HandSpring will fuel device revolution

1999-10-11

When the bunch who designed the PalmPilot quit 3Com to form their own, rival organisation, we wrote about the likelihood (and benefit) of injecting competition into the non-CE handheld market. Little did we expect, however, the wow factor that HandSpring would manage to inject into their product range.

Essentially, the HandSpring Visor is a PalmPilot with style. The basic model comes with a USB connection to speed up transfers and the more advanced version comes with more memory and a choice of colours. Not to be knocked, this – look what it did for the Apple iMac. No great shakes so far – a Palm clone with a couple of additional features.

Where things start getting interesting are, as they say on Blue Peter, “when we turn this one over.” On the back of the Visor is an expansion slot which looks not dissimilar from that of a Game Boy. Indeed, games cartridges are one thing that the Visor claims to support (although I could find no references to backwards compatibility). Expansion modules are plug and play – the drivers are build into the cartridge so they are ideal for the non-technical and technical alike. For the IT professional, executive or wired individual the selection of cartridges mooted is already impressive – GSM and land modems, voice recorders, data acquisition devices and MP3 players are already on the cards. Extensibility is the best option in this fast-moving world – there is some protection against obsolescence given the ability to plug in new technologies (say, Bluetooth) when they come.

What is really amazing about the Visor is the price. With launch prices beginning at $149, 3Com’s Palm subsidiary will be forced to follow suit (never mind the CE device manufacturers) probably leading to a sub-$100 product from one or the other before long. It is hoped that the expansion modules have similar pricing strategy, i.e. cheap – the second hand market in such cartridges is likely to boom, if for no other reason the devices will be easy to post.

Ultimately, what will prove to lead HandSpring to its holy grail is the extensibility. No other palm-held device has an expansion capability, a fact which is likely to cause expansion device manufacturers to flock to HandSpring and give it sustainability. At the moment, the Visor is launched in the US only – over here we shall be looking out for early adopters among the BA Executive Club members.

A final point – what of CE? The battle is still on, and the ultimate future of either device standard (PalmOS or CE based) cannot be guaranteed. It is true that Philips left the CE fray last week “due to poor sales”, but it is equally true that Compaq, Casio and HP still appear to have their full weight behind their CE devices. The fact remains that the PalmPilot was one of the unexpected success stories of the 90’s and, in the short term anyway, HandSpring look set to replicate that success.

(First published 11 October 1999)