make decisions on what might be offered in the future if it isn't even being offered. Handspring could surprise us by releasing a new Visor tomorrow, and it still would have been counterproductive to effectively admit that a transition out of the Visor line (or some other shrewd euphemism like "traditional organizer) is desirable.

If no one bought any Visors, who in their right mind would expect Handspring to continue making them!

The corollary of this is that if Handspring "consolidates" Visors, fewer people will buy them. If Handspring discontinues making Visors, no one will buy them. Dubinsky, intentionally or not, has instigated a self-fulfilling prophecy. The question for Springboard manufacturers will be whether or not to continue developing for a shinking product line from a single company with a shrinking share of the Palm OS market, a company that seems at best ambivalent about the Springboard platform.

Saying that they'll react to demand has nothing to do with arbitrarily deciding to discontinue the Visor line.

Of course, if Handspring discontinues the Visor line in reaction to demand, or lack thereof, the decision would be tragic, but hardly arbitrary.

At best, Dubinsky's comments were careless; at worst, true.

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