Qualcomm Investing $10 Million in Handspring

Posted By: Ed Wednesday, December 19, 2001 11:24:58 AM

Qualcomm has agreed to buy $10 million worth of Handspring stock. The timing of this might be significant, as Handspring is about to release the Treo, a wireless handheld with voice and data capabilities. Qualcomm is the leading company behind the CDMA wireless standard, while the Treo will use GSM/GPRS. According to a Qualcomm VP, the company is using this investment to encourage Handspring to release a CDMA version of the Treo, which Handspring is already working on.

In a possibly related development, Handspring's share price has shot up tremendously today. So far it is up $1.34, an increase of almost 22%.

Handspring only said it will use the money from Qualcomm for general corporate purposes, though it said it might use some of it to buy "complementary businesses, products or technologies". This isn't an indication that Handspring has any particular plans to make any acquisitions. The company is just making a blanket statement that makes it clear it can spend the money on whatever it wants.

Also, Handspring announced the public offering of 7 million shares of its common stock at a price to the public of $5.50. This nets Handspring $38.5 million. The offering was sole managed by Credit Suisse First Boston.

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How much is $10 Million?

popko @ 12/19/2001 12:46:57 PM #

$10 Million in HS. So how much is that percentage wise in relation to the total amont (like 10% of HS??).

RE: How much is $10 Million?

Ed @ 12/19/2001 1:25:24 PM #

It's about 1.5%.

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News Editor

RE: How much is $10 Million?

popko @ 12/19/2001 5:30:29 PM #

Lets hope HS will make good use of this injection.

CDMA

I.M. Anonymous @ 12/19/2001 12:51:59 PM #

I hope GSM/GPRS prevails. The cell phone market in the US is too fractionated with CDMA/GSM/TDMA. The rest of the world uses GSM almost exclusively and you can travel almost anywhere with the same phone.

RE: CDMA

Ed @ 12/19/2001 1:27:08 PM #

Have you read this article on the rise of GSM/GPRS in the U.S.?
www.palminfocenter.com/view_Story.asp?ID=2524

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News Editor

RE: CDMA

I.M. Anonymous @ 12/19/2001 2:50:52 PM #

I am glad to see there is a single emerging standard, GSM/GPRS. I would like to see a concise comparison of the other standards including CDMA2000. I was expecting more when I found out GPRS in the ericsson t39 can only do 56kbit.

RE: CDMA

I.M. Anonymous @ 12/19/2001 3:00:38 PM #

CDMA quality surpasses GSM. Hands down. Look it up.

RE: CDMA

Coyote67 @ 12/19/2001 3:27:16 PM #

Better or not, I know from experience that CDMA is more reliable. I was in the **** sept11th and everyone who had voicestream (gsm) phones had no service, but my sprintpcs (cdma) phone had almost perfect service. I know you can argue this back and forth, but I'm just talking from my experience. GSM/GPRS sounds nice and all, but I'm not in Europe/Asia where GSM/GPRS is everywhere. In the US CDMA has better coverage, and until that changes I'll be waiting to order a cdma treo.

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When you have a Clie shoved up your mouth, you can only talk in vowels.

RE: CDMA

I.M. Anonymous @ 12/19/2001 4:08:46 PM #

That might not be related to CDMA vs. GSM; Sprint might simply have had more bandwidth than VoiceStream.

In any event, Sprint is the most corrupt, scamming phone company I have ever dealt with. They TWICE put me on the wrong billing plan, then refused to credit my account and sent it to a collections agency. I did all of the appropriate due diligence things such as keeping notes, writing letters, following up, etc.

I highly recommend everyone CANCEL YOUR SPRINT PCS ACCOUNT and move to another carrier. I have VoiceStream and a Nokia 8290 phone; it's great, especially with my Clie - I can get on the Internet via IrDA.

Working together

I.M. Anonymous @ 12/20/2001 2:05:07 AM #

"I hope GSM/GPRS prevails. The cell phone market in the US is too fractionated with CDMA/GSM/TDMA. The rest of the world uses GSM almost exclusively and you can travel almost anywhere with the same phone." - I.M. Anonymous

The reason above is why 802.11 and BT will work together. We do learn from the past to improve upon our future. This knowledge makes it challenging for the marketing folks to create a rivalry. We know in the end logic prevails - ET

RE: CDMA

I.M. Anonymous @ 12/20/2001 8:04:29 AM #

Thanks Ed. I saw that article and am glad things are moving in that direction. I personally don't care too much which one wins out just as long as the entire nation uses the same system. It would be nice if it was GSM though since that is the way the rest of the world is going.

CDMA vs GSM/GPRS vs CDMA2000

I.M. Anonymous @ 12/19/2001 1:02:52 PM #

Lucent and Sprint PCS are seperately in the process of creating/utilizing CDMA2000 technology. I wonder if they might ask the Treo to be CDMA2000 compliant instead.

RE: CDMA vs GSM/GPRS vs CDMA2000

Coyote67 @ 12/19/2001 3:30:41 PM #

Would it be possible for the Treo to be ugpraded by software from cdma to cdma2k?

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When you have a Clie shoved up your mouth, you can only talk in vowels.

Kyocera

delao13 @ 12/19/2001 4:30:50 PM #

Doesn't Qualcomm own Kyocera who makes the Smartphone, Treo's competitor? Does this signal the end of the Smartphone?

RE: Kyocera

bcombee @ 12/19/2001 4:50:06 PM #

No, Qualcomm had a cellphone business; it was sold to Kyocera in 2000. That's why the original pdQ was a Qualcomm phone, but the followup, the QCP-6035, is a Kyocera.

Qualcomm currently doesn't produce consumer hardware, but they do make the chipset used in almost all of the CDMA phones. I think only Motorola produced CDMA phones without using Qualcomm's chips.

How about me?

TDS @ 12/20/2001 12:30:56 AM #

Would anyone like to invest $10 million in my company? $5 Million? Anyone???

I had not thought of Qualcomm investing this cash in Handspring as a "Bribe" to emphasize a CDMA Treo. Very clever...I can't blame Qualcomm for pushing their standard CDMA vs GSM, but it would be nice if for once we Americans actually did something the same as the rest of the world.

RE: How about me?

Coyote67 @ 12/20/2001 6:07:56 AM #

So we should all do the same thing even though the way we do it is better?
Competition creates better stuff. 802.11a wouldn't exist unless bluetooth was around doing whatever the frell its doing to threaten 802.11x's supremecy. Nvidia wouldn't come out with geforces every x months unless they had ati to try to compete with thiem. Competition good, yes, yes it is.

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When you have a Clie shoved up your mouth, you can only talk in vowels.

RE: How about me?

Edward @ 12/20/2001 7:57:14 AM #

Ha Ha!

I'll take my European GSM coverage any day, oh and last time I visited North Africa it worked their too ...

Back in the UK I pay £15 p/m and get 50 minutes free calls off peak every day, over that its 1p/minute. That includes Data calls of course. So when travelling I can check my email, update AvantGo, browse the web every evening without worrying about cost.

The phone cost me £100, (Nokia7110) but that was over a year ago and you can get an IrDa modem phone for a lot less now.

I was up a welsh mountain the other week and still had good reception,

Let's all try to be be a bit more objective about numbers...

TROLL @ 12/21/2001 6:44:03 PM #

> In a possibly related development, Handspring's
> share price has shot up tremendously today. So far
> it is up $1.34, an increase of almost 22%.

So if my penny stock sells for 8 cents/share and it goes up four cents, it's gone up 50%. It's still a 12 cent stock, though. So if tomorrow investors hear that Ally McBeal is cancelled and the shares drop 8 cents, it's dropped 67%. Wow. Daily percentages don't mean much for stock this cheap (and unstable).

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HOW TO MAKE $50,000 in less than one month (if you're brave):

Go buy 50,000 shares in Handspring a few weeks before the Treo is released and you'll probably do well. Just make sure you sell it all ASAP after the introduction

- Trolly (the professional Wall Street analyst)

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The trolls always have the last laugh...