Slashdot Mirror
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."
Yahoo is carrying an article , too.
KARMA TAG! You're it.
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.
Wouldn't they most likely use the best features from both?
That didn't happen when HP merged with Compaq. The Journada range was dropped, even though they had some nice features not found in iPAQs.
Until they have SSH clients and proper wireless access, the point is moot anyway.
Huh? how many SSH clients do you need?
It isn't enough that the offer GSM, CDMA, Bluetooth, and 802.11? What other form of wireless are you looking for -- telepathy?
Recursive: Adj. See Recursive.
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
TGssh doesn't verify the server's public key, so it's not actually secure at all.
Syquest drives were "virtually indestructable"? Where do you get this information? I *HAD* a SyQuest drive a few years back, the thing died after roughly a year's usage, and by that time, the company was gone. I now have 3 disks that have stuff on them I cannot get off, save for buying a used drive off of eBay.
- HeyYou
You are correct...
Handspring founders Jeff Hawkins--who invented the first Palm handheld--and former CEO Donna Dubinsky established Palm in 1992, and were the top names at Palm until they left in 1998 to start Handspring. Handspring became one the first outside companies to license Palm's operating system.
Reportadly, Hawkins and Dubinsky will become part of the new management of the combined company and are "expected to help lead the company toward its new goals". With the PalmSource software operation running on its own, Palm--now a hardware company--will focus on bolstering its brand and its market share in the handheld market.
---------
There is no try at jedinite.com
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.
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
Kyocera's been making the SmartPhone series like this for some time. The QCP-6035 is superior to the m125 in features - It only lacks the SD Memory slot. The QCP-7135 has PalmOS 4.1, a color screen, smaller profile, the SD Memory slot, and a more ergonomic feel.
My fiancee has the QCP-6035 and it's really nice. EudoraWeb is decent, but I've since installed Blazer (from HandSpring) and it works great. The main downside is that the phones are PCS, meaning that you'll have to have service through Verizon or Sprint. The 7135 is available via ALLTEL, but you can transfer it over to a different CDMA network.
There's also a fairly large hacking and customization community over at SmartPhoneSource.com, that can give you all the tips and tricks to using your phone, as well as setting up your phone to switch providers, load OS updates (both phones use a custom version of the OS), and other cool stuff.
"Mod, mod, mod...and another troll bites the dust."
A PDA can do so many things, but I think people use the calendar function most. An electronic calendar has several advantages over regular ones. The biggest in my opinion is that you can synchronize it with one or more computers. You can have the same calendar at home, at work and on the road. The biggest advantage of that is if you loose your PDA you still have all your data left. If you loose a regular calendar it's gone.
Another great thing about PDA-calendars is the search function. You can easily search through your whole calendar in a matter of seconds.
It's also very easy to edit the info in a PDA-calendar. Sure you can do that in a regular one as well, but it usually looks pretty messy afterwards.
Martin
Why? Read their press release.
ScienceSeeker.org
Why give up now? Well, last week Handspring announced it was on the verge of NASDAQ delisting.
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.
I was lucky to score an early version of TomeRaider. This allows me to take (or create) any .txt file and export it as a Palm database file.
didn't most people buy handsprings with the "anti-palm" attitude
I don't know that it had any element of "anti-Palm"; when Handsprings came out, they were significantly cheaper, and had the cool Springboard port. That's why I bought mine.
Perhaps someone bought one for the cool colors, too. I stuck with "graphite" (basic black).
So does makeztxt, and it's free, and the Weasel reader works great. I download stuff from project guttenberg and read in bed. It's great with a back-lit monocrhome palm. The screen is good enough that it doesn't bother me in the least (which kidna surprised me!)
I second.. or fifth, or whatever...I have 2 Clies... even their lower end ones are Highrez (my newer one retails for $129). I use my other one as a mp3 player. To get those on a Palm, I would have had to spend like $299 or more.
OMG... I have a sig?
One of my favorite uses for the Palm Pilot is reading. For example, if you go to Baen.com you'll see many popular books for download FREE! And if you like the free ones, you can pay for electronic copies of later ones in the series. For example, I loved the Honor Harrington "On Basilisk Station", so I started buying the books. Soon I found it easier to buy the electronic versions and read those on my CLIE. Baen even included a CD with the latest Honor book that contains EVERY HONOR BOOK EVER MADE in electronic form! Combine that with the low price of electronic books bought online (4-5 dollars per) and you have convienence at its finest.
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
But now there's Compaq Flash, SD and XD memory and expansion slots. CF seems to be the industry standard since Handspring kept their springboard slot all to themselves.
Rather unfortunate, but I see it all the time.
Dude, I have a Sony PEG-SJ20, and they're actually *smaller* than most PDAs. The trick is that they have a much higher resolution and a very broad grayscale pallette. Combined with their white backlight technology (anyone else HATE the HandSpring backlight?), the screen is extremely easy to read and images have a very high fidelity. The only thing I wish they'd solve is the glare off the screen. In direct lighting situations (i.e. a lamp over your shoulder), it can make the screen harder to read.
Oh, and just in case you are referring to the resolution of the Sony, the newest Palm devices use 320x320 as well.
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
Someone else already mentioned the MobiPocket Reader, which includes some phenomenal high-res fonts for the Clié. Baen Books has much of their catalogue available for download in the MobiPocket format, including their Baen Free Library. The Free Library contains dozens of books, many by established authors. That includes the first couple of books in the Honor Harrington series.
Beyond that, I like the Weasel Reader, an ebook reader dedicated to reading Project Gutenberg etexts.
Both MobiPocket Reader and Weasel Reader support the jogwheel, Memory Stick, and hi-res fonts on the Clié. Highly recommended.
- jon
Ganymede, a GPL'ed metadirectory for UNIX