Registered: Jun 2002
Location:
Posts: 17

Handspring needs to pull out

Man, i can remember the day a friend of mine showed me the Handspring website when they were only shipping visors through their website. WoW. we were drooling all over the units.

I worked for a company that made SpringBoard modules for the visor. I represented Handspring during the CES show in Chicago back in 01. All this time, i just kept seeing handspring take a downfall. an ugly one.
Even with their new "Communicators" as they like to call them they are in a Losing market.

This PDA market belongs to the one and ONLY SONY!

Why? well for crying out loud, look at their shape and design. They brought multimedia capabilities to the palm.

You have a built in MP3, a Camera, Videos (which you can play PROPERLY now thanks to Kinoma (www.kinoma.com)).
and oh, have you drooled over the NR70/v yet? Hopefully i'll get to see it in Real time soon.

Its all about the design!
Would you go out with a hideous person? i think not!
Sony acceled in not only designing good attractive units but also by including those three MAJOR items the Pocket PC has been bragging about with the advantage of using the PALM OS and the BEST battery life!

I really think handspring has a good chance of moving forward if they were to make Hi-Res screens instead of the 160x160 standard which is rather old. why do people buy sony clies? Easy, HI-RES! HI-RES! HI-RES! + a little of all the other stuff listed above. but Hi-RES is what made me choose the Clie when i opted for Palm.

So there u have it, a simple and short analysis. CHEER HANDSPRING: Go Handspring. [to your doom].

All the junk i said here is strictly my Opinion ONLY! no bashing please.

Thats it. have a nice day (or night)

Registered: Nov 1999
Location: bright side of the moon.
Posts: 996

huh.

Not too long ago, I needed to buy a new handheld for MY purposes and based on MY criteria. My choices? The Sony 310 (or whatever the model # is...16MB, black and white) and the Edge.

Why did I choose the edge? A few reasons, here and there, but the fact is, I chose the edge. I don't consider myself a true representation of the general populace, however I am proof that there are people that still appreciate what Handspring has to offer (or in the case of the Edge...no longer offer? ).

So to insinuate that Handspring should simply 'pull out' of the market is somewhat of a drastic and 'off the cuff' comment and merely shows your true nature and business sense.... oh, and your opinion.

Not flaming...also expressing an opinion.

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

The #3 handheld maker should pull out because you like multimedia? That hardly makes sense.

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Abortion: Darwinism at its finest.

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

maybe this guy works for kinoma
Either way, folks like you are sheep. you stated thst you were drooling over HS when the Visors came out, now Sony comes out with multimedia, you're still drooling, but HS all of a sudden sucks. What happens when JVC or someone comes out of the blue with some new feature you've never seen, you gonna hate on Sony and drool all over that too?
Wipe your chin.

Last edited by dampeoples on 06-08-2002 at 12:12 AM

Registered: Jun 2002
Location:
Posts: 17

Oh Lord. dont do that...

No i dont work for Kinoma and i asked kindly not to be bashed and slapped with names.
out of all i said was basically Handspring needs to put a Hi-Res screen! thats merely it. yes i went left and right for no reason but believe me, i wanted to buy the Communicator So many times and the only reason i stopped is cause its screen is just 160x160.

Gimme Hi-Res on a Handspring unit and you got my money and support.

Thats it. i love the new design and keyboard feature.

Registered: Feb 2000
Location: Moved to Clie Land
Posts: 331

I think there are some valid points, but question the enthusiasm. As HAND is now at $1.41, apparently there are many that share that thought. Even VC has slowed down considerably from the "old days".

The first fubar was the EDGE. After that, Handspring lost it�s �edge� and started slipping. Then it was �out� of the organizer business, then it was back �in� the organizer business.

How many Treo�s have you actually seen on the street? How many rabid HS owners do you see these days? Sadly, I think there IS a point here.

Registered: Jun 2002
Location:
Posts: 17

quote:

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Originally posted by MIKE STH
I think there are some valid points, but question the enthusiasm. As HAND is now at $1.41, apparently there are many that share that thought. Even VC has slowed down considerably from the "old days".

The first fubar was the EDGE. After that, Handspring lost it�s �edge� and started slipping. Then it was �out� of the organizer business, then it was back �in� the organizer business.

How many Treo�s have you actually seen on the street? How many rabid HS owners do you see these days? Sadly, I think there IS a point here.

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ALL Hail MIKE STH

Finally someone who agrees with me.

Registered: Feb 2000
Location: Moved to Clie Land
Posts: 331

Guess I'm just bitter

I preached the gospel according to Handspring, I had many converts. I bought stock, I squeezed every conceivable ounce of performance and utility out of my Deluxe, then my Platinum.

The Platinum was the end of innovation. The Edge flopped and the Neo and Pro were just incremental advances on the same storyline. The Treo followed other devices that merged PIM and phone. It did not create a new market like the springboard did. What made Handspring unique was the innovation. You have expandability in a market where there was none. You could actually use your device far beyond the abilities of mere mortals with a little effort.

Now, their bread and butter sells in WalMart, Target and any discount store that will have them. Bottom line is Handspring has lost it�s momentum. Like a one-hit-wonder, they ran out of steam. The good news is they were innovative enough to attract interest in this particular market, thus diverting funds from the big guys into R&D. I still think the wonder of these little machines is in the future. Their utility and applications are going to far surpass any of our hopes back two years ago. It�s getting better and better, but I question the ability of Handspring to stick it out.

I don�t feel I abandon Handspring, I feel they abandon me.

Just my opinion. That and a quarter won�t buy a cup of coffee�

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

quote:

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Originally posted by [WHOCARES]
...Finally someone who agrees with me.

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Abortion: Darwinism at its finest.

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

quote:

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Originally posted by MIKE STH
...What made Handspring unique was the innovation...

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Abortion: Darwinism at its finest.

Registered: May 2002
Location:
Posts: 4

Innovation

I think Treo is killing handspring. Innovation didnt die 3 years ago - early last year HS came out with the Prism. Sure it was passed up fairly quickly by the Sony models, but at the time of its intro it was the only 65k color palm around. Far better than the IIIc, and via the springboard much more expandable.

Since that time, there has been virtually no development on the old visor lineup. Straightforward updates such as 16meg RAM on all models and incorporating the 66Mhz DragonBall were not made. All resources have been thrown into the Treo line.

The bottom line is that HS is trying to compete with the PocketPCs. Musical, multimedia, color, expensive. But, this is not what PalmOS has been about. My dad always told me, dont play another mans game. Well, HS is trying to play the other guys game, and they are losing big. PalmOS will never be able to compete with PocketPC on PocketPCs turf (multimedia, sound, multitasking). It was never meant to.

Lets face it, one of the major reasons people opted for PalmOS devices is price - Top of the line PalmOS devices cost about the same as obsoleted or bottom of the line PocketPCs.

That's no longer the case. The lower end (<$300) model Palms are so obsolete now it isnt funny - there have been virtually no updates for 18 months. The new generation of Handsprings are $300 - $600, for that I can get a fully decked out PocketPC with 64Meg, PCMCIA expansion, even buy some other goodies to go with it.

It's just a matter of time before HS drops by the wayside.

Might be a good time to take note of who the CEO and directors are - and dump any stock they come in contact with.

-Dan

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

Re: Innovation

quote:

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Originally posted by danied
The bottom line is that HS is trying to compete with the PocketPCs.

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-Joshua
Abortion: Darwinism at its finest.

Registered: Feb 2000
Location: Moved to Clie Land
Posts: 331

Re: Re: Innovation

quote:

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Originally posted by dick-richardson

Again, allow me to disagree (or at least append). PPC is playing the ease of use game Palm brought to the table initially, and they're not doing half bad. To be honest, I'm not seeing much multimedia at all from Palm or HS (or Handera, though they're carving their own niche). Thankfully (for Sony at least), Palm is expanding the line so licencees who wish to add multimedia are able to.

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IMHO, Sony is driving PALM OS now, only downside to them being in the catbird seat is that they are coming out with so many hardware/software innovations that they are making their own devices obsolete in less than three months. PALM, who hasn't been an innovator in years, is actually starting to gain momentum on HS because HS is absolutely FLAT. The TREO and TREO line provides absolutely no value to me. Bland, Boring and cheap feeling spring to mind. I've yet to actually see a Treo on someone's hip in public. I HAVE a phone~get a clue.

I now have a device that can play movies with sound (Thanks Kinoma) with good HI-RES color. The Prism did add value, but in this market, you cannot sit still. That is what HS decided to do. I'm extremly dissapointed that the people I thought would be visionaries, turned out to be so devoid of ideas. They played out their hand.

The PDA market is alive and well and the big boys have taken the reins. In short order, we are going to see amazing things far beyond what we ever expected. Heck, give it ten years and they may very well be chiping us for all these features...that would be COOL

Registered: Aug 2001
Location:
Posts: 143

quote:

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Originally posted by MIKE STH
Even VC has slowed down considerably from the "old days".

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location:
Posts: 3034

quote:

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Originally posted by HindeR
I was wondering about this. I really appreciate the hard work of the VC staff (what's that address for cash donations?), but has there really been nothing newsworthy in the Visor world for almost a week? Hopefully it is just a summer-time-everyone's-on-vacation thing and not a sign of HS' downward spiral.

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Kona, Hawaii ,USA
Posts: 40

Wait for OS5

I think Handspring has tried to stay close to the core of Palm OS and that's why there's no big jump to Hi-Res or Multi-Media. It would be silly for me, a Visor Prism owner, to buy a Sony N70 unit now that OS5 will soon reach the market. I'm guessing POS5 units will reach the market before year's end then the really good stuff will come out next year.

I also own a Compaq iPaq and the only thing that shines is the multimedia capability which is pretty seamless. Other than that the GUI isn't as good as PalmOS. Also these things suck down the power, hopefully the PalmOS vendors can tame the ARM chips to manage power properly.

Intel has released a 400MHz chip for PDAs which is hitting the market in Toshiba and Compaq PocketPC units, but they run software slower than the older 206MHz units as there's some optimization that needs to be done.

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Registered: Jun 2002
Location: Malibu, CA
Posts: 12

Visor central no more?

I have been wondering about th visor central site no updates for over a week and I went to check out their treo site and keep seeing updates everyday. Is visor central ever goingt o have updates? This feels a lot like when Nintendo had the 8 bit system then came out with super nintendo and 8 bit was never heard from again, in this case the 8 bit are the 8mb visors

Registered: Jun 2002
Location: 3rd planet, Solar System
Posts: 112

The one thing that will hold back Sony in my opinion is their stubborness with proprietary devices - the bubble gum memstick... To me it's MiniDisk all over - I can't believe that to this day Sony is STILL trying to push MD to the market (at least they gave up on the 100mb floppy drive within a month...) I went and saw the new sony Clie (whataver the number is) and it does look nice - but it's just not for me (not at $550!) I am VERY good with grafiti and I would seldom use a keyboard so the whole flip thing is wasted on me. Besides after toying with it for about 40 minutes I could not figure out how to make the input field drop so that I can be viewing the full screen...

Registered: Oct 2000
Location:
Posts: 443

quote:

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Originally posted by Gambit
I can't believe that to this day Sony is STILL trying to push MD to the market

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Kona, Hawaii ,USA
Posts: 40

Think ouside the box, or at least outside the USA

Yep MiniDisc is very big in Japan, Sony's home (hey I'm an American and even I know that). We 'yanks' gotta realize there's another world out there.

I suppose some folks think Handspring is crazy for using GSM in their phones since it's such a minority in the USA compared to CDMA. GSM is bigger outside the USA even though where I live I wish they had a CDMA phone.

Memory stick is Sony's proprietary product but it's in their digital cameras and videocameras.

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"Real intelligence is a creative use of knowledge, not merely an accumulation of facts." -- D. Kenneth Winebrenner