Handspring Drops Prices on Visor Platinum, Edge, Deluxe, and Solo

Posted By: Ed Saturday, August 18, 2001 12:07:50 PM

Handspring has dropped the prices on just about their entire line of handhelds, from the Platinum all the way down to the Solo. Only the Prism got left out.

The Visor Edge made the biggest jump, dropping $100 to just $300. The Platinum has dropped from $250 to $200. The Deluxe has gone from $200 to $170, while the Solo had dropped just $20, now going for $130. The prices are already in effect.

There are various reasons for these cuts. For one, Handspring and Palm are in the middle of a price war. Sales have slowed along with the slowing U.S. economy and both companies have been dropping prices in the attempt to lure customers away from their competitors.

The Visor Edge, which was originally released in March, has been a sales disappointment for the company. It was originally offered and $400 but this is its second price cut.

This is terribly ironic as Palm's Chief Competitive Officer has said that the main reason Palm announced the m500 series so far in advance of its availability was they were afraid of competition from the Edge. This pre-announcement cut severely into Palm's sales of its current models, hurt their bottom line, and helped precipitate the price war.

According to rumor, Handspring is going to announce replacements for the Platinum and Deluxe models on Monday, which helps explain why their prices are dropping. If rumors are correct, the Platinum will be replaced with a model that has 16 MB of memory and a 45 MHz processor.

Related Information:

PIC: Rumor: Handspring to Announce Two New Models
PIC: Handspring Cuts Prices
PIC: Palm Cuts Prices in the Face of Excess Inventory
PIC: Handspring Forum

Permalink |

Article Comments

(18 comments)

The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. PalmInfocenter is not responsible for them in any way.
Please Login or register here to add your comments.

Comments Closed
This article is no longer accepting new comments.

Great!

Dac @ 8/18/2001 12:34:11 PM #

This is really great. When can we expect Palm to follow and lower the prices of their handhelds too?

Signature? where is it??

Visor in Japan

I.M. Anonymous @ 8/18/2001 1:11:01 PM #

Well...here in Japan, Visor is very cheap, almost half the retail price in US.
- Visor Prism = 24,800 yen (about US$200)
- Visor Platinum = 14,800 yen (about US$120 )
- Visor Deluxe = 9,800 yen (about US$ 80)

Check out this site http://pda.akibakan.com/

RE: Visor in Japan

I.M. Anonymous @ 8/18/2001 9:45:08 PM #

Do you know if this site ships to U.S. If so, how can I order? Site does not seem to show in English a phone No. or way to order online. Any info. on reliability of Co?

RE: Visor in Japan

I.M. Anonymous @ 8/19/2001 1:59:45 AM #

Japan sites rarely ship outside of Japan, due to language differences and the fact that most electronics products say "no export outside Japan" (yes I know, doesn't prevent importers...)

But the shipping and customs will probably knock the price up to standard anyway.

About time!

I.M. Anonymous @ 8/18/2001 2:12:46 PM #

The Visor Platinum, especially, has been terribly overpriced for a long time.

RE: About time!

I.M. Anonymous @ 8/18/2001 2:26:39 PM #

yeah, handspring just plain sucks overall.

RE: About time!

GrouchoMarx @ 8/18/2001 3:27:41 PM #

Uh, then why are they the #2 PDA manufacturer in the country, after Palm? The Visors are good stuff. Go troll on Slashdot.

--GrouchoMarx

RE: About time!

Smaug @ 8/18/2001 4:32:10 PM #

I dont think so myself, I mean its 50$ more then a deluxe for a later version of the OS and a twice as fast processor.

RE: About time!

I.M. Anonymous @ 8/19/2001 2:01:09 AM #

>Uh, then why are they the #2 PDA manufacturer in the
>country, after Palm? The Visors are good stuff. Go
>troll on Slashdot.

Because they aren't. Compaq is No.2 now.

Visors are solid, but they don't offer too much new stuff... that's why they're being overshadowed. (Springboards are nice, but they also are expensive!)

Sorry Handspring, You're Too Late... Again!

I.M. Anonymous @ 8/18/2001 10:52:59 PM #

I already bought a Palm VX a couple of months ago, when they just hit $299.00
Handspring, I may decide to upgrade to a 16MB when I see it, but I will wait when that drops down in price, Too!!!
Stop missing the boat, Handspring!!!

SotA stinks!

I.M. Anonymous @ 8/18/2001 10:55:09 PM #

I know it's the way of technology in general and computer-related items in particular, but wow... I paid $260 plus shipping for my Visor Deluxe back in Feb 2000. Ah well. I'll just tell myself how I've had a year and a half of fine use from it and the price cuts don' t matter... grumble grumble

I look forward to the new Handspring products on Monday, like everyone else, all the same.

RE: SotA stinks!

I.M. Anonymous @ 8/19/2001 1:27:19 AM #

If you trashed your deluxe today, it would of cost you less than $0.50 per day to have the privilege of using one of the best PDAs around for the past 18 months. The bottom line is that there is this thing out there called progress and believe it or not, because of progress, whatever technology you buy into won't be worth squat in a few years. Get use to it. This is an exciting time and I for one am grateful to companies like Handspring that are introducing new products at such a rapid pace. I hope we see new models every year, each with more and more to offer. Handspring's CEO predicted in 1999 that in 10 years PDAs will be like having "a T1 line in our pocket". I can hardly wait, but we can't get there without these new models.

still too expensive

I.M. Anonymous @ 8/19/2001 5:49:54 AM #

I think the Handspring models are still overpriced. At $300, the Edge is $100 more than the b/w Clie, and it lacks removable storage as well as a flash rom.

Removable storage

dwarchbold @ 8/20/2001 10:03:47 AM #

I agree, somewhat....

The Handspring units (including the Edge) do support removable storage via the Springboard modules.

Personally, I think the Springboard modules are the best solution for add-on devices for any PDA. Unfortunately, they generally cost quite a bit and the Edge has horrible support for them.

But I do agree that the Edge is waaaaaay to overpriced when compared to the Clie S320.

RE: still too expensive... the VisorPhone too!!!!!!!!

I.M. Anonymous @ 8/20/2001 11:53:40 AM #

I'd like to purchase a VisorPhone (w/o service) for 50$ here in Europe; 299$ is toooo expensive!!!

Fabio

PS: I've 2 cellphones... 100$ each; why do I have to spend 299$ ?

handspring designs

uvdude @ 8/19/2001 7:36:36 AM #

there is one reason only why i dont like handsprings

and thats their design

they look too "brick-like"

you know what i mean? too rectangular

they should try a little more curves and stuff

Too Late? You're kidding...

james_sorenson @ 8/20/2001 12:28:13 PM #

Handspring were the first to introduce expandibility. They still have the most expandibility options. They were the first Palm with an MP3 player. They first introduced native USB connectivity. They first introduced thousands of colors. They were the first with the faster processor. They will become the first with built-in 16MB of RAM.

Yet people complain that they cost a little more? That's like complaining that the Lexus costs more than the Honda Civic! You get what you pay for. If you are happy to pay less for yesterday's technology, be my guest. In the meantime, I'm going to transfer a new book from the CF Card springboard adapter, then surf the web a little using the VisorPhone in thousands of colors. Try all that with a Palm or Clie.

Remember, the Visor Solo is dirt cheap now, yet is still USB-native and can still take a memory or module upgrade.

-------
James Sorenson