Registered: Sep 1999
Location:
Posts: 179

Oops, I jumped the gun here. I have received a reply to a message I sent to Handspring regarding the current online ordering/tracking situation but have been asked to remove it because it was somewhat informal for posting here. I've been told I will shortly receive a more formal announcement that will be an "Official" statement from Handspring covering the current situation. Stay tuned...


[This message has been edited by handsprung (edited 09-21-1999).]

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

Darn! When I read the topic, I thought I was going to get some answers. I guess I will have to wait for the official statement now.

-Eric

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Bellevue, Wa, USA
Posts: 72

Thats OK, I got to read the "Announcement" and it didn't say much that you would qualify as answers. Oh well...

Registered: Sep 1999
Location:
Posts: 179

irewolf, you are correct, but after letting the person at Handspring know that I posted the email they asked for me to take it down with the promise that he would send me a more "Official Statement" from Handspring with an explanation for the delays.

More to come...

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Schaumburg, IL
Posts: 151

You would think that HandSpring would be falling all over themselves to at least let the tech community--read Early Adopters--know why the delays are occurring and why their "new" website is so long in coming. My feeling is that they're playing the anticipation game by throwing out bits and pieces at a time to maintain the suspense until their "Official Release" at the Fall Internet Trade Show on Oct 6th. There's no mistake here, it's just a marketing gimmick to extend their release by a month so that the entire handheld community including the general media are stirred up to a complete froth when the actual product becomes available. Dubinsky, Hawkins, and Colligan aren't stupid, they know exactly what they're doing.

I think they would admit that they did stumble on the customer support but probably because they've outsourced the support to some generic call center (do you really think they would have a room full of brilliant techs manning the phones) when they could pay a bunch of phone jockeys $9.00 an hour to answer simple questions?

They probably could have avoided some of these challenges by putting together a more solid website. But they just figure we'll forget about it all once the little jewelled cases are in our hands a month from now. They can abuse us a little because we live for the technology and accept that doing so comes with bumps in the road.

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Midland, TX USA
Posts: 95

I hope Jackal's take on this is incorrect. A marketing ploy is not solid grounds for a new company. Particularly if they experience any problems with the delivered units. The tech community will be unforgiving at that point if abused up front. There will be no honeymoon period in that event.

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Schaumburg, IL
Posts: 151

Hey, I hope I'm wrong too. But I do work for a software company and I've seen countless examples across the hardware and software industries of companies doing exactly this sort of thing. Every Marketing person wants to build momentum so that the final release causes a HUGE explosion of activity across the market. Remember when Win95 was released? How big of an event was it? HUGE! People waited outside of their computer stores at midnight just to buy the first box. What about the recent release of Sega Dreamcast, again, midnight in front of the stores.

Still, we should remember that this is a start-up company even if the core senior mgmt are the originators of the PalmPilot world. They're encountering bumps in the road probably due to poor planning, faulty systems, and trying to create a whiz-bang customer service system immediately (and watching it fizzle the night before you're supposed to turn on the website). And they don't REALLY want to cause too much focus on such problems because that would take away from the growing momentum of customer enthusiasm for the product. So they stay quiet and give generic hopeful answers while praying that everything will be together in time for the REAL Release.

That's my take anyway.

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Albany, NY
Posts: 6

as for me, I would not be so forgiving. Should this be a ploy for them to push the ship date out, I would be more than willing to consider cancelling my order and picking up a Palm IIIx and a TRG 8 Meg Extra board. AS we all know, the IIIx is going to drop in price after October 4th and the TRG expansion board is not only $99.00. The springboard just is not that critical to me. I hope that it will not come to this, but I am beginning to get concerned since Handspring can not even mutter out a quick note w/ the confirmatoin number on it.

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Austin, Tx USA
Posts: 16

I've already done the "midnite" purchase, on Sept. 14th at noon CST. I'd liked to have had some sort of response by now, as I have not. I am beginning to be concerned with the status of my order, and the shipping date in particular. My theory, they will ship a week before the trade show on Oct. 6-8 in NYC. That way, a few selects in the audience will be wowing the crowd at the same time as the presentation groups. I've been wrong more than once, however. ;-)

In the meantime, I chose priority shipping, and ordered a deluxe in ice. I'm quite anxious to retire the PalmPro.

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Pittsburgh, PA USA
Posts: 12

I didn't even realize priority shipping was an option. Did you bring it up or did the sales person ask you?

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Bellevue, Wa, USA
Posts: 72

No kidding, they just told me shipping was going to be 6 bucks, and I would see it in October... No mention of priority anything. Not that that will make it get here any quicker... ;+)

Registered: Sep 1999
Location:
Posts: 179

Well, heres an update. I haven't gotten any "official statement" yet but am still talking with the same person at Handspring. The last I heard, earlier today is that the statement was awaiting the approval of the Handspring Web Director who is "working 24/7 getting their site up". So, as soon as that happens and I get the message I"ll post it here and send it to Marcus for posting in a more easy to access spot as well...

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Hoboken, NJ, 07030
Posts: 105

Can you tell us whether Sandy Torres is the official press contact that you were dealing with?

Registered: Sep 1999
Location:
Posts: 179

Actually no, it was Allen Bush a press contact. But the "official statement" he finally sent me turned out to be the same one that Sandy Torres posted. Here it is again for those who haven't seen it...

"As a Handspring employee, I'd like to address some of the comments regarding
Handspring's order taking processes. I also want to provide some background
so customers will understand the decisions we went through in electing to
move the date customers could place orders closer to October.

We launched our product 9.14.99. We originally had every intention to sell
products directly on the web and over the phone the day we announced the
product. As we moved closer towards launch, we decided to hold off on
taking orders until we could verify that our order processing infrastructure
was ready to handle the incoming volume. Instead of a full e-Commerce site,
we launched an informational site with the ability for customers to sign up
for our e-Newsletter to be notified once we opened our doors for
order-taking. However, after the product announcement, we had a significant
number of customers that wanted to reserve an order before we started
shipping. We elected to manually take these reservations and then move
those reservations into our order processing system, which will send the
confirmation emails.

As we work hard to bring the automated order processing system to full
operation, we appreciate your patience and your overwhelming enthusiasm for
the product. Until that time, please be assured:

All personal information captured by Handspring will be kept in a heavily
secured environment.
All customers who have placed orders will be input into our system in the
order they are received.
All customers who have placed orders will receive an email confirmation when
they are entered into our e-Commerce system.
We are hopeful email confirmations will be sent out within the next couple
of weeks!

We regret any inconvenience or concern our decision on order taking may have
caused. Please be assured that all decisions were made keeping the best
interest of our customers in mind. Please don't hesitate to contact us at
1.888.565.9393, day or night if you have any questions."

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Modesto, CA USA
Posts: 599

Thanks Handsprung for keeping us informed.