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Handspring Press Release Archive
HANDSPRING BRINGS POPULAR EXPANDABLE HANDHELD COMPUTERS TO AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND
Visor family of handheld computers and Springboard expansion modules available now through distribution agreement with Vodafone Australia
SYDNEY, Australia (March 13, 2001)—Handspring (NASDAQ: HAND), a leading innovator in the handheld computing industry, today announced an agreement with Vodafone Pty. Ltd. for distribution of the Visor line of handheld computers and Springboard expansion modules in Australia, New Zealand and Fiji. This arrangement will enable Handspring to expand the company's global reach to five continents and further encourage worldwide momentum in the Pacific in sales and distribution. Pricing in Australia will start at the manufacturers suggested retail price of AUD349.00 for the 2MB Visor and product is immediately available at retail. For more information visit www.handspring.com/au.
"Mobility today requires intuitive, handheld computing products that can easily converge with voice and data communications. Handspring has built its reputation on great products that do just that," said Stuart Palmer, General Manager, Mobile Data Sales for Vodafone Australia. "Handspring's Springboard expansion technology makes mobile data communications combined with a handheld computer a reality for all consumers and business professionals and is ideally suited to innovative markets like Australia, New Zealand and Fiji."
Visors distributed in Australia include: the recently released super-thin Visor Edge; Visor Prism, Handspring's colour-enabled product; Visor Platinum, the fastest Palm OS handheld computer on the market today; and Visor Deluxe, a competitively priced 8MB model and also the standard 2MB Visor. Handspring Springboard modules and accessories, including the Backup Module and the 8MB Flash Memory Module, will be made available at major retail stores across Australia, New Zealand and Fiji. Vodafone is also currently working with key members of the Handspring developer community to bring a compelling selection of third-party Springboard modules including MP3 players, keyboards, digital cameras, GPS, games and others to the market. Handspring is testing its VisorPhone world phone in the region and expects to make it available later this year.
"Vodafone Australia delivers the best of two worlds - a strong background in the distribution and support of handheld computers and extensive experience in the wireless domain," said Bill Holtzman, vice president of international for Handspring. "These areas are now beginning to merge and Vodafone is very well positioned for this transition on tactical and strategic levels."
Dataquest/Gartner Group indicates that worldwide shipments of handheld computers will total 33.7 million units by 2004 and that the positioning of handhelds as a productivity-enhancing tool will encourage corporate spending by IT departments for the use of the devices within corporations.
Enhanced Applications
Visor ships with the core Palm Computing platform applications for organising personal and business information: Address Book, Date Book, To Do List, Memo Pad and software for expense tracking and managing email. Visor also includes an Advanced Date Book application featuring expanded views of weekly, monthly and yearly schedules. The Advanced Date Book integrates the To Do application, so important To Do items appear in the calendar views. Advanced Date Book will automatically move any unchecked To Do items to the next day so they are not ignored or forgotten. Other Visor features include an advanced calculator with financial and scientific modes, a world clock and a built-in microphone for use with voice recording and communications modules expected later this year.
USB Support
The Visor products are the first handheld computing products to directly support universal serial bus (USB) technology. Synchronisation via USB technology is faster and easier than synchronisation with a standard serial port. With the included USB cradle, Visor can synchronise with desktop computers running the Windows 98, Windows 2000 and Macintosh™ operating systems. For customers using desktop systems not equipped with USB ports, Handspring sells separately a low-cost synchronisation cradle that will connect directly with a serial port.
About Visor and the Springboard Expansion Platform
All Visor products are based on Palm OS software. Built from the ground up for expansion, all Visor products feature the Springboard slot for plug-and-play integration with Springboard modules that are sold separately. With Springboard expansion modules - hardware components that slide easily in and out of the Springboard slot on the back of the Visor products - people can easily tailor their handhelds to suit their specific needs, with the flexibility to interchange modules as desired. All Visor products offer HotSync software for desktop synchronization and a conduit to Microsoft Outlook
About Handspring
Handspring is a leading innovator in the handheld computing industry. The company develops, manufactures and markets a family of expandable handheld computers for a broad range of markets and customers. Founded in 1998, Handspring's flagship technology is the Springboard platform that provides a simple and easy method for hardware and software expansion. Today Handspring sells its Visor line of handhelds at Handspring.com and through select Internet and retail partners in the U.S., Asia, Canada and Europe, along with a line of Springboard expansion modules and accessories. For more information go to Handspring.com.
About Vodafone
Vodafone Group Plc. is the world's largest mobile telecommunications company with more than 78 million proportionate customers. The company provides quality services to 1.96 million Australian customers, 753,000 New Zealand customers and 45,000 Fijian customers. It has interests in mobile telephone networks in 26 countries over five continents. For more information please visit http://www.vodafone.com.au
CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including those relating to: the growth of the IT market and the potential for worldwide shipments for handheld computers to reach 33.7 million by 2004 and the degree to which Handspring's channel strategy will reach a new demographic of consumers and professionals thereby contributing to this sales growth. Actual results may differ materially due to a number of factors including, among others; continued consumer acceptance, adoption by the IT community, widespread adoption, development and distribution of Springboard modules and demand for handheld computers; the ability of Handspring's distribution partners to effectively distribute Handspring products, the ability of suppliers to meet demand in light of industry wide component shortages; macro-economic developments; the appeal of Handspring's Visor products to consumers that have been typically slower to adopt new technology products; and the rapid pace of technological change and competitive developments in the handheld computer industry. The matters discussed in this press release also involve risks and uncertainties described in Handspring's most recent Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Handspring assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking information contained in this press release.
Handspring, the Handspring logo, Springboard and Visor are trademarks of Handspring, Inc. and may be registered in certain jurisdictions. All other brand and company names are trademarks of their respective owners.
Please contact Sheree Fromholtz at Communication Solutions (02) 9956 8833 for a digital image.
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