Handspring unveils its thinnest handheld
Handspring on Monday released its fifth major product since the company's inception 18 months ago. As previously reported, the latest addition is the Visor Edge, which is Handspring's extra-thin handheld designed to compete with Palm's V series. The V's are Palm's best-selling units.
Handspring's announcement is similar to adding a sports car to a line of sedans. The new unit is 0.44 inches thick, 3.1 inches wide and 4.7 inches tall.
Chief Product Officer Jeff Hawkins dubbed the Visor Edge the "thinnest in the industry." However, the Palm Vx comes in at 0.4 inches, according to Palm's Web site.
The 4.8-ounce Edge comes with a 33MHz Motorola DragonBall VZ processor and 8MB of memory. The metal case comes in silver, blue or red and includes a flip-up metal cover. The unit is available on Handspring's Web site for $399. It will head to retail stores in late March.
Visor Edge features a black-and-white display. That's in contrast to Palm's
upcoming m505, a Palm Vx
successor that will have a color screen.
Handspring's skinny Visor still expandable Jeff Hawkins, co-founder, Handspring |
"We're not replacing Springboard (with the new slot), but we will support those (developers) who want to make modules that connect directly to the Visor Edge," Hawkins said at a press conference at the company's headquarters. "We anticipate that Springboard will be around for a very long time."
Chris LeTocq, an analyst with Gartner, said Handspring's next step is address the corporate market with software, which is something Palm has already begun to do.