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Palm to Buy Handspring
liam193 writes "CBS MarketWatch is reporting that Palm has agreed to buy Handspring for $169M. If you were purchasing a PDA right now, would you choose Palm, Handspring, or avoid them entirely? I guess one of my concerns is that Handspring has some really cool features that Palm may want to keep. Any merger spells elimination of product lines. So what gets dropped? Palm which has probably a nicer "case" style or Handspring with its less desirable case but some features you don't find on Palms."
they have Hand in the Palm of their Hand?
Mother, do you think they'll like this sig?
I have an m125 and love it. Simple, functional, reliable. Now with this, hopefully I get a cell phone/all-in-one with all the goodness of a Palm!
KARMA TAG! You're it.
I don't get it - what does Handspring bring to Palm? Certainly a couple of years ago they had nice features compared to the palms of the time, like expansion ports and such like, but now Palm has that too.
Wouldn't they most likely use the best features from both?
I use my PDA mainly as an e-book reader. Unlike Palm, Clie has this cool scrolling wheel, which makes all the difference for me. A perfect example of a small innovation that can (and should) mean big bucks for the company.
Yahoo is carrying an article , too.
KARMA TAG! You're it.
what would you rather have, a crappy PalmOS machine, or an iPaq that can run WinCE/Linux? some PPC machines can be had pretty cheaply, like $100 over the cost of a Palm. Palm is going to tank pretty soon unless they put some real hardware in their machines.
this sig limit is too small to put anything good h
If you were purchasing a PDA right now, would you choose Palm, Handspring, or avoid them entirely?
I would avoid both of them entirely, but not because of the sale, but because of the clunky design, smaller screen size, and general lack of innovation. With Handspring came along, it pushed Palm to adapt and made their products cheaper, and smaller. But overall both of their products we're basically the same. I mean how long did it take for Palm to develop USB functionality, even Handsprings came with it right out of the box?
Then the Palm OS market changed when Sony came along, they pulled the 6 Million Dollar Man on the competitors. They made their handheld, faster, smaller and added functionality the others were lacking. I did my research and at the time bought the Clie PEG-SL10 and I haven't looked back. Palm may of been one of the originators but Sony has been the innovator.
I think this sale is bad for everyone, competition always spurs more innovation.
Mike
My guess: Handspring - Phone/Palm Combo
Palm - Normal PDA
Handspring / Palm - low cost entry... Not sure which one probably will end up to be Palm.
Newsfollow.com
I'd buy an HP iPaq all over again. Simply amazing and easy to program.
A merger doesn't always mean elimination. In many cases there's actual merging.
I don't see why it has to be one or the other. Palm has been smart, and if they continue to be, the features of the Handspring will be added in to the next Palm Pilot revision.
Doesn't anyone remember that Handspring was a Palm spin-off? Was this all just a bunch of chess moves? Did Handspring ever intend to become a viable player, and if so, why give up now?
Read a preview of my novel CYBERCHILD at www.smartalix.com/cyberchild
This "is a good thing (tm)" for both companies. The major competition for the PalmOS platform is no longer Handspring, but the explosion of PocketPC based products. By consolidating, Palm will be able to avoid brand dilution, and put up a united front against Microsoft in the handheld market. This is very similar to the move Apple made a few years back to reign in the clones.
Help me become a Porn Star Guru
I have the Palma Sutra program. It's definitely a worthy investment. Great way to kick your crotch into high gear. Never tried it with a love doll though.
No, it wasn't a Palm spin-off. It was two of the founders of Palm, who got shuffled out after Palm was bought by 3Com, starting their own company.
I'm going to miss Handspring - I still have and use my Visor Deluxe daily, although the screen's starting to go and it'll have to be replaced soon. I refuse, however, to give in to farting around with those damn thumboards on the Treos. Looks like it may be a Sony for me, or just go PocketPC.
Brazil has decided you're cute.
So what gets dropped
:-/
Half of the staff.
Trolling using another account since 2005.
Um... no. Handspring was created by Jeff Hawkins (the designer and creator of the original Pilot/PalmPilot), Donna Dubinsky and Ed Colligan. The Original Three Founders of Palm left that comnpany because 3Com refused to spin off Palm as a separate entity. About a year later, Palm decided to do just that.... Hopefully now, Hawkins will come back into the fold and knock some sense into the gaggle of executives that Palm has acquired over the years...
Actually, Handspring wasn't a spin-off, but rather, the original owners of Palm flying the coup after making millions on the sell-out of Palm to 3M (I believe). They then opened up shop down the street with a portion of their sell-out, called it Handspring, and began competing once again.
Handspring was not a Palm spinoff. I think a bunch of Palm employees decided to go off and start Handspring, but it was not an official split off. There was no relationship between the two other than those early employees.
_______________________________
"I'm not Conceited...I'm just a realist..."
I'd buy a Zaurus.
This post is dedicated to all of those
Doesn't this make the order of things something like:
- Guys invent Palm Pilot
- US Robotics buy out guys - guys make money
- 3Com buys out US Robotics - guys make money
- 3Com spins off Palm as separate company - guys make money
- Guys leave Palm, undoubtedly with money, start up Handspring
- Palm buys Handspring - guys make money
BTW I'm using the term "guys" generically, I think at least one of the key people was female.a world in progress...
If I remember correctly the female CEO of handspring was one of key developers of the Palm OS. She left to start handspring who became the first licensees of the Palm OS.
So I guess the people involved in Handspring from Palm go back to their old jobs.
Palm and Handspring both win, unfortunatly we are the only possible (l)users. Handspring pushed palm and now they are gone Palm is alone in this segment of the market.
Stuff below Palm and Handspring machines (in terms of cost) are toys, the stuff above them are too expensive. As the better machines get cheaper do palm try to keep the middle ground or do they becomes toys?
Imagine a Zaurus for the price of a lowend Palm OS machine, no don't imagine purchase it in a couple of years.
Sorry Palm buying out your sister is not going to be enough to keep the sector you made your own.
blog and junk
I'm pissed that the springboard slot has been discontinued from Handspring models. I bought mine specifically because of the slot, and I've got several attachments for it. It's by far the most economical way to upgrade a PDA, and they scrapped it. My hope would be that Palm returns the Handspring slot, but I kind of doubt they will.
There is no reasonable defense against an idiot with an agenda
:wq
"Palm Springs For Sale"
There's a way to freak out about a gazillion old folks...
I've had a unit from Palm, Handspring, and a Windows device from Toshiba. I hated them all. They crashed too much and only held static information (since the wireless plans are so expensive only God and Bill Gates can arrord them),,,, not to mention how horsey big the units get when you put wireless equipment on them.
I now carry a T-Mobile Sidekick. It replaced all the above AND my cell phone. Maximum PC did a head-to-head shootout this month and the Sidekick kicked ALL their butts. Bad.
Plus, the cell/data plans include *unlimited* data. Unlimited! All for $39.95 a month.
Palm can provide the upper-class business models (read: expensive, primarily PIM functions, long battery life, sleek design) and sell low-cost models under the Handspring brand (e.g. for students, young adults etc.).
:)
Maybe even Handspring products will focus on multimedia capabilites, personally I think Palm never really quite managed to score in that area.
But then again, things could remain the way they are
My cats ate my karma. They also wrote this comment.
...I'd probably get a Sony CLIE, because they have the biggest screen.
As it is, I see no reason to upgrade from my old Palm V. Which, I think, is the problem--Palm really hasn't come up with anything compelling.
However, perhaps BIGGER SCREEN the merged company might BIGGER SCREEN be able BIGGER SCREEN to work out BIGGER SCREEN something that BIGGER SCREEN would encourage people BIGGER SCREEN to upgrade?
GCHQ Quantum Insert installed. If only our tongues were made of glass, how much more careful we would be when we speak
It wasn't neccessarily a spin-off. Handspring was formed by the guy that created Palm. He (and some other Palm employess) left to start their own company after 3com acquired Palm because "they missed the thrill of being part of a new venture, and for the autonomy that running their own company gives them".
-- derby
It's a harsh reality, but with the patents palm aquired with buying handspring, they may just sit on them to ensure no competitors get to use them.
It's happened before, remember SyQuest? They made removable storage similar to the zip and Jaz drives, only theirs were virtually indestructable, and based on tried and tested winchester technology.
When SyQuest finally went titsup.com, its only competitor iOmega bought the patents, and they havn't seen the light of day since.
I'd hate to see another technically superior product get betamaxed by a large company.
The only difference here is that Handspring is DEAD. I see this more as a nice gesture to Hawkins than anything else. I think Palm wants him back. Palm is starting to get the dillution you speak of from Sony. Clie sales have been on the rise for 6 months straight and should rise even more as prices go down and features go up. Right now The NZ90 is the single most useful all in one device with GREAT integration that I have EVER seen.
The iPaq has also made a huge dent in sales of Palms. Handspring hasn't been a player for more than a year.
Yell & scream & rant & rave... it's no use... you need a shaaaave ~ Bugs Bunny
Are there any other handheld other then Palm and Handspring out there? I see $30 one all the time at the local KMart but are they worth it? Why the big difference in price? Wasn't there a handheld being made by a toy company?
You say things that offend me and I can deal with it. Can you?
Sony has been consistently pushing new features and lower prices into the PalmOS realm. I bought an SJ-30 a year ago, with 320x320 resolution at 65k colors, 16 megs, memory stick.. all for $250, at a time when Palm and Handspring were selling models with only 160x160 resolution and less memory.
Find a Sony Clié at your price-point, add LauncherX, and go to town.
- jon
Ganymede, a GPL'ed metadirectory for UNIX
"You may all go to hell and I will go to Texas"
Sen. Davy Crocket to US Congress, Nov. 1, 1835
Nothing really. Handspring decided to end production of the Visor last year IIRC. The Treo line (smartphones) is what Handspring has been focusing on.
The only overlapping products from these two companies are the Treo 90 (the only non-smartphone PDA in Handspring current product line) and the Tungsten W (the only smartphone from Palm Inc). Both of them are OS 4.1 devices and should reach EOL by the time the merger completes.
As a longtime PalmOS user and a PalmOS developer, I think this is probably a good thing. Palm was just beginning to start producing devices that were for the same market as the new Handspring devices.
Handspring was no longer for me -- they are focusing on devices with wireless connectivity and thumbboards. But it's a style some people like. This gives Palm a wide variety of handhelds, probably a wider variety than anyone else.
This will also pretty much make the competition for PalmOS devices Palm and Sony. I'm not sure that's a good thing, but it might not be too bad. Sony is concentrating on PalmOS with multimedia extensions, Palm is concentrating on PalmOS in small, extremely functional devices. There's a lot to be said for both.
My last buy was a Sony NX70. After seeing and using the big screen, it was hard to go to anything else. Still, I can certainly see the alure of the very small TungstenT...
Sean.
mystery investor loans palm $50 million:
http://www.palminfocenter.com/view_Story.asp?ID=2
sony invests $20 million in palmsource:
http://www.brighthand.com/article/Sony_Invests_in
now, palm is going to buy handspring for $169 million:
http://www.treocentral.com/content/Stories/230-1.
wild.
another fun fact, more people own sony aibo robot dogs than handspring treos.
cheers,
pt
Going proprietary is ALWAYS a bad idea for consumer relations. If the Springboard slot had been a compact flash slot you would STILL be able to use that slot. It's a lesson that Apple has learned somewhat, but that Sony is still hardheaded about.
But then again, I have a Neo in my pocket!
Thank God! I thought you were just happy to see me!
Palm certainly doesn't want Handspring for their Visor line. There isn't much value to that. I don't believe there is anything on the Handspring Visor line has that Palm doesn't already have or couldn't add on their own.
In fact, Handspring announced in January 2002 that they would discontinue the Visor line when they were coming out with their Treo Communicator (cell phone) line. My guess is that Palm wants to get into the cell phone business. What else does Handspring have to offer? Would you want a Palm branded reconditioned Handspring Visor?
--- I'm Green Hornet's sidekick not Inspector Clouseau's!
Yes, they are cheaper. But then again, you can't flash te OS on a Visor. So it comes with a price...
....Excuse me, but
The folks who started Handspring were the ones who invented the Palm Pilot. Then they went off to invent the Handspring. Then they got bought out by the company that sells the original thing they invented.
If this were a study in genetics, their next product would be born with webbed feet and flippers.
Eviscerati.Org: All Hail the Eviscerati
The price of the Handspring and Palm PDAs (especially on Ebay) makes these devices a good idea for corporations. For company use the lack of features is arguably a plus. No waste of time downloading MP3s or games. The battery life is wonderful (I can get a week out of my Edge and then I simply recharge it), the form factor is outstanding (the Edge is very slender). There is clearly a large market for these devices just in replacements (I've broken one Visor and lost one Edge).
So if there is a market but not enough of a market to justify two companies competing in it, and it looks like that to me, then this merger makes plenty of sense. There will be some elimination of products but they need to focus on the low-cost, easy-to-use, long-life corporate niche they've dominated for years.
And Palm devices are easy to synch with both Windows and Linux (I use it with Evolution) desktops. I just hope they keep a product that will be low in cost and slender.
No one ever had to evacuate a city because the solar panels broke!
It is clear that the real inovation in the PDA market rests not with Palm or Handspring but with the Pocket PC. Palm needs to do this to survive.
A few weeks ago I was looking around for a PDA and found out that Handspring had actually decided to completely stop selling them and focus on phones instead. Don't know why but so the story goes.
... is completely wrong.
/. article spells that out. Can't we get some kind of co-ordinated outcry from the rest of the tech sector about these kind of layoffs? Why don't we boycott Palm and PalmOS products, until Palm/Handspring management get their heads out of their asses and think about the employees that have been keeping their companies afloat, instead of their own pocket books.
"Any merger spells elimination of product lines."
I'm sorry, but who gives a shit? There is a glut in the handheld market right now - the reduction of products represented in both the Palm and Handspring product lines is beside the point.
The real question is - How many tech workers are going to be losing their jobs as a result of this merger?
According the article on ZDNet, Palm will lay off 125 people - not a huge amount, but after the killing spree that merged tech companies have wielded against their workforce, thats 125 too many.
There are always alternatives to taking jobs away from hard-working people. Why can't management take a pay cut instead? Or, if management is too greedy to indulge in self-sacrifice, perhaps allow everyone the option to take a 5% or 10% reduction in their pay - if they know there will be pink slips in Friday's check if they don't, I can't imagine people not doing it.
The tech industry as a whole has its priorities in the wrong place - the quote I posted from this
I say, F*** Palm and PalmOS, until they rescind their decision to lay off 125 workers. Anyone else out there have some backbone? Lets show some solidarity here. Who's with me?
Yes, but can you imagine the controversy over offering "Hand Pilots For Sale"
Handspring has been losing money and slipping market share. It probably will go broke if Palm weren't gonna acquire it. (See the story on The Register.) There'll be one less competitor anyways if Handspring cease to exist.
What's good, however, is that Jeff Hawkins will return as CTO and Donna Dublinsky will return as a board member. They were the founders of the original PalmPilot company and left because of the (mis)management of US Robotics/3Com. Their return to Palm Inc will surely bring more innovations to Palm Inc.
This is sad. Less competition means lesser features and higher prices. Sony is good competition, but more competition is always better for the consumers and -- in the long run -- for everyone.
I hope Sony introduces something to compete with the Tungsten/Treo lines.
Yes, but can you add a GPS and a back massager to a compact flash slot? :-)
There is no reasonable defense against an idiot with an agenda
:wq
The PalmPilot company was founded by Jeff Hawkins and Donna Dublinsky. 3Com bought it via its aquisition of U.S. Robotics. Jeff and Donna soon left to found Handspring. 3Com spun off Palm years later.
Read the other replies for further details.
OK, so it wasn't a direct spinoff, but why go back to Palm now? Are they doing that badly? I own Treo myself, and it's a good machine. Did they ever intend to make it work on their own?
Read a preview of my novel CYBERCHILD at www.smartalix.com/cyberchild
Actually, the official press release contains a nice summary timeline:
1995 - U.S. Robotics purchases Palm, Inc.
1996 - Palm introduces the PalmPilot 1000 and 5000 organizers.
1997 - 3Com purchases U.S. Robotics
1998 - Hawkins, Dubinsky and Colligan leave Palm to create Handspring
2000 - Palm executes an Initial Public Offering, separating from 3Com
2001 - Palm begins building separate businesses
* Todd Bradley named Palm Solutions executive vice president and chief operating officer (June 1)
* Palm announces plans to create OS subsidiary (July 27)
* Palm OS subsidiary acquires assets and talent from Be, Inc. (Aug. 16)
* David Nagel is named Palm OS subsidiary president and chief executive officer (Aug. 27)
2002 - Palm further builds on two businesses
* OS subsidiary creation completed (Jan. 1)
* Bradley promoted to president and chief operating officer of Palm Solutions (May 2)
* OS subsidiary named PalmSource
* PalmSource names founding board of directors (June 24)
* Bradley named Palm Solutions chief executive officer (June 25)
* Palm Solutions and PalmSource move to separate campuses (August)
* Sony invests $20 million in PalmSource, marking first outside investment (Oct. 8)
* PalmSource adds four new licensees in year
* IRS approves the spin-off as tax-free for U.S. citizens' federal income-tax purposes (December)
2003 - Palm announces plans to acquire Handspring
Right now, I'd pick Palm, because I've been fighting for the past goddamn HOUR to synchronize my goddamn Visor Deluxe.
"Sorry! Our FAQ and customer support services are temporarily offline.
We are experiencing a temporary interruption in our FAQ and customer support services due to routine server maintenance or excessive traffic. The remainder of our site is unaffected. We are taking active steps to restore services as soon as possible. We apologize for any inconvenience. Please return later."
Of course the shopping section is unaffected, so you can buy all the miserable Treos you want, but GOD FORBID I'd actually want SUPPORT for a device that I paid good money for. This message has been up for the past three months, by the way. Idiots. I'm never buying from them again. Months of server maintenance or peak traffic? Not fucking likely.
And that's my rant for the day.
is mistaken. I guess there are poeple in this world that love gadgets for gadgets sake but I never could figure out a use for a PDA in my life. Of course, I like life to be pretty blase. Maybe you get up and go Class A thrive on artificial corporate induced pressure types can tell me what you actually use a PDA for that cant be done with other things just as well or almost as well and I get get more perspective on it.
The only thing Handspring brought to the table was their Springboard technology. I don't know if any of you did any work on it, but it was nice because it used the PCMCIA design, so it was easy to develop.
Now, Sony did do a lot, simply because they hit the market at the right time -- just when colour was about to hit. This meant that their name as a multimedia giant was used to lure people in, plus, they're just damn good at making electronics. I would have really loved to see them go with Pocket PC, but it has helped PalmOS to have such a strong company behind it.
This is my digital signature. 10011011001
Why purchase a Palm or Handspring when you can get a pocket pc for free?
THERE IS NO DATA. THERE IS O
Can't wait for it to get here... :-)
$199 factory recertified from tiger direct. Mmmm...
Mike.
Mmmm......sacrelicious.
The $30 one at K-Mart and Target is, I believe, a rolodex. Unfortunately, it is fixed-purpose electronics and cannot run external programs. Not much memory, no backups, no real pen imput... It is a toy, like those little electronic things with rubber keypads in pink with Hello Kitty on the cover.
Entry level, $100 Palm based devices (From Palm, Handspring, or Sony) have an extensible, programmable OS. This allows for example, for encrypted password storage vaults, automatically synchronized web page readers, sketch programs, heirarchical planning software, thesauruses, Japanese Dictionaries... whatever someone can think of. They also generally have a greyscale screen and an adequate amount of RAM (well, sony does anyway). When you go up in price you spend more to get brightly colored screens, slightly faster processors, and model-specific features like built-in cameras, cellphones, or MP3 players.
Spend a bit more (300+)and you have a Pocket PC or Linux based device. These are larger and heavier than Palm-based PDAs, but have more compatible software (It is easier to port an existing Windows application to a Pocket PC handheld than to a Palm PDA. Same for Linux). They usually have faster processors, but slower software which take up significantly more ram. Someone else on this board can extoll the virtues of the above, I simply don't like how large and inelegant those devices can be.
Personally I find my Clie to be terrifically useful compared to the dayrunner which was too large to fit in a pocket. But not everyone does. Truthfully, if I hadn't gone out looking for useful software, it wouldn't provide any added benefit over a standard day planner.
In short, the value of one depends on what kind of person you are. Do you love technology? Do you normally keep notes digitally? Do you travel a lot, network frequently, or have an irregular schedule?
I know this whole segue is a bit offtopic, but I hope it helps.
The ______ Agenda
Why give up now? Well, last week Handspring announced it was on the verge of NASDAQ delisting.
Handspring had just announced the successor to the Treo 300 at a Sprint conference.
It wasn't a public conference and there aren't many details. It appears to include a memory slot (not Handspring's), a somewhat smaller form factor than the Treo, no flip cover and a brighter screen. One would imagine that it would also come with Palm 5 and decent processor/memory as well. (Look up http://www.treocentral.com for a couple more details.)
I have a 300, I wish it were a bit smaller but I'm happy with it. I have (among other things) a fat email client with support for viewing attachments (no conduits or special servers required) that's very useful and a VNC-like client that's pretty cool (though it's a bit like looking at your monitor through a keyhole). The data connection is pretty fast if I have good reception. Biggest weakness: slow browser (caused by processor and/or proxy servers).
I looked at Pocket PC phones first, but they were all too big for me and lacked the thumbboard.
Too many... terrible, terrible, masturbation jokes... approaching on the horizon...
Someone stop this merger before it's too late!
Freedom is the freedom to say 2+2=4, everything else follows...
Well, I think some folks might argue with you on case styles. Yes, some of the older Handsprings (like the Visor Pro in my back pocket) look gastly, but the Treo and Edge look pretty sweet.
...
Personally, since I've owned a Visor Pro for almost three years now, and have found very few faults (except for the lack of OS upgradability), I would probably buy a
Sharp Zarus SL-5600! Heheheh. I've lusted after one of those since I first picked one up at BestBuy (who no longer carries them!!!). There's something to really love about opening a terminal window on your hand-held and ssh'ing into your main Linux box!
No matter where you go... there you are.
This is a good thing. Why? Because Palm/Handspring gets to consolidate the product line. Some people were bitching and moaning about "what gets dumped? Palm's good stuff or Handspring's good stuff?" I would assume it would be Palm's BAD stuff and Handpring's BAD stuff, thus leaving a tighter product line with the best features from both companies. Sounds like a good deal to me.
This rings familiar from the Apple times. Remember how many products Apple had? And then they had the clones. Buy out the clone licenses, tighten up the product line, and voila. Apple is much more focused. Consumers in the Palm market will have fewer, but BETTER options. No more confusion between 16 SLIGHTLY different products, but instead having more features in fewer models.
I'm an optimist I guess...
"He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lampposts...for support rather than illumination." - Andrew Lang
Jeff and Donna founded Palm Computing, but they needed captial, so they merged their company with U.S. Robotics.
:)
All is fine until 3Com acquired U.S. Robotics for its line of telecommunication products, and got Palm Computing as part of the deal. 3Com never really knew how to manage the subsidary, Jeff and Donna got upset will the management, so they made an OS licensing deal with Palm Computing and left 3Com to found Handspring.
The usual IIRC restrictions apply to this bit of info.
Not only that, but you can't buy any new PDA from www.handspring.com anymore. Models advertised vs models available for sale from Handsrping has been slowly declining for months now :(
Why not just buy a Treo? I refuse to pay $500 for a smartphone with poor reliability from a company with demonstrably poor customer service. This assessment is borne out by my own experience over the past few years and the reviews I've read on customer-ratings sites. Nearly every one of these sites contains complaints from Treo users about these issues, and it's a deadly combination. The device itself is great, but for what it costs it should work reliably, and when it doesn't, Handspring should be willing to replace it with a minimum of hassle. A Treo user should not have to go without for two weeks until their device comes back from the shop.
I'm buying a warranty with my used Visor that will ensure I maintain a working device for one year. By then, hopefully there will be an acceptable alternative to Handspring in an reasonable price range. Maybe it will even come from Palm.
Market share is what this is about.
He is the best sailor who can steer within fewest points of the wind, and exact a motive power out of the greatest obsta
I bet this guy is happy to see you!
I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
Kyocera 7135 is nice, but the form factor is not pocketable.
GPS would be nice, but not necessary.
I'd buy neither. I'd get a Handera.
(the sad part is that I own a TRGpro..)
... like it's a good thing :-/
Why would anyone engrave "Elbereth"?
Several months ago, I bought a springboard backup unit, which used to cost around $50 I think, for $8 at Walmart on clearance. Yesterday, bought an EyeModule2 (the 640x480 digital camera, also a springboard module) for $50. While those take care of the main things I had wanted for that slot (after 4 years of use, I figured I wanted a backup ;)), I wonder if anyone can point to other interesting, now-cheap springboard units ...
I'd like to find an ultra-cheap GPS springboard, but so far those are still sort of expensive (and hard to find anyhow).
timothy
jrnl: http://tinyurl.com/c2l8yr / foes: http://tinyurl.com/ckjno5
snipI guess one of my concerns is that Handspring has some really cool features that Palm may want to keep.
What, like shitty hardware? I've gone through five handspring handhelds in warranty, from Platinum to Pro to Edge, and they've all had problems. And, a good friend is currently fighting with them over his Treo 180, which he's replaced four times for hardware failure. Their response? "We'll send you a refurb from our warehouse, 'cause we're not making them any more." Nice.
Wow! They really broke the mold when they created you didn't they!?!
Listen up. The IT (tech) industry is the only industry thats designed to minimize and or eliminiate ITSELF. From the printing press to the cotton gin to the airplane to the computer to the PDA, each technological advance allows mankind to do the same amount of work or more with less people/workers/employees.
Simply put, Handspring is screwing up. They need to be bought or they're out of business. THe only reason to buy them is to gain marketshare and cut expenses. Whenever companies merge there are always redundancies. You don't even know if all of those 125 workers will be tech workers. But does a company really need duplicate anything? Do they need 8 office admins if they previously did fine with 4? Do they need two cooks if they only had 1 before? The same goes for programmers or netadmins. They don't need anymore of those.
Contrary to your idiotic claims there are NOT always alternatives to laying off people. If you are redundant, than you're redundant. Should they keep you on and pay you to sweep the floors instead of eliminating your position? Thats worse than unwise, its insulting.
Perhaps Hewlet-Packard should have just kept bleeding money. Because obviously executive pay always makes the difference. When a company is losing billions of dollars the millions paid out to the top brass REALLY makes a difference eh?
Do you think the technology industry is special or something? That workers in this industry are a special breed of citizen deserving of protections others do not receive? This is what happens to EVERY maturing industry. Consolidation and elimination of redundancies.
DEAL.
Mac OS X and Windows XP working side by side to fight back the night.
"...and the hold it in the other hand test?"--
If only women used criteria like that for dating...
To be fair, of course, I should be allowed to try out their expansion port, in return.
At least I can't find it at their website anymore.
(doing a google search...)
Ah, there it is.
From their site:
The Web is like Usenet, but
the elephants are untrained.
Two years later I was thankful I waited: Palm stock was down 80% and so was Handspring. So I bought at those bargain prices (Palm at $3.69, Handspring at $2.94) thinking how fortunate I was to be getting such a steal. But a year later even my "bargain" was down 80%! I guess I didn't get such a steal after all.
Palm shareholders got screwed by a reverse 1:20 split (meaning that a pre-split Palm would be now be trading at $0.60, not $12.15) and now we're about to get screwed again by getting Palm shares instead of Handspring for nowhere near the price we paid for them.
Oh, well. I guess that's why they call it speculation.
Have fun: Join D.N.A. (National Dyslexics Association)
nuff said
This sounds remarkably like the process that Apple went through. Apple liscensed their OS to compete better with WinTel. After reducing their prices slightly but not really adding innovation, Apple bought the competition. I can't really comment on whether Apple is better off today, or what impact this will have on Palm.
http://www.the-gadgeteer.com/hp1910-review.html
They have a picture compairing the Tungen T and Palm V.
The surprise isn't how often we make bad choices; the surprise is how seldom they defeat us.
You're going to hate this, but I'd probably get a PocketPC. I used to have a Vx and then got an iPAQ from work.
The iPAQ is bigger and bulkier and the battery life does suck. Oh yes, and I've had it crash about 4 or 5 times but ..
The software! The diary, notes and calendar is way more powerful than Palm's. Varying snoozes on appointments, alarms on tasks, multiple addresses on contacts - the list goes on. Oh yes, and I'm a heavy Outlook user, so it's a boon to have decent Outlook compatibility (KeyContacts on the palm was great - but nothing else would replace the other built in apps and still sync with Outlook).
Also I love the today screen. I have several plug ins and it shows me everything I need to know on one page.
Finally I know some people hate ActiveSync but I like it for one major reason. I can pick my PPC out of the cradle at any time and know that it's synced with my Outlook. On palms I'd have to hit the button on a regular basis.
Would I go back to Palms? Yes, but only if they dropped their prices (they're a tad pricey) and substantially beefed up the built in software and syncing. Would I go for a Linux PDA? Haven't really thought about it to be honest. For me, I don't care what the OS is - just how well it does the stuff I need (it could be written in Cobol for all I care).
Neither the PPC or Palm are the best. Both have pros and cons. But I can put up with the fact that the PPC is bigger, bulkier and eats batteries quicker because the PIM stuff is more powerful.
Of course, YMMV.
Avantslash - View Slashdot cleanly on your mobile phone.
Except, of course, that for free you could get on the developer's list and get what you needed to develop your own Springboard devices, and the fact that Handspring was willing to help with promoting your stuff and giving technical assistance....
Brazil has decided you're cute.
So what gets dropped? Palm which has probably a nicer "case" style or Handspring with its less desirable case but some features you don't find on Palms."
Have you actually been following what's going on in handhelds these days? It doesn't sound like it. Palm and Handspring today make entirely different products. Palm makes PDA's; Handspring makes "communication products" - handhelds based on cel phone designs. There's no overlap - neither company has individual models comparable to the others'.
But regardless, I wouldn't buy any model from either company. Others have already mentioned the Sony Clies - I have one of these, and I bought one for my wife too (she loves it). We don't need high-end features, and in the low-end the Clies have several features that Palms don't (and Handspring doesn't even make a low-end device). Sony also is far ahead of Palm in industrial design IMO - it's akin to, say, Dell vs. Apple. I'd actually love to have one of the real high-end models but don't feel they're worth $800. The recently announced top-end Clies, though, do have a lot of useful features - including built-in wireless, a built-in keyboard, camera, and MP3 player. In other words, the best of what both Palm and Handspring offer and in a much better-looking design. But still too expensive for me.
If you were purchasing a PDA right now, would you choose Palm, Handspring, or avoid them entirely?
Sharp SL-5500.... $199.00 at tiger direct... $238.00 with the 2 year no questions repair/replace warranty.
no palm based device can even TOUCH that price/power/feature combination... and I also run palm apps on mine (just to piss off the Pocket PC users here)
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
The newest HPs that are coming out this month do not have removable batteries. Kinda sucks, huh?
This is my digital signature. 10011011001
This looks familiar, and it bodes well. Steve Jobs left Apple (involuntarily, admittedly) and started NeXT, which was bought by Apple. Result of management merger: Apple's current product line. Result of technology merger: Mac OS X.
I'm still pretty darned satisfied with my Palm M500, and I'll happily keep using it, at least until the merger/shakedown results in a new product. As for competitive pressure: Sony, if not others, will still keep Palm on their toes.
Someone reaches a SVP or equivelant level in a company. Realizes they have maxed their income potential.
Finds something the current company isn't doing well. Finds other internal resources who feel the same.
Starts a spin-off focusing primarily on what the big company is too slow to implement or too big care about.
--- I do not moderate.
Choose it for:
- Crisp and clear display
- 64Mb memory
- Keyboard (very important)
- 400Mhz ARM processor
- Build-in WiFi
- Existing software
I love the WiFi, 2 examples:
Palm Tungsten C VNC Client --> WiFi AccessPoint (router) --> Linux box --> VMware + VNC server --> Kazaa/Lite
Palm Tungsten C --> WiFi AccessPoint (router) --> Linux box --> VMWare --> Palm HotSync
The color units are coming out any day now! That is what's up.
GPS - yes Back massager - no
There definately was a time when both Handspring and HandEra where driving the Palm line forward with new features. But Handspring now only makes two models, the Treo 270 and the Treo 300. The rest of the Handspring line is reconditioned. My guess is that Handspring road-map for adopting PalmOS 5 did not match with Palm's road-map. By buying Handspring out, Palm can now work on a Treo line that is PalmOS 5 based and work with Sony on phasing out production of PalmOS 4 devices.
If your a business person, and you use Outlook at work (don't we all?) then you don't want a bulky PDA. The killer PDA application is the whole Outlook paradigm: Calendar, Contacts, Inbox
You need to do some homework on the features of cell phones out there and find one that has Outlook integration. Most can sync appointments and contacts back and forth. Some can download inbox email so you can read 'em offline. Some (Nokaia Communicator) can even connect to the net (with the disadvantage of dial-in costs, low battery life and being bulky & expensive - the speaker phone option on it is amazing though).
In the end we are moving to devive fusion anyway and PDA as we know it will cease to exist. We'll all just be using funkier, move advanced cell phones.
All your base are belong to us!
I have had a Sony Clié PEG-T615C for several months now and I'm thrilled with it. The other day I was looking at the brand spanking new Cliés at the store and these things are packed with features, and are still cheaper than the Palms.
-- I am. Therefore, I think!
1910 has lower resolution, but when both screens are small, resolution doesn't really matter in the long run.
1910 has a transreflective screen. (vs., for example, Tungten T's reflective screen) It makes a huge different in viewing quality.
The surprise isn't how often we make bad choices; the surprise is how seldom they defeat us.
All PDAs have very serious software problems of one form or another. With Palm, it's the OS, with PocketPC, it's the UI, and with Linux PDAs, it's the desktop integration.
If you want just a PDA, your best bet is to get a $99 Palm Zire or the Sony SJ-22 or SJ-33; they are fairly cheap, so you won't feel too bad getting a new one in a year.
If you want to do custom programming for a handheld, consider a Linux PDA--Linux hardware may come and go, but you can be pretty certain that there will be Linux PDAs in the future and they will run, well, Linux.
Telepathy
Yes.
The upstart has been assimilated, Handspring is finally dead: RIP Its always a sad day when an upstart company fails to make a full go of it. I love my Visor and have been very sad to see the decline of the Springboard modules and now the eventual death of the company. The only unique advantage Handspring had over the other palm device companies was the Springboard slot. They were never going to make it as a phone company anyway and Palm had them covered in the hand held market. They quite literally shot themselves in the head when they dropped the only compelling reason to buy a handspring, its expandability. What a treat it was to be able to modify at will the capability of the visor. GPS, Wireless Ethernet, Bluetooth, Digital Cameras, Cell phones, Visor brought these features to us in a palm device years before any other company started development. Sharing the development load over the community was a great decision that allowed Handspring to move quickly and stay on top of the latest technology without spending company resources. As always is the trend, products get smaller faster and more feature rich. I suppose Handspring's demise was an inevitability given its business model and lack of cutting edge design. From the stand point of a compulsive DIY'er, this is a sad day in muddville.
I a 71 to replace my V that had a worn Graffiti pad. It's got everything I want and a camera. Like my books on paper, my music with BIG speakers, and my internet with a mouse, no friends to phone, so I'm good with the 71. And the Clie wheel, the new toggle button is easier and better IMHO. Graffiti II does however suck,,xerox give me back my x,i,t,and k! Maybe Xerox should have bought Handspring for all us Graffiti aficionados!
Informative, maybe. He is informing us that he wants a Zaurus. Well w00p-dee-shit.
I'm amazed by the historical similarities between Apple/NeXT/Jobs and Palm/Handspring/Hawkins.
Jobs/Hawkins creates visionary company with great products, both are amazing achievements.
Frustrated by the big corporate thing Jobs/Hawkins goes off and starts NeXT/HS to do the next big thing enjoying much hype and early success.
Apple/Palm lose market share, start making boring products, bumble through some bad business decisions, change CPUs to PPC/ARM and generally suffer from a lack of vision.
Apple/Palm buys NeXT/HS for way more than it's worth to return the visionary guy to the fold.
So, I wonder if we can use this to predict the future:
Palm switches from ancient OS to Unix based OS.
Palm puts out some new interesting products.
Palm's core customers become bigger fans than ever.
Palm becomes increasingly irrelevant as Microsoft increases market share.
(I really wanted to fit the big soft drink executive and the movie company into the story, but I just couldn't find the analogy.)
jeff
>Why don't we boycott Palm and PalmOS products, until Palm/Handspring management get their heads out of their asses and think about the employees that have been keeping their companies afloat, instead of their own pocket books.
Yes, thats great business logic.
Future advertising slogan from Palm: "Buy our products because we didn't lay off 125 employees!"
The surprise isn't how often we make bad choices; the surprise is how seldom they defeat us.
This is not a troll.
I've had a Palm and a Handspring and they both died within a year and half (just after the warranty). Neither was subjected to tough use and neither was ever dropped (as if that would matter anyway, since they should do shock and vibe testing on their products).
Every person I know who's had a Palm has had it die or stop working the way it is supposed to within a year or two. N ~ 5 here. Combined with my experience, this tells me that there is something very unreliable about the whole Palm architecture.
Frankly, I've come to the conclusion that Palm and Handspring's quality and reliability SUCK and I won't buy a Palm PDA ever again, which is too bad, as I actually liked the interface.
My two cents....
"There are laws that enslave men, and laws that set them free. " - Sean Connery as King Arthur
Not that anyone will see this comment this far down and at my posting level, but Ideo did the design for both the Palm V and Handspring Visor products. They both look really good. And the new Palm Tungstens look to me like an evolution of the Palm V design, for the most part subtle improvements. Other than eliminating the ability to put the stylus on either side, and the flip cover on the other, that is.
I really like the Palm Zire, a $80 - $100 value, that I got free for buying four Michelin tires.
Palm has reported that they have sold over a million Zires. http://news.com.com/2100-1041-1010264.html
Phillip
The millions paid to the top 0.x% of the payroll(the CEO and his gang) are often paid at the expense of the rest of it. Example: a 1M$ quarterly bonus could pay 10 high-priced specialists for a year at 100k$ a pop. So when you yank the plug for 100 workers at 50k$, you get 50M$ or just about the payroll of the council (5M$ times 10 assholes).
Considering the fact that ruining the life of tens of people for a stupid quarterly bonus is always the choice of the CEO, we are faced to a situation where the abuse of a few leads to the sacrifice of many. How altruistic.
You're not old until regret takes the place of your dreams.
I own a Handera 330. I love it; jog-wheel, hi-res screen, switchable backlight, CF & SD card slots. It really was best of breed when I got it. I've been hoping for sometime that they would release an updated version (possibly color, OS5). But I just discovered that they are exiting the Palm handheld arena.
I don't want a phone/PDA. I would extremely miss my jog-wheel. Sony seems to be the only choice for a full featured PalmOS handheld now.
Is the Zaurus a real alternative?
I gave up thinking of a cool sig
I am more convinced than ever of the uselessness of PDA's. It saounds to me like there are a lot of Inspector Gadget's in /. land.
And no, I'm not trolling. I really dont see the need for even the business types to use one. It's just another gadget to complicate my life even more, like a cellphone ( 80% of poeple who own them dont need one ) or a pager ( I used to have to wear one doing network service back in 1982, Arcnet and Netware 2.0! )
Maybe I am just a luddite - but I think most of these gadgets wind up owning their owners instead of them owning the device.
I wanted to get a Handspring Treo phone for my Sprint PCS service, however it doesn't have the capability to do dual bands in case you get out of Sprint's coverage. I hope Palm changes this when they take over the line.
Employees should be loyal to their companies because they support the employees with regular pay. They wouldn't be employees without a company to hire them.
The surprise isn't how often we make bad choices; the surprise is how seldom they defeat us.
"If you were purchasing a PDA right now, would you choose Palm, Handspring, or avoid them entirely?"
..
You're going to hate this, but I'd probably get a Palm. I used to have a iPAQ and then got an Vx from work.
The Vx is bigger and bulkier and the battery life does suck. Oh yes, and I've had it crash about 4 or 5 times but
The software! The diary, notes and calendar is way more powerful than iPAQ's. Varying snoozes on appointments, alarms on tasks, multiple addresses on contacts - the list goes on. Oh yes, and I'm a heavy Outlook user, so it's a boon to have decent Outlook compatibility (PocketOutlook on the ipaq was great - but nothing else would replace the other built in apps and still sync with Outlook).
Also I love the today screen. I have several plug ins and it shows me everything I need to know on one page.
Finally I know some people hate PalmSync but I like it for one major reason. I can pick my palm out of the cradle at any time and know that it's synced with my Outlook. On ipaqs I'd have to hit the button on a regular basis.
Would I go back to iPAQ's? Yes, but only if they dropped their prices (they're a tad pricey) and substantially beefed up the built in software and syncing. Would I go for a Linux PDA? Haven't really thought about it to be honest. For me, I don't care what the OS is - just how well it does the stuff I need (it could be written in Cobol for all I care).
Neither the PPC or Palm are the best. Both have pros and cons. But I can put up with the fact that the Palm is bigger, bulkier and eats batteries quicker because the PIM stuff is more powerful.
Of course, YMMV.
I wonder if this will end the PalmOS browser war? And who will win, Blazer or NetFront (the web browser in Palm OS 5, made by NetFront).
Any guess how will this hit EudoraWeb or Novarra, www.novarra.com ?
vb
>If you were purchasing a PDA right now,
;)
>would you choose Palm, Handspring, or
>avoid them entirely?
I faced this decision two weeks ago after my Palm died, and ended up buying a Pocket PC (Dell Axim X5 Pro). There were specific features I wanted (like voice memo) that were only available in high-end Palm units, if at all, but are pretty much standard on PPC. The cheapest Palm OS device I could find with voice memo, for example, was $399. For $50 less, my Axim has voice memo, dual expansion slots, a 400MHz CPU, 64MB RAM, 802.11b networking, and a docking cradle. The apps are comparable.
Say what you want about Windoze for Pocket PC, but the value proposition for me was a no-brainer. I'm really enjoying my new toy
Read my keyboard review.
I have to join the group saying Clié for me. I didn't want a PocketPC, and for the features at a given price(and the screen!) The Palm and Handspring models just didn't cut it. The Pocket PCs have some very nice bells and whistles, but they um, have crashes and stuff, and if I could afford to spen $500, then I could get pretty much equivalent features on a Clié. Could I on a Palm or Handspring? Not quite, because while Palm is trying, those I looked at seem to still be working out the kinks in their design. The Cliés have soem nice designs.
I lust over a Kyocera7135.
The Palm Zire71 comes out, so I get that with the thought of just connecting it to a cell-phone later.
Then a month later Handspring shows off the Treo600 to private groups.
THEN A DAY LATER PALM BUYS HANDSPRING.
I don't know whether to exchange my Zire for a Treo600 eventually or wait one more week and see what ELSE could possibly happen.
I still have and use my Visor Deluxe daily, although the screen's starting to go and it'll have to be replaced soon.
So get yourself a Visor Neo to replace it. If you check ebay, you will find you can get a Visor Deluxe for about $30, and a Visor Neo for probably $50 to $70 or so. If you really like it, get another.
I used the heck out of my Visor Deluxes. I bought a Visor Neo and used it for a while. But when I had a chance to get a Palm Tungsten T for a low price on eBay, I got it and I love it now. Compact, sturdy, and a great screen. And I love the speed.
Initially I was worried about battery life. You just have to make sure to plunk it in its cradle every few days to recharge it; it's not as big a deal as I was worried about.
If you do get a Tungsten T, be sure to get a good case to protect it. I have an E&B Slipper case and I love it.
steveha
lf(1): it's like ls(1) but sorts filenames by extension, tersely
Looking to liquidate any of those Hansprings?
Details on the new Treo - the Treo 600 - are starting to leak out, and it looks like a pretty major improvement. The photo from the merger even gave us a decent Hi-res photo of the new Treo. I think it looks pretty cool, but the obvious lacking feature is a higher-resolution screen. I wonder if the coolness factor of the Treo 600 helped encourage Palm to make the merger?
1) Create successful product (3com's Palm Pilot)
2) Spin off successful, money making product to its own company (Palm Inc). Very effective way for making sure the parent company doesnt make any of that evil money.
3) Royally screw up company, but try and spin off any successful ideas (like PalmOS) into its own company.
4) Buy one of your competitors, because they make a better product than you. We all know that aquiring other companies is a sure way to be successful!
Manipulate the moderator system! Mod someone as "overrated" today.
In the past few years I have been a Pilot user, Psion user and a REX Pro user. Both the Piot and Psion have long since died, but I keep going back to the REX. It's tiny, batteries last for months, synchs with Outlook. No frilly apps. Too bad Intel bought the line and killed it. If you don't carry your PDA everywhere what good is it? Most of them are just too klunky for me.
Well then you guys are fucking idiots then. Don't come here crying because your company doesn't have one business brain amongst you. You took a big risk on some fringe technology that hadn't, by and stretch of the imagination, cememented a place in the IT world, and got burnt. Ce la vie.
Before I got a PDA, I had buddies of mine telling me for a couple years, get one, you need one. I would just say yeah right, I don't need bla bla bla. Well, then one day about 3 years ago, they dropped the price on the Handspring Visor Deluxe and I said, ok, I'll buy one, and if I don't like it, I'll get rid of it on ebay. About a month after I got it, you would need a gun to pry it out of my hands. Now I have a Dell Axim X5 and I'd rather die than live without it. What do I use it for? Everything! Keeping track of appointment times, birthdays, jot quick notes, service calls (I'm a field tech), my inventory. Games? NONE, I use it for business, not as a glorified game boy. I even have a detailed city map in case on a rare occasion that I get a call on a street that I don't remember where it is. And this map you don't have to struggle with to refold :)
Handspring for a while now has been exclusively focused on the Treo line of Smart Phones. The Visor line has long since finished production.
The first generation Treos came out last year, the second generation Treo 600 is due out in the American fall.
Handspring also has made deals with carriers such as Sprint, T-mobile and others to carry their handsets. Something that Palm hasn't done and would have a long way to catch up.
Palm's only mobile/cell phone capable model the Tungsten W can't even take a phone call without plugging in a headset, what a blockhead design!
This allows Palm to have a strong products for the smartphone area to compete with MS SmartPhone's and Sony Ericsson's models.
Check out new specs on 2nd generation Treo on Treocentral
Cheers
VikingBrad
Did you make any? What did they do? If I like it I might buy it.
I've been looking at buying a Visor for the last few months since I was diagnosed with Diabetes, there's a rather nifty use of the Springboard technology in the product sold by www.freestyletracker.com
Anyone that's super dependent on their tester / insulin but generally on the go might want to look at this, I cant see the technology being sustained after the merger so Ill probably be picking one up as soon as I can scrape the money together.
Thanks for the info - I'm personally not in the market (I've already got a hi-res(Handera) PDA I'm pretty happy with and don't forsee any great need for a celphone at the moment), but I'm sure there are others looking.
Personally, I'd like to see a dumb, dumb, dumb, cheap celphone (Maybe even just a keypad and a 'low battery' LED, no screen, or maybe just a one line LCD.) that recieves/transmits well, is relatively small/light, and has BT enabled. That way, I can do the complicated stuff on the touch-sensitive PDA and just talk on the phone.
...that Springboard was "the result of massave[sic] R&D". I said that they were heavily invested in it. Those are two totally different things. I was referring to their offerings of Springboard modules and the like. However, I wasn't aware when I wrote it that Handspring is discontinuing Springboard, so it matters little anyway.
;-)
I have a Zaurus and love it, so this really isn't of much concern to me. Integrating phones and PDA's is also pretty stupid, IMHO, so there's also little reason for me to care in the future. This is how I justify my ignorace of the deeper details of the Handspring world.
CF seems to be the industry standard since Handspring kept their springboard slot all to themselves.
Propriatary hardware is Bad, sure enough, but there's probably other reasons why CF is still here and Springboards are gone...
Maybe the huge number of CF-using digital cameras that provide a large base of users to keep price low...
The fact that you can use a CF peripheral (With adapter) in both your PDA and Laptop is handy... The fact that CF is (to some degree) pin-compatable with PC-Card slots makes the adaptor dirt cheap, too.
But the big reason is probably how old CF is - the Compact Flash association was founded in 1995, about the time USR aquired Palm, and (IIRC) four years before Hanspring was even formed.
Handspring have been running down their PDA business for a while and concentrating on the Treo phone/pda. I suspect that is what Palm are after as I don't think they have realy broken into that market yet. Personnally I have a Handspring (Neo) which I'm happy with but even before this news I thought my next upgrade wouldn't be a Handspring as they haven't updated their PDA range for a while. Still pretty good business for the founders, set up one business, Palm make it successful then sell it. Then set up another business Handspring doing the same thing then sell it to the same people.
"I deny nothing, but doubt everything." Lord Byron
The same ones that after the company goes into read badly get big payouts after their miserable failure to provide leadership and vision.
Or they get even more if they reduce production costs. Did they do that by streamlining their processes and internal bureaucratic procedures? No, they opened a spreadsheet with all the company's employees, sorted it out by salary and years of experience and, once their buddies are excluded, marked the names of workers that came on top.
I wold agree that this is a healthy exercise if all of the sudden there was less work, but I have seen far too many times that the work that was done by 4 is now done by 2, and actually the intrincacies of integrating different IT infrastructures means an additional workload that would be better served by, yes, you guessed it, 4 people.
And then everybody asks why IT projects are always over budget and late. Well, here is a good reason why.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
The social responsibility of a company.
I know the concept is alien to USians, but given the impact companies actions have, a successful company should not have share value as its sole measurement of achievement.
Actually it used to be like that, shareholders invested with the hope that profits would be shared with them in the form of dividends which hopefully would be higer than having the money in the bank. It is only with the sophistication of the financial especulative industry that gambling wich company would do best became an acceptable way to fianance a compny.
The model is flawed, it is like a company and investors going to a casino to arrange how finaincing is arranged.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
The original poster was talking about the official ROM, not OZ.
It is very commendable what the OZ guys are doing, but from the applications and usability point of view I also prefer the offical ROM.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
.... but is statistically unrepresentative.
I have a Palm III that I bought some time ago (I think your N is almost 5) and I had to retire it only because I got a Palm IIIc two years ago. This one is soon to be retired as soon as my Zaurus is configured with all the stuff I want to have.
So far I like the Wirless capability, but if I need to I can charge (or put new batteries) in either of my old machines and be ready to go (they will be snapped soon in Ebay I am sure).
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
Considering the number of Americans who suffer from obesity which places them at a higher risk for diabetes this would of been an excellent feature. I wonder if this product could be adapted to be used in the current generation of hand-helds?
Because Handspring are far more advanced in the phone side of the pdas. In fact, they had decided to drop the pda-only series last year to concentrate exclusively on the cellphone/pda combos. This is harder work than meets the eyes because to be successful you have to negotiate all the different phone carriers limitations and differences. But it is the one that will grow. Who really wants to look up phone nos in the pdas to enter them in the cell phone?
Palm arent as focused, are thinking more of extending pdas as Tablets. On top of that, Handspring has done v. good work in the Palm OS; I recall some of the advanced (at the time) Palm OS's versions were due to Handspring's mods being officially entered in the Palm OS.
All in all a good combo company.
( Disclaimer: I have owned 3 Palms to m500, bought -and recently sold at large profit Handspring stock - )
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