Price Cuts for m100 and m105

Posted By: Ed Friday, October 5, 2001 5:50:15 PM

With absolutely no fanfare, Palm has dropped the prices for its two low-end models. The m100, which was $130, is now just $100. The m105 has dropped $50 to $150. These prices are now in effect.

Rumors that these cuts were coming have been circulating for several weeks. Still, it is a bit surprising that Palm has done nothing to publicize them, not even issuing a press release.

The m100 and m105, though low-end models, make up a large percentage of Palm's unit sales. They are quite similar to each other in features except that the m100 has 2 MB of memory and the m105 has 8 MB.

This is yet another salvo in the price war between Palm and Handspring. Both have been aggressively cutting prices for their handhelds in recent months. Earlier this week, HandEra dropped the price for its main model, too.

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Palm.com

I.M. Anonymous @ 10/6/2001 11:03:54 PM #

At this link: https://store.palm.com/catalog/promotions/promoindex.asp

one could purchase an m100 with 3 faceplates for $99USD or an m105 with a PalmPix camera for $159.

Of course, this offer supposedly ended October 1.

RE: Palm.com

I.M. Anonymous @ 10/7/2001 8:46:30 AM #

the promotions have been extended until November 1, 2001. Not too bad of a promotion for your kids palm or something.

This is cool!

I.M. Anonymous @ 10/7/2001 1:11:03 AM #

I actually think this is a way cool news! Although it has quitely happened quite sometimes in Singapore stores (about 2 weeks).

Think about this: at this climax, who will want to buy $600 PDA? Yes, the new HP Jornada is way cool, but at $99 you are able to do many things a PDA can do at 1/6 of the prices! Or you can get 2 Prisms! I think Microsoft is doing the wrong move by moving towards exclusively highend, and Palm will win this war.

A HP Jornada 545 user (thinking of switching to m505...)

This is cooler

I.M. Anonymous @ 10/7/2001 3:10:50 AM #

Royal DaVinci starts selling a Palm-like PDA with all basic palm function for only US$30.
Thats what I call a PDA ready for mass marketing. Palm & PPC will loose to this, given limited, but extremely priced gear.

RE: This is cool!

I.M. Anonymous @ 10/7/2001 7:50:34 AM #

Wow, this is great price! Can it uses AvantGo too? And does it have Macinotsh support (I used an iMac)? If it can, I will seriously consider it.

RE: This is cool!

I.M. Anonymous @ 10/7/2001 8:48:14 AM #

You need a $5 serial adaptor or usb kit for the M100 to work with your imac, depending on which port you have.

RE: This is cool!

I.M. Anonymous @ 10/7/2001 11:34:20 AM #

"Can it uses AvantGo too?"

The DaVinci can only run its built-in progies, not any others. No AvantGo. Still, a good PDA if all you want is a address book.

$99 Palm is a great gift idea!

I.M. Anonymous @ 10/7/2001 12:33:47 PM #

I just hope that Palm does not discontinue the Palm m100. I will be buying some for Christmas and Birthday gifts!

RE: This is cool!

I.M. Anonymous @ 10/7/2001 12:56:38 PM #

how can you fit avantgo in 2 mb memory? I mean after loading the channel while maintaining several apps inside.

RE: This is cool!

I.M. Anonymous @ 10/7/2001 1:13:35 PM #

I have to agree that dropping the price under the $100 benchmark will increase the PalmOS usage. Palm needs to really hammer this message home through their marketing efforts. Palm's smartest move would be to get rid of their marketing department and advertising agency and really promote this lower price in comparison to any PocketPC.

Too many potential customers are convinced that the Palm can't do as much as the Microsoft product. For example, the misunderstanding that you need a Pocket PC to use Word, Excel, Powerpoint and PDF documents.

I have gone to a number of stores that sell PDAs and nowhere is it mentioned in big bold print that the m500, m505 and m125 already come with Dataviz and Phtotsuite.

Just my 3 cents worth.

They should start selling $99 Palm m100's at KMART, WAL-MART

I.M. Anonymous @ 10/7/2001 1:35:15 PM #

and everywhere else they can! Market Share! Market Share!!!! They should make it more of a non-specialty electronics item and stop selling it just in electronics/office stores. I would target KMarts and Wal-Marts!!!!!

They should cut a deal with AOL for m100's

I.M. Anonymous @ 10/7/2001 1:47:13 PM #

"Free m100 with 2 year AOL contract" or something like that.

RE: This is cool!

GrouchoMarx @ 10/7/2001 2:15:47 PM #

They already do with some companies. My employer bought a Dell PC this summer for the office, and it came with a free m100. She gave it to her husband in the hopes that he would take longer to break this one. :-)

--GrouchoMarx

The Davinci

TDS @ 10/7/2001 10:23:46 PM #

The Davinci was my first PDA in December '99. I got the last of the "Good" Davinci's before a lawsuit by Palm forced them to change their OS. The original Davinci had a great OS that you could load lots of custom Apps into, just like the palm. It also had "Davinci Script", which was every bit as useful Graffiti. After I first got my Prism, I found myself still trying to write in Davinci Script sometimes.

After the lawsuit, they went to a "Sharp" CPU instead of the "Dragonball", and it seems as though you could not add write new Apps for the unit. It became a PIM only.

There were a few good points about the Davinci:
Really Cheap - I got mine on sale in December of '99 for $69.00.
Fantastic Backlight - It was like using one of those "Indiglo" watchs - Very bright & useful
Cool Keyboard - They had a neat folding keyboard for $29.00. It is the same one that ships free with the new Davinci's - Very useful.

It does not hold a candle to my Prism, but it was a great starter PDA.

Doug

RE: The DaVinci

I.M. Anonymous @ 10/8/2001 11:52:24 AM #

I had much the same experience as Doug. I purchased a DaVinci in mid-1999 for about $65. It only had something like 512K of RAM, but it was an awfully nice PDA. Stable OS, good display--and much cheaper than the Palms available at the time, which is obviously why Palm sued. People accuse Micro$oft of "bullying" the competition, but look no further than Palm to see another example. After Royal was forced to alter the OS, they introduced a 2MB model, and they now offer many different varieties of the DaVinci. But their OS is now lame, and they're limited to mainly just PIM functions. It's a shame, because Royal, as a producer of office products, is pretty solid.

Sayonara m100?

PalmPowered @ 10/7/2001 5:07:49 PM #

I think it is great Palm has dropped the price on it's entry level models, making them even more affordable to the consumer. Still, history shows that when these models drop down this low, it usually means that something is on it's way out the door. I honestly think the time for two megabyte models has passed-even the departed III monochrome series left out with eight mb of ram on board. The only people who need a two mb model are those who want just an organizer and those will get fewer and fewer as those m100 owners use their Palm devices and become cognizant of just what all they can do if they only had more memory. I went to a work related class a few weeks ago and their were at least five other students in there with either Palms or Handsprings that were using them religiously but had little idea just what all they were capable of. Most of them had never used their beam capability before. After having a lunch time class of my own, there are now five more users who have just discovered the abilities of a Palm and who went back to their jobs ready to search for new apps to add to their units. Two of them left lamenting the fact that now they were going to have to get 8 mb models just to run some of the programs I beamed to their handhelds and keep up with what they were already doing. It's just a matter of getting the word out.

Power Up!

RE: Sayonara m100?

Altema @ 10/7/2001 9:10:11 PM #

I also run into a lot of Palm users who have no idea what they can do. Fortunately, the issue is easily resolved by a quick session, such as your lunchtime training. Keep up the good work. My wife is a new user who started off with my old IIIe, but went from the IIIe to an M105, then the M500, then the M505 in three months! When she comes across someone that thinks PIM is the limit for their device, she shows them a full color music video. THAT usually gets the questions flowing...

RE: Sayonara m100?

twizza @ 10/7/2001 11:24:14 PM #

thats funny. i have the same evangelitical palm sessions at my school and it always ends up the same way. i give them a cd full of goddies that i have downloaded and they end up actually using thir palm for all that it is worth.

the realy funny part comes when u show teh handspring users that they can take the chip out of their voicestream phone and get a visor phone module and have the power of the internet in their hand. hehhee. i gotta love this extra marketing.

Palm m100 for $89.00 or M105 for $139.00

I.M. Anonymous @ 10/8/2001 11:18:37 AM #

You can't beat this price with a stick. The M100 is only $89.00 delivered to your door with Standard Shipping (3-7 business days). No taxes (in most states) and no shipping charges. Even if you paid for second day air it is still only $99.23.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00004VWM3/godschoonthenet

You can also get the M105 for $139.00 (no shipping or taxes).

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000059MSI/godschoonthenet