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Ten O'Clock Tech: Visorphone Calls The Web

When it first hit the shelves last year, Handspring's Visorphone looked like an expensive, esoteric toy for the handheld fanatic.

Why spend $300 to go to the trouble of turning a perfectly good handheld computer, Handspring's (nasdaq: HAND - news - people) Visor, into a mobile phone, when you can buy a mobile phone for less? Not only was the price high, but the mammoth attachment made the handheld 50% heavier, and awkward compared to sleek mobile phones.


Handspring's Visorphone: Talk and surf by hand.

For the costs and benefits, the Visorphone seemed sort of a backward step. But as others like Kyocera and Samsung continue to build phones with Palm (nasdaq: PALM - news - people)-based computers built in, the marriage of Palm device to mobile phone seems, for the moment, secure.

But now the Visorphone is selling for a lower price, and has suddenly become a lot more useful. The company announced this week the release of a CD of new software programs that let you browse the Web, check e-mail, send instant messages and do other things.

The browser is called Blazer and features content from Microsoft's (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people) MSN Web portal. That's an odd combination that strikes Palm fans as a sort of Faustian pact with the devil, given how Microsoft's PocketPC platform is the main rival to the PalmOS platform that the Handspring Visor runs on. Yet for the moment, Palm-based devices enjoy a huge market share advantage over PocketPCs. The CD also includes software to let you connect to Yahoo!'s (nasdaq: YHOO - news - people) instant messenger service.

Handspring also slashed the price of the Visorphone to $250 when purchased with mobile phone service, but it still costs $450 to buy the unit separately without service. It works on networks using the GSM (global system for mobile communications) technology, which is the dominant type of wireless network in Europe and elsewhere around the world. But it's less widespread in the U.S., where another wireless phone technology, CDMA (code division multiple access) dominates. GSM service providers in the U.S. include VoiceStream (nasdaq: VSTR - news - people) and Cingular Wireless.

The Visorphone works with all models of Handspring's Visors, including the Prism, which has a color screen, and the recently released Visor Edge. The CD containing the software will initially be sold through Web distributors like Handango and Palmgear for about $20, and will later be bundled with the Visorphone itself.

Those who watch the handheld market closely will have also noticed that the software release comes right on the heels of the last week's $100 price cut by Palm on its Palm VIIx wireless handheld. Now we know, at least in part, what that was about. Though Handspring and Palm officially consider each other partners when it comes to the Palm OS, the competition between them is shaping up nicely.

http://www.forbes.com/2001/05/16/0516tentech.html
The HanGo connection: http://www.mpride.com/eng/enewp.htm#