Jeff Hawkins Clarifies the Future of the Visor

Earlier this week, Handspring's CEO Donna Dubinsky said that her company will eventually stop making Visors and only make Treos. This immediately set off a firestorm of controversy, with many incorrectly taking this to mean that Handspring was immediately dropping its flagship products. Jeff Hawkins, co-founder and Chairman of the company, sent an email late yesterday to the developer community that tried to make it clear that while Handspring is going to concentrate more on the Treo communicators, it isn't abandoning the Visor line.

Handspring is still manufacturing new Visors and will continue to sell them as long as demand continues.When demand starts to weaken, models will be phased out and the areas where they are available will be reduced.

Handspring is already planning to reduce the numbers of models it has available. Mr. Hawkins spoke of "consolidating the line into a few key products, Visor Pro, Visor Neo and Visor Edge." This indicates that Handspring will be discontinuing the Prism and there will be no new color Visor.

He did emphasize that his company would continue to support developers as they create new Springboard modules.

In an interview, Handspring's PR director was understandably unwilling to say too much about his company's future plans. He wouldn't comment on whether there would be a way in the future for Treo models to use Springboard modules. He also declined to talk about Handspring's plans for the switch to Palm OS 5, the next generation of the Palm operating system that runs on ARM-based processors.

The full text of Jeff Hawkins email follows:

    Dear Handspring Developer,

    There has been some confusion over Handspring's commitment to the organizer business as a result of comments we made in our recent conference call with financial analysts. We are sorry for any confusion we may have caused. I am writing to clarify our position.

    Handspring remains committed to producing and supporting our organizer products. We believe that there will be a market for organizers for some time to come. What we intended in our earnings call is that because of our strong belief in the value of wireless communications, we are putting more and more of our development resources into our communicator products. This is true. We are very excited about the Treo communicator and are investing heavily in future communicator products.

    The Visor product line has been an incredible success and the Springboard expansion slot supports many great solutions thanks to you. As the Visor product line matures we are consolidating the line into a few key products, Visor Pro, Visor Neo and Visor Edge. Going forward we will continue to support Springboard developers. We will continue to manufacture and sell Visor products as long as there is sufficient demand and we are able to build them. It is natural that as demand dictates we may reduce the number of SKUs and the geographies and channels in which they are available.

    Again, I hope this clarifies any confusion we may have caused. Thank you for your support of Handspring in the past and I look forward to continuing to work with you in the future.

    Jeff Hawkins

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Spin Control

I.M. Anonymous @ 1/19/2002 12:18:58 PM #
It sounds like spin control.

They are trying repair the damage they caused by by a premature slip of information no one was supposed to hear.

RE: Spin Control
I.M. Anonymous @ 1/19/2002 12:36:23 PM #
The email sounds like the same message in a new way of saying it.

He left himself a nice ''out''...

I.M. Anonymous @ 1/19/2002 12:33:34 PM #
"We will continue to manufacture and sell Visor products as long as there is sufficient demand and we are able to build them."

HANDSPRING = GM
VISOR = OLDSMOBILE

RE: He left himself a nice ''out''...
I.M. Anonymous @ 1/19/2002 1:57:52 PM #
Isn't this every company's policy? Sony will continue to make Clies as long as there is demand for them and Compaq will make iPaqs until Dell puts them out of business. ;)

RE: He left himself a nice ''out''...
I.M. Anonymous @ 1/19/2002 7:28:01 PM #
"I will continue to stay with my husband(s) so long as he (they) has (have) sufficient means to support me."

Elizabeth Taylor

No colour models == no future

I.M. Anonymous @ 1/19/2002 1:12:09 PM #
"and there will be no new color Visor"

So, they don't plan on making new colour models?
Sony is kicking Palms ass with new screens, I bought N770 purely because of great screen, having looked M505 in the same store I just had to have N770.
I must say I was about to get new IPAQ with nice screen, lots of memory AND CompactFlash cards which are WAY cheaper than Secure Digital crap that Palm is tryihg to shovel down our throats.

RE: No colour models == no future
I.M. Anonymous @ 1/19/2002 1:35:50 PM #
And so you get a memory-stick based item instead? Sure, that's a LOT cheaper than SD.....

RE: No colour models == no future
peter167 @ 1/19/2002 1:42:53 PM #
He owned none of the PDAs he mentioned. Don't worry.

RE: No colour models == no future
I.M. Anonymous @ 1/19/2002 3:11:16 PM #
I actually do own N770, what do you think you are the only person with cash to buy something like that?

I didn't like memory stick, but its far better than secure digital. Memory sticks are here with up 128Mb in size, soon there will be 256/512, and it looks like Sony is getting more and more open with it -- Lexar and Sandisk were licensed to produce memory sticks WITHOUT royalties, which means prices will go down big time.

RE: No colour models == no future
I.M. Anonymous @ 1/19/2002 5:39:05 PM #
I would like to point out that just because Ed says there won't be a new color Visor doesn't mean that it's true. In the letter, Hawkins was merely mentioning the Visors that are already available. Handspring has made it a habbit to not talk about future products before their release. This is not so with the Treo because the FCC let the cat out of the bag. The fact that Hawkins didn't mention the Prism in his list of "core products" is significant. It probably will be discontinued.

Although Ed thinks that this means there will be no more color Visors, I think the oposite is true. I think they are planning on releasing one or two more Visors before completing the transition to comunicators. I still think the color version of the Edge is ahead of us. (Hopefully with a more elegant way of adding on springboards!)

Again, Ed is mixing his speculation in with the facts. It's important that we, as readers, recognize the difference no matter how he portrays it.

Dream on
I.M. Anonymous @ 1/19/2002 8:51:29 PM #
Dream on. Do you think there are developers out there that will be putting money into making new Springboard modules? Not a chance. I'm sure they are trying to cut their losses and are vowing not to get burned again by this company.

RE: No colour models == no future
I.M. Anonymous @ 1/19/2002 8:52:19 PM #
"And so you get a memory-stick based item instead? Sure, that's a LOT cheaper than SD....."

Found a 128MB Lexar Memory stick for 65 bucks. Find a 128SD solution for that price.

RE: No colour models == no future
I.M. Anonymous @ 1/20/2002 12:01:13 AM #
I think that this Clié guy problem is that he doesn´t know how to read, because you can perfectly use MMC instead of SD for storage. I bought 5 units of 28MB SanDisk MMC on eBay for 37.50, can you do that with MS???? BTW, they work beautifully :-)

RE: No colour models == no future
I.M. Anonymous @ 1/20/2002 8:51:55 AM #
1. It won't surprise me if Handspring does come out with a new color model. The fact that he didn't mention the Prism in his message may just as well mean there will be something to replace it. Handspring seems to not be as stupid as other Palm device companies about giving away secrets that might impact current sales.

2. Even if they aren't coming out with a new color device, the original poster needs to get a clue. It just as much would not surprise me if they did not come out with a color Visor anytime soon. What the color-Clie-heads need to realize is that they are a tiny blip (but unfortunately an overly vocal one here) in overall sales. Color Palm device sales are a very tiny fraction of the market, and not a very profiable one for mass production. The fact that Sony is coming out with so many different color models leads to the implication that they aren't selling well and Sony is trying to figure out what will sell. The other Palm device makers have already figured out that they don't sell very well at these price points.

RE: No colour models == no future
I.M. Anonymous @ 1/20/2002 8:58:01 AM #
I dont want to have shredloads of memory chips, I want 2-3 top size chips, Memory Stick in this respect is better than MMC/SD, but worse than CompactFlash for which I could have bought 1Gb IBM disk.

Now finnally, the main point why I bought Clie is BEAUTIFUL COLOUR SCREEN! Check subject of my posts -- no colour models == no future, NOT: SD/MMC sucks, MemoryStick rules. I would not buy Palm M505 even if it had compact flash beacuse its screen SUCKS!

RE: No colour models == no future
I.M. Anonymous @ 1/20/2002 9:04:08 AM #
Get a life. The Clie's color screen is not beautiful. It is for the most part better than other color Palm screens. Even if it was beautiful, that doesn't mean there is a big market for it. In fact, the sales numbers have shown that quite frankly that there isn't one.

RE: No colour models == no future
I.M. Anonymous @ 1/20/2002 9:53:43 AM #
When I bought my Colour CLIE the sales guy told me that they sell better than mono-models -- people are happy to pay premium for colour screen!

There is a big market for colour palm sized devices, ever heard of Game Boy Advanced? There is nothing preventing of having one palm device used both for serious tasks and games, analogue of a PC in your hands.

RE: No colour models == no future
I.M. Anonymous @ 1/20/2002 10:57:21 AM #
> When I bought my Colour CLIE the sales guy told me that
> they sell better than mono-models

I wonder how much commission he got off of that sale. "Oh, nobody buys those $200 ones, they're junk. You can't do anything with them. You look like a fine fellow. What you need is one of these $450 beauties. Top of the line."

In any case, your sales idiot was very wrong.

RE: No colour models == no future
I.M. Anonymous @ 1/20/2002 11:32:58 AM #
>>In any case, your sales idiot was very wrong.

And who are you to say that he is more wrong than you?

RE: No colour models == no future
I.M. Anonymous @ 1/20/2002 12:08:52 PM #
I have access to online sales statistics, this sales guy accessment was correct, at least in the UK. Have you got any other real arguments apart from: Clie is crap?

RE: No colour models == no future
I.M. Anonymous @ 1/20/2002 12:19:38 PM #
Do not forget, US market does not equal the world market. At least in Japan, B&W devices is dying. Sony did not even release the s-series (except the old S300 and T400) in Japan. They are no. 1 PDAs seller in Japan since N700C released in April/2001. N750C is the top PDA now (may be overtaken by T600C next month). The statistics is published by Nikkei mobile monthly. Palm products have never been on top position, it was Sharp's Zaurus all the while before Clies appearred. Actually Clies save PalmOS in Japan because Zaurus and PPCs have so much to offer when it comes to screen resolution and wireless connectivity.

BTW, HS has stopped their online store in Japan since 12/26/2001 and left a 2 staff in the Japan office to support their PDAs. The Edge dropped from 49,000 yen (same price as N750C - N760C in US) to 19,800 yen (abt $150) 2 months ago. Still they cannot sell because 160x160 display is not acceptable for Japanese Kanji when you have the Clie hires to compare. HS is moving out of Japan for sure as Treo has no place here because there is no GSM here and it is neither color nor hires. They did not release Neo and Pro as well.

RE: No colour models == no future
I.M. Anonymous @ 1/20/2002 12:42:52 PM #
Just to add Prism is selling for 19,800 yen ($150) as well while deluxe and Platinum are out of the stores 2 months ago selling at 9,900 yen ($70).

RE: No colour models == no future
I.M. Anonymous @ 1/20/2002 8:40:24 PM #
Well, it's no wonder Sony got into the PDA market then. They couldn't let Sharp, or anyone for that matter, outsell them on a consumer electronics item in Japan.

RE: No colour models == no future
I.M. Anonymous @ 3/26/2002 11:21:46 AM #
Dumb ass, your Sony Clie won't exist if Jeff did not start Palm computing

That's OK, Jeff...

mikemusick @ 1/19/2002 1:36:00 PM #
We'll know where you folks really stand on this in three weeks. I can wait that long. If we get continued non-response about OS 5 and Handspring at Palm Source, we will know that Springboard support is an end-of-life issue.

RE: That's OK, Jeff...
I.M. Anonymous @ 1/19/2002 2:54:14 PM #
Lookout! Don't bend over!!!

I don't believe Jeff's statement helped any

jonecool @ 1/19/2002 3:15:44 PM #
Well, I don't think Jeff's follow-up message has done any more good than Donna's statement on the con-call. The fact is, the TREO is their future and the Visor will soon be their past.

The statements made are not excatly clear about the future doom of the Springboard, but all readings indicate that it will likely be dropped once the Visor's meet their fate. If this is the case, it is really going to make consumers doubt the future of the TREO line. It will be a shame that a PrismII will never be released, HS will no longer have a color organizer. This will be a severe Handicap for them. Not to mention the stockholders who already seem to be placing their votes as well.

Let me see if I undserstand this right, the initial TREO Wave will:

180g/k will be a B&W device.

The TREO's have no flashable OS (stuck with what you got, like the Visor's though a few patches exist).

Handspring rarely updates OS's (The VisorDeluxe never received a "patched" upgrade to OS 3.5.2) so the TREO with masked ROM will be Future OS challenged.

There is no on-board expandability of the TREO. So if you have to do a hard-reset on your TREO and you are away from your computer (Jeff, can't tell me this never happened to you) you are screwed with no way of reinstalling your phone numbers/contacts until you get back to the office. For those using the TREO "World Phone" capbilities in another continent, this could really hose up a perfectly nice trip to Europe when you lose all your phone numbers. At least with my VisorPhone and MemPlug CF I can restore from my last backup and be good to go quickly without having to lug my Desktop/Laptop with me.

Handspring will someday realize that a PDA without expandability is not going to fly in today's Palm/PDA economy (Communicator or not). Therefore, the initial TREO's sold will likely be obsoleted in about 6months (or less) with a follow-up version that learned from the mistakes being made today. Handspring will eventually add expandability or ... I'd rather not say.

Just my .02 worth...

RE: I don't believe Jeff's statement helped any
I.M. Anonymous @ 1/19/2002 3:38:16 PM #
> So if you have to do a hard-reset on your TREO and you are away from your
> computer (Jeff, can't tell me this never happened to you) you are screwed
> with no way of reinstalling your phone numbers/contacts until
> you get back to the office.

Just do a wireless Network HotSync. I used to call in from home and HotSync with my work PC all the time with my old 14.4 PalmModem.

RE: I don't believe Jeff's statement helped any
jonecool @ 1/19/2002 3:41:39 PM #
I guess that would be pretty cheap HotSyncing from Europe to your machine in the USA wouldn't it. Not to mention really fast on the 'ol 14.4Kbps connection ;) It takes about 10 min. today with my VisorPrism/AvantGo on my local Xircom 802.11b connection. I couldn't imagine the dial-up being practical. At the very min. it would cost me about $50 to HotSync while visiting Europe (approx. $1 per min. the last time I was in Finland), less than the cost of the MemPlug!

Also, you would hope that you remember the the IP/Hostname of the remote machine you are connecting too and that your local ISP isn't having problems back at the office.

The other challenge is that not everyone has a dedicated phone line for Remote HotSync'ing nor a dedicated internet connection (CABLE/DSL).

Face it, expandability on a PDA,

**communicator or not**

is not a luxury but a necessity.



RE: I don't believe Jeff's statement helped any
I.M. Anonymous @ 1/19/2002 4:31:45 PM #
Necessity is the mother of invention.

Some bright individual out there should make a little dongle-like device that hooks into the serial port to receive a full memory data dump ... the TREO will still have a serial port, so that's probably the only way to get all 16mb of data out of the unit in a reasonable timeframe. The user would trigger the "backup" application from the memory, and then they'd have a full backup.

Now ... let's say that the unit hard crashes while on the road. The backup data is stored in the "dongle", but there is no on-board application to read everything back in. Well, maybe the dongle can have a little IR transmitter that could "beam" the restore app into the unit. You know, just like the Springboard modules have their applications stored in the module itself? This thing could have its application available in memory and ready for beaming.

Aww hell, why not just make the whole thing one little memory box with an IR transmitter? Yeah, that's probably a better way to do it -- one size fits all (Clie, Palm, HandSpring, HandEra, Samsung, Kyocera, etc). It might be slow, but you back the whole PDA up to the memory box via IR. Then, if your PDA crashes, the IR memory box can beam the "backup/restore" app first, which you then launch and pull in the rest of the data.

That *COULD* work. And you would finally have an accessory that you wouldn't need to toss out the next time you change PDAs.

RE: I don't believe Jeff's statement helped any
jonecool @ 1/19/2002 4:48:54 PM #
Now that's a good idea, be sure to get a patent on it before someone else does!

RE: I don't believe Jeff's statement helped any
I.M. Anonymous @ 1/19/2002 8:09:45 PM #
To be precise, when you use a GSM phone the telephone numbers are stored in the GSM card. So if you have to do a hard reset you don't lose your contacts. This is obvious for non-american phone users...

RE: I don't believe Jeff's statement helped any
I.M. Anonymous @ 1/19/2002 9:32:02 PM #
That's partially precise. The SIM Card can save a max of about 50 phone numbers, no more. When you do a hard reset, you lose your Palm Addressbook.

It's true you can get back the 50 stored on the SIM Card after a hard reset, but if you have 600 names/addresses (like I do) 50 is typically immdiately family/friends. The business associate you're likely to meet at the Airport may very well not be in your SIM Card and was instead in your Palm Addressbook, which was wipped out.

Just something to consider.

RE: I don't believe Jeff's statement helped any
I.M. Anonymous @ 1/19/2002 9:40:31 PM #
> Some bright individual out there should make a
> little dongle-like device that hooks into the serial
> port to receive a full memory data dump ... the TREO
> will still have a serial port, so that's probably
> the only way to get all 16mb of data out of the unit
> in a reasonable timeframe.

I'm using such a 'dongle' since summer 2000 for my Palm devices. Have a look at www.flashplug.de who invented this type of modules.

RE: I don't believe Jeff's statement helped any
I.M. Anonymous @ 1/19/2002 9:47:42 PM #
> To be precise, when you use a GSM phone the
> telephone numbers are stored in the GSM card.
> So if you have to do a hard reset you don't lose
> your contacts. This is obvious for non-american
> phone users...

Indeed. I have about 250 contacts stored in the flash memory of my Ericsson T39 mobile phone, along with
2 x POP3 email accounts (the T39 has a -very basic but working- email client built in as well as a WAP browser)

RE: I don't believe Jeff's statement helped any
I.M. Anonymous @ 1/19/2002 11:24:35 PM #
> Not to mention really fast on the 'ol 14.4Kbps connection

You missed the part where I pointed out that I used to do this all the time on my 14.4 modem. it is slow but doable. I wasn't saying its the best solution, but the first guy made a blanket statement that you'd be screwed. I just pointed out that that wasn't necessarily true. But the FlashPlug is a much better solution. I see a Treo version of this within 6 months.

RE: I don't believe Jeff's statement helped any
jonecool @ 1/19/2002 11:41:47 PM #
>You missed the part where I pointed out that I used >to do this all the time on my 14.4 modem. it is slow >but doable. I wasn't saying its the best solution, >but the first guy made a blanket statement that you'd >be screwed. I just pointed out that that wasn't >necessarily true. But the FlashPlug is a much better >solution. I see a Treo version of this within 6 >months.

I was actually the first guy :)

Anyways, you're right it's doable but dependent upon a few things as to wheter or not you are screwed. What if you bought a TREO without a backup plan of paying for a second phone line in your home that would allow you to remotely HotSync? What if you don't have Cable/DSL in your area? If either of those are not possible and you own a TREO, you are- for lack of a better word, screwed if you have to perform a Hard Reset during your trip.

I was looking at the cost of the alternative and the reality of how many people would have such a contingency in the event of disaster with their TREO as opposed to a MemPlug or some other backup solution.

You mentioned the FlashPlug as a potential solution. The problem with the FlashPlug (I owned one of these too with my Palm VIIx) is that you need to install the application to the PDA "FIRST" before you can move any data from the FlashPlug to the PDA. Therefore, it's essentially useless too while on the road and after a Hard Reset. It can't auto load the program that is needed to access the FlashPlug (or Memory Safe)...

You make some good points, but the fact that there is no solid backup solution for the TREO while travelling is a fatal flaw in the device.

My Experience: I used to have lots of problems with my VisorPrism/VisorPhone and had to perform Hard Resets when my Prism would jump into an infinite loop on the Startup screen. It would show the Palm Computing screen, flicker and reset itself infinitely. There was no way to recover aside from a Hard Reset(tried all the wonderful tricks of recover Pin with up arrow, down arrow, Power, etc.).

I would assume the TREO is going to be suceptible to the same condition. As it turned out, removing ICQ from the Prism resolved this problem for me(haven't seen it do that again in about 9 months. It took me forever to isolate the problem (ICQ may not have been the cause of the problem, but it did fix the problem after having removed it).

With the VisorPrism/VisorPhone and the MemPlug, you at least had a solid solution for recovery that didn't require

a) Dialing back to the office
b) Having a PC (or second PDA) handy

I hope Handspring put some kind of safeguard into the TREO to prevent the issue I had mention above. If not, I'm sure someone is bound to run into it. When they do, they'll miss not having a SpringBoard for recovery.

RE: I don't believe Jeff's statement helped any
I.M. Anonymous @ 2/23/2002 1:43:53 PM #
Palm M50x handhelds can handle simultaneously SD or MMD cards proccessing with GPS or WIFI communication, while Handspring's Visor architecture "Springboard" only allows one operation at a time. This means than Palm M50x architectures doubles that of Handspring's. Treo uses the same architecture as VIsor's. TreO's Gsm cell Telephony integrated module compromises its actual architecture, that is why it can not handle simultaneusly any type of memory card, etc

Jon K. Urrutia

Spin Control

I.M. Anonymous @ 1/19/2002 6:48:59 PM #
Yes, spin control is great.

But you can't blame Jeff or Donna. The b&w handheld market is a commodity market. You can't much money off of it.

The only way for Handspring to survive besides merging is to create premium-priced products and services. If you translate the aforementioned sentence from conSLUTing jargon to regular english it would be: "We'll make healthy margins by ripping you off by selling you substandard devices and services which cost us next-to-nothing. Please buy again and thank you."

Its all SONY'S FAULT!

I.M. Anonymous @ 1/19/2002 7:52:55 PM #
Sony is slooooooowly taking over....hehehe...

Go! CLIE go!

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