Comments on: Handspring Names Ed Colligan President

Handspring, today announced the promotion of Ed Colligan to the position of president, effective immediately. A co-founder of the company, Mr. Colligan will also continue to serve in his role as chief operating officer, overseeing the company's worldwide marketing, sales, operations and engineering.
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David vs. Thor

PalmusMagnus @ 10/15/2002 3:30:17 PM #
The exisiting players in the mobile telecommunications industry are going to grind Handspring into a fine paste. It was fun while it lasted.

______________________________________
If you're in a hole, stop digging.
"Grind into a fine paste"
Gekko @ 10/15/2002 4:05:58 PM #
I like that line.

RE: David vs. Thor
PacManFoo @ 10/15/2002 4:16:13 PM #
Captain Colligan gets to go down with the ship. Congratulations Mr. Colligan.

RE: David vs. Thor
joehockey @ 10/15/2002 4:29:15 PM #
As I sit here staring at my stack of obsolete springboards I find myself asking "who cares?".

RE: David vs. Thor
Foo Fighter @ 10/15/2002 4:36:28 PM #
Handspring is dead. They are winding down, fiscally. Who cares what changes are being made to its executive board. The company was an over-hyped flop! Good riddance!

RE: David vs. Thor
Foo Fighter @ 10/15/2002 4:43:23 PM #
>> "Ed Colligan worked with Jeff Hawkins and Donna Dubinsky to lead the product marketing and marketing communications efforts for Palm, including the successful positioning, launch, and marketing of the original Palm product family."

I'm sick of reading this rehashed drivel about Palm pioneers and past glories. Does this cover the fact that these people are currently failing? If I have to read another story about "the great" Jeff Hawkins and his little block of wood, I'm going to vomit. Springboard was a flop. Visor couldn't grow the company, and now they have entered a market where it will most assuredly be crushed by incumbent players. Anyone think Handspring will defeat Nokia? Didn't think so.

RE: David vs. Thor
ac @ 10/15/2002 4:47:51 PM #
Well, I have a Visor Deluxe and it's a great product. Too bad there won't be any more springboards, but oh well. I've had mine for two years, recently got a Springboard adapter to read my 128MB CF card, and I love it.

Visor Deluxe with InnoPocket CF adapter and 128MB CF card. 156 apps and games. I'm in love.
Long Live Handspring
chewer @ 10/15/2002 4:59:36 PM #
My day has been going very well so, just to bring myself back to reality, I have come to PIC for a full blown dose of negativity. I respect the fact that some believe that Handsping is done as a company and can even understand why some are waiting for Sony to take over the Palm OS world. However, it amazes me how so many people can find so many negative things to say about a company that has done nothing but make honest attempts at producing innovative products.

It is true that the springboard concept has failed with consumers, however, in the enterprise market it is going strong. This is especially true in healthcare where the Visor ahs become a valuable asset to medical professionals. The Treo, like it or not, is a great product. Will it eventually take down Nokia, absolutely not. However, for a first try at a true "communicator" it is a fine product. Who knows what will come next. Certainly OS 5 should add a great deal to the Treo. Finally, the Treo 90 is a very nice organizer that has the potential to bring many new consumers into the market. I for one hope that HS keeps producing variations of both the Treo Communicators and Organizers as they add a unique product line to the otherwise bland Palm universe.

For those of you about to bash me for being a Handspring apologist let me say two things. One, I do not own stock int he company. Two, while I do own and use a Handspring organizer, I also own a Palm and my wife uses a Sony. Personally I like them all and hope that each company continues to bring good products to market for many years to come.

Doom and gloom! Doom and gloom!
orb2069 @ 10/15/2002 5:04:55 PM #
They're producing one of the smallest PalmOS celphones on the market, the're getting good reviews, and they're actually producing a useful product with good battery life in a small size. Dosen't sound like a 'fine paste' to me, particularly when the various 'exsisting telecommunications giants' will be more than happy to fight amongst each other, and let them be. It's worked for Qualicomm and

And as far as your springboards... Did you ever take a look at the Springboard protocol? The number of problems involved in trying to port it to an ARM platform are staggering. It was developed for the Dragonball architecture, and it shows- you might as well try to adapt submarines for flight.
Just as an idea, if you want to buy peripherals that you want to keep using, why not buy from a company that uses peripherals you can ALREADY use elsewhere? http://www.handera.com comes to mind, but there must be others.

RE: David vs. Thor
Foo Fighter @ 10/15/2002 7:30:54 PM #
>> "They're producing one of the smallest PalmOS celphones on the market, they're getting good reviews, and they're actually producing a useful product with good battery life in a small size."

Doesn't make a damn bit of difference. They aren't selling like Handspring had hoped, and it hasn't carried them to profitability. How good a product is has nothing to do with the financial stability of a company.

Visor may be dead, but NOT Handspring.
james_sorenson @ 10/15/2002 9:13:08 PM #
Okay guys, one dead architecture does not make a dead company.
Apple did not die due to the death of the ADB and Serial port.
Microsoft didn't die with the death of DOS.
Iomega didn't die with the death of Click! disks.

Yes, the Springboard is dead. It has been replaced with something smaller and less proprietary (the SD/MMC card). Handspring has moved on. Notice that the Treo 90 uses the SD slot. Sure, the GSM Treo didn't sell as well as they hoped, but the CDMA Treo is actually doing quite well.

Handspring still has a challenge ahead. However, if they DO fail, it will be for reasons beyond the springboard slot.

-------
James Sorenson

RE: David vs. Thor
treo007 @ 10/15/2002 9:28:45 PM #
Foo Fighter:

So am I to assume you think Handspring makes good product (which they do)? If that's the case, should we really be saying "good riddance" to them? If they don't "defeat" Nokia then they're a "flop"? If memory serves, you're an Apple user, right? I guess Apple's a failure then as well and we'd all be better off if they left the market as too? If

I'm sure you ascertained from my username that I'm a Handspring customer. For what it's worth, I've owned 15 PDA's and my Treo is the only Handspring product owned during that time. So while it's my favorite of the lot, I'm hardly a longtime Handspring fanatic. I just don't get why you want to see a company that makes decent product fail?

RE: David vs. Thor
PacManFoo @ 10/15/2002 10:48:46 PM #
I don't think anyone wants to see Handspring fail, but they did upset a lot of folks when they dropped both the Visor Line and the Springboards. I think they could have somehow had a compromise where they included a SD/MMC and Springboard slot with their product. I'm glad you like your Treo but unfortunetly not everyone wants a PDA/Phone. Even the one they have without the phone is not very user freindly with just the keyboard. Jeff Hawkins taught us Grafitti and then takes it away? Personally I think they were headed in the right direction with the Edge. If they had made a color edge with SD/MMC slot and the ability to piggyback their springboard I would have been the first in line for one. The Treo line is not one I would personally buy though.

Handspring makes a nice product
TDS Computer @ 10/15/2002 11:45:34 PM #
I have owned a Visor Prism, which I still use along with several Springboard modules that still work just fine. I now own a Treo 90 which is one of the nicest PDA's I have used. It is really designed well and performs flawlessly. Why do people insist on Handspring bashing?
I was upset too when they discontinued the Visor line (Well, at least they are not developing any new ones)but the SD slot seems like a viable alternative. Maybe someday it will be viewed as a sound business decision.

Visit us at www.tdscomputer.com
RE: David vs. Thor
chewer @ 10/16/2002 1:16:05 AM #
I'm uncertain how the keyboard on the Treo line is "not user friendly". With one free down load, (NewPen), you get the best of both worlds in a very small package. I do agree that the Edge was a promising idea that was not given enough time to suceed. A color edge with SD and the ability to use the Springboard backpack may have been a product the public would have embraced. One thing that I have always wondered is whether the springboard technology could have been used with OS 5. At any rate I'm not a big fan of the springboard simply due to the cost of each module but I can certainly understand why people liked it. In the end it is in the best interest of the Palm platform for Handspring to survive. The more innovation we see from each company the better products we will have to choose from.

RE: Should have compromised
Palmcicle @ 10/16/2002 2:50:43 AM #
Obvoiusly consumers were not gobbling up springboard modules as quickly as HS would have liked. They were a bit pricey but some of them were great (Ie. blood glucose monitor...brilliant!) My feeling is that HS would not be is such bad shape if they had kept one or two offerings with the traditional HS PDA form factor. They would still have had the opportunity to grow the Treo line. As it stands now the Treo line is not even being marketed by HS insiders, but rather Gurus from Sprint PCS. (see article on bargainPDA.com) Letting a public utility market your key product is always a bit risky. How many consumers have the 'warm fuzzy's' for the phone company? This is not a negative 'bash peice' just a comment...

_____________________________
Phew! Whats that smell!?! Did someone Zire in here? Buy Palm stock...it's only a nickle.
RE: David vs. Thor
sandbuck @ 10/16/2002 7:01:14 AM #
____________________________
They're producing one of the smallest PalmOS celphones on the market, the're getting good reviews, and they're actually producing a useful product with good battery life in a small size. Dosen't sound like a 'fine paste' to me, particularly when the various 'exsisting telecommunications giants' will be more than happy to fight amongst each other, and let them be.
_____________________________

Where to start.. as the 'exsisting telecommunications giants' fight amongst themselves, they will drive the price of a color smartphone to $199 and below. They will eat or "Enron-ize" their losses for the sake of volume. This will leave Handspring with only Hawkin's "little block of wood" as a sentimental shield. Definitely a fine paste. Or pate, served on a little block of wood.

Not that I'm bitter....

What role does President have?

danger @ 10/15/2002 4:43:07 PM #
Pardon my ignorance, but for those of us that don't live in USA - what's the diff between the role of the President and CEO?

RE: What role does President have?
Token User @ 10/15/2002 4:46:49 PM #
The President gets to declare war on dictatorial nations. The CEO gets to clean up the mess.

~ "Don't be too proud of this technological terror you've constructed." - DV ~
RE: What role does President have?
LotSolarin @ 10/15/2002 5:02:01 PM #
Traditionally, the president will undertake larger concepts such as the company's position in the market, kissing the butt of the business community, making statements to press, etc., whereas the CEO will answer more to investors (in the case of a publically held company) and deal with more day-to-day issues surrounding the whole company.

It can sometimes be a distinction without difference. At other times, it can be another pretty face slagged up to the top ranks to give the appearence of management change.

Current president.

Roberto_tores @ 10/15/2002 4:50:05 PM #
What happens with the current president?

RE: Current president.
CKMOOSE @ 10/15/2002 5:12:26 PM #
He'll be taken out back and shot...

RE: Current president.
PacManFoo @ 10/15/2002 5:40:12 PM #
ROTFLMAO

RE: Current president.
iebnn @ 10/15/2002 9:04:06 PM #
Hahaha, that was great.

Reminded me of Catch 22.

RE: Current president.
myname @ 10/16/2002 4:27:44 AM #
George Bush !?

CEOffer?

LanMan @ 10/16/2002 10:34:53 AM #
"Donna Dubinsky, who will continue in her role as Handspring's chief executive offer."

Cheir Executive "Offer"? That's a new one. ;)

Full-time computer network engineer
Part-time computer science teacher
Christian till the end-of-time <><

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