The company, which burst on to the handheld scene last September, is preparing to make its Palm OS-based Visor handhelds available at a select group of retail stores by the end of the quarter.
The move, which sources say could happen as soon as the end of this month, will give the company added reach.
At the same time, it will offer consumers the ability to, for the first time, compare the two Palm OS-based handhelds side-by-side. Visor, which began shipping last October, is currently available only from Handspring, which takes phone or Web orders for the device.
Handspring officials said Wednesday that the company has caught up on its backlog of orders and that it is beefing up technical and customer support in preparation for the move to retail.
Once there, the Visor will go up against the devices whose operating system it shares, Palm Computing's Palm III and Palm V handhelds.
"It's about time" Visor made the move to retail, said Matt Sargent, principal of market research firm Sargent Consulting. Sargent sees the move as important for Handspring, because "Any sort of portable device tends to do better in an environment where (consumers) can actually evaluate the technology (in person)."
"Retail is the true test," he said. There consumers will likely weigh Visor against the Palm III and Sargent says Palm Computing should watch out.
"I think (Handspring) is a huge threat," he said. "Palm more or less has a monopoly on the non-Windows CE handhelds (at retail)."
Visor, consumers will find, has a similar entry-level price to the Palm Iii. For the same US$149, Visor offers greater expansion capabilities for those who would like to use it for more than personal information organization. It's Springboard feature, which allows users to plug modules into the back of the device, makes possible the addition of numerous add-on devices, including one way pagers and global positioning system devices. The pair, along with a host of others, due out soon.
"US$30 or US$40 in this market, makes a lot of difference," Sargent said.
While it will reach retail, soon, Handspring won't stop there. It plans to expanding into Europe and Japan in the first half of this year. It will begin offering an English language Visor in the United Kingdom and a German language Visor in Germany.
A Japanese language Visor will also debut this year. Other Visors for other countries will begin appearing in the second half of the year.
Handspring also plans to bring on a reseller partner to begin selling Visor to corporations. It has not yet targeted the corporate space, where Palm Computing and another licensee, IBM, have seen successes. IBM licensed Palm OS in 1998 for a similar handheld, which it calls worked.
While the Visor will begin its stint in retail soon, Handspring is at work on the next generation of Visor. Details are sketchy, however, the company is experimenting with thinner and lighter designs and color screens.
When it comes to developing a thinner and lighter Visor, Handspring needs to shape designs around Springboard, making sure the Springboard slot is still easily accessible to users.
However, "There's a way to do that and that's what we're working on," said company spokesman Allen Bush.
When it comes to color, games, GPS and multimedia Springboard modules will likely be most popular for the Visor, Bush predicted.
"We'll be on the market at some point with a color product," he said.
Palm Computing, for its part, will likely announce its first device in February or March.
