Handspring's Visor Will Enter Market as Palm Rival

If you've been looking for a less expensive, faster and more expandable version of the Palm Pilot [1] - you may be in luck. Handspring Inc. [2] will unveil its new Visor product line on September 14 in a move to make you think seriously about retiring your trusty Palm handheld.

Three new Visor models will be introduced at prices much lower than their 3Com [3] competitors. With the lowest-priced Palm IIIe carrying a price tag of $199, the Visor Solo priced at $149 and the Visor at $179 will save its new owners a few dollars in the initial purchase. The Visor Deluxe is also priced below its nearest Palm competitor at $249.

But don't think less expensive means fewer features. Palm creators and Handspring owners Donna Dubinsky and Jeff Hawkins have worked to give Visor a unique voice in the Palm handheld world. The Visor will boast optimized calendar applications and datebook functions along with a specialized hardware design and other features that will make the Visor faster and easier to use than current Palm models.

Memory capacity varies among the Visor models, so you'll want to shop and compare. Macintosh [4] users may be interested in knowing that a CD-ROM offering support for both Windows and Macintosh operating systems will accompany the Visor.