Registered: Jul 2001
Location:
Posts: 1

Will Handspring be in Business next year?

Question for the group: Considering Handspring's losses two years in a row will this company be around next year?

Is it considered a high risk to continue to buy Handspring products when this company continues to show losses?

Unless the margins of profit materialize for Handspring, the investors will no longer have faith in this company, in which case it may be sold or disolved.

I would appreciate your thoughts on this subject since this will impact all Handspring customers who have their current technology or plan on purchasing additional Handspring technology and products.

thanks,

EBS

Registered: Jul 2000
Location:
Posts: 3034

Re: Will Handspring be in Business next year?

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Originally posted by EBS
Question for the group: Considering Handspring's losses two years in a row will this company be around next year?

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I think it's pretty likely. Operating at a loss isn't very odd for a new company especially one who gained marketshare as quickly as Handspring did.

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Is it considered a high risk to continue to buy Handspring products when this company continues to show losses?

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High risk? Probably not. Risk? Yeah, but I'd say the same about almost any technology company these days.

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Unless the margins of profit materialize for Handspring, the investors will no longer have faith in this company, in which case it may be sold or disolved.

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How long has Amazon been around?

Registered: Oct 2000
Location: Aberdeen, SD
Posts: 2531

You almost have to take a loss at the expense of expansion for the first couple of years. Will they be around? I think so but have no way of knowing.

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-Joshua
Abortion: Darwinism at its finest.

Registered: Apr 2001
Location:
Posts: 61

Look at 95% of other technical companies. Everybody is posting losses. And as far as PDA's, i would say that any company could grab the highest market share, as long as they come out with a new device that impresses everybody.

Registered: Oct 2000
Location: Aberdeen, SD
Posts: 2531

quote:

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Originally posted by shockwave869
...as long as they come out with a new device that impresses everybody.

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-Joshua
Abortion: Darwinism at its finest.

Registered: Dec 2000
Location: Elkins Park, Pa
Posts: 577

You know why I think Handspring will remain in buisness (and so will Palm)? Because I own a PDA, but very few of my friends own PDAs. It has yet to catch on, on a large scale. But because of people like us, who convince our friends to get them, more people will keep buying them.

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"One word sums up probably the responsibility of any vice president, and that one word is 'to be prepared'.
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Registered: Mar 2001
Location: Nebraska- the Good life
Posts: 695

quote:

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Originally posted by ernieba1
You know why I think Handspring will remain in buisness (and so will Palm)? Because I own a PDA, but very few of my friends own PDAs. It has yet to catch on, on a large scale. But because of people like us, who convince our friends to get them, more people will keep buying them.

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Registered: Jul 2001
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Posts: 7

I agree with the advertising theory. A well-designed TV promo ran a few thousand times across the country could do it. Including a great model, like say Laetitia Casta, wouldn't hurt! What was it that Claudia Schiffer promoted?....

Registered: Feb 2000
Location:
Posts: 1571

Will be around

I think Handspring will be around in some form or the other (as s single company, as a division of a bigger company or has a merged company). Handspring is a solid company with good management and a genious as its Chied Product Officer.

Registered: Dec 1999
Location:
Posts: 88

Yep!! Handspring will be around for years to come. Just think about what Handspring has accomplished since it creation. Jeff Hawkins and his team have led two handheld initiatives (Palm and Handspring), and they have a vision that will bring us more. Think about it. The module concept that Hawkins introduced with the Handspring Visor has been copied by almost every handheld vendor in the marketplace. This includes the Pocket PC environment as well. Look at what the Ipaq offers with its expansion module. Let the fun continue. I expect the Handspring team to new directions for us to consider in the near future.

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D. Watkins
Please rescue a Greyhound

Registered: Aug 2001
Location:
Posts: 383

quote:

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Originally posted by Madkins007


I agree. I talk to people at work all the time about my VDX, and I figure that about 5% of them will buy one within a year or so. Several of them will go out and do the same.

The only worry I have is their advertising/marketing strategies. Target WAS carrying Handspring, and seems to have either stopped or declined in favor of the M series Palms. I suspect whatever Target carries wioll sell well- if properly positioned within the store (Palm, in the Stationary Dept. seems smarter than Handspring tucked in a display case or corner of Electronics). Handspring is not prominantly displayed at OfficeMax or OfficeDepot, and only moderately displayed at Best Buy and CompUSA.

NONE of these companies is advertising in the mass media worth a hoot, so the average person knows little about them- and thus assumes they are technogeek, expensive, hard to use, etc. I would bet that the first of these companies to break out a decent campaign (that features at least some education on how/why)in mainstream media will rake in the benefits- and the PDA industry as a whole will improve in the wake of it.

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Registered: Sep 2000
Location: Escondido, CA
Posts: 40

Handspring's Future

Don't know about ten years from now; technology continues to move forward and those companies that don't have the insight and wisdom to put forth new and exciting products won't be around. In my office, five percent of the folks purchased Handspring units and another ten percent have indicated a desire to purchase HS in the future.

If HS continues to be innovative and caters to the needs and whims of the consumer, they'll have a future.

CCC

Registered: Jan 2001
Location: Midwest
Posts: 232

I suspect Handspring will survive it's first few years, especially if they continue to innovate. They'll also have to agressively support module makers, or they'll lose the one aspect of their product that most poeple buy IT for.

As for Handspring inventing the module concept... Nope. Yea, they may be the first to do it with a PALM OS device, but my first module-expandable computer was a TI/99-4A. Same concept, almost the same processing power as a Visor, but not quite pocketable. Come to think of it, the TI99 modules were about the same price as the range of modules I've seen for the Visor. And I paid about as much for my TI99 (but in 1980 dollars) as I did for my Platinum. Funny how times and sizes change, but some things (price points) remain the same.

Dave

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There is nothing yet made by man that cannot be improved upon.

Registered: May 2000
Location: Chicago
Posts: 15

Your right, modules are not new. HP calculators have had snap-on packs for memory, statistics, business, engineering, etc. since at least 1985. The magical, reverse polish notation HP41 series. And just like PIMs nowdays, the type of HP, the accesories, and method of carrying it defined your geekness.

Registered: Mar 2001
Location: Nebraska- the Good life
Posts: 695

quote:

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Originally posted by Techie2000


True PDAs do have a reputation as being a Geek thing and I agree that there needs to be some kind of media campaign. However I'd like to mention that well at least in my area the OfficeMaxs now have prominant PDA displays right next to the customer service/pen/camera desk with PDAs such as Visor, and the m series on display with racks below that have spare styli, programs, cases, etc.

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Registered: Jun 2000
Location:
Posts: 26

I think they will be around for a while. There are some real innovations coming with Springboard modules though not necessarily for the consumer market - more industrial type applications and modules.

The PDA provides a unique platform. It is a very powerful computer in a small form factor with a graphics display / touch screen. That makes for some powerful data acquisition / management possibilities. It's unbelievable. And there are lots of people interested and/or already developing modules that will drive sales.

The Visor low end is a great area for this - low cost in case some employee shells one - and you don't need many features for those applications anyway. Certainly not built-in MP3 and such. What has value in this arena is that Springboard slot and Handspring is the only company with that. SD and CF just aren't big enough and don't have the right form factor. But Springboard does.

There is a coming mass market to help support the Handspring Visor PDA platform but it's industrial. Companies will be buying hundreds at a clip. And already are.