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Handspring Press Release Archive
HANDSPRING TO SHOWCASE VISOR™ HANDHELD COMPUTERS AND SPRINGBOARD™ EXPANSION PRODUCTS AT INTERNET WORLD
Handheld industry innovators to make public debut with twenty Springboard™ module developers
MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIF. (Oct. 4, 1999 )— Handspring, Inc. will hold the first public exhibition of its new Visor™ family of expandable handheld computers this week. Twenty companies will join Handspring at the Fall Internet World '99 exhibition in New York, NY to showcase their Visor accessories and Springboard™ expansion modules — small add-on hardware products such as audio players and recorders, electronic books, pagers, communications modules and game modules that expand the functionality of the Visor via the product's Springboard expansion slot. The exhibit will take place in the main exhibit hall at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center from October 6 through 8 at Booth #2535.
The exhibit will give people a first look at the great range of possibilities presented by the company's Springboard expansion platform. Ed Colligan, vice president of marketing and sales for Handspring, said, "Support from the development community has been tremendous so far, and we are pleased at how quickly our developers are implementing their solutions. With the simplicity of the Springboard development tools, the familiarity of the world-leading Palm Computing platform and our royalty-free approach to developers, we expect to see Springboard module development grow exponentially in the coming months."
Among the Springboard expansion solutions will be the first-ever implementation of Bluetooth technology in a handheld computing product. Bluetooth is a short-range radio frequency (RF) standard that will allow a wide range of computing products to automatically connect and "talk" with each other for a variety of personal and business applications, such as e-mail management and Internet access. Widcomm, Inc. of San Diego, Calif. will be demonstrating its Blue-Connect™ two-way wireless communications module on the Visor handheld along with JP Systems of Dallas, Tex. which is providing integration software for wireless data applications for this and other Springboard modules.
Other companies demonstrating Springboard expansion modules and Visor accessories include Concept Kitchen, Datastick, Franklin Covey, Imagiworks, Innogear, Landware, MarcoSoft, MesaView, Navicom, Peanutpress.com, RioPort/Diamond, Revolv Design, Singapore Shinei Sangyo Pte. Ltd., Sycom Technologies, Symbol Technologies, Think Outside and the Windward Group. Handspring will demonstrate its own 8MB Flash module and Backup module as well as the EA Sports™ Tiger Woods PGA™ Tour Golf game module.
Solutions demonstrated at the exhibit will include travel guide modules, data acquisition systems, electronic books and references, sensor probes for science and education, digital audio and MP3 players, voice recorders, pagers, memory modules, wireless messaging and communication systems, global positioning systems, car mounting systems, bar code scanners, keyboards and games.
About the Springboard™ expansion platform
Springboard technology is a flexible, highly robust and first truly "plug and play" platform that provides reliable handheld expansion options. Unlike other expansion methods, Springboard technology is intended specifically to augment the capabilities of handheld computers and eliminates the hassles, tools, switches, disks, drivers and time consumption generally associated with hardware expansion. Handspring intends to license other manufacturers to build Springboard-compatible handheld products.
Handspring recently released a comprehensive development kit for the creation of Springboard modules. The kit is free at www.handspring.com. Handspring imposes no license or royalty fees for the kit, which contains all necessary documentation for developing Springboard modules. Contents include electrical specifications for the Springboard slot; a software application programming interface (API) for modules; mechanical and electrical design guidelines for the slot; mechanical drawings for the Visor products; an approved vendors list for sourcing components; Visor cradle connector API and specifications and associated marketing and compatibility guidelines.
Handspring is a leading innovator in the handheld computing industry. The company develops, manufactures and markets the Visor family of expandable handheld computers for a broad range of markets and customers. Founded in 1998 by the creators of the original PalmPilot organizer and Palm Computing platform, Handspring's flagship technology is the Springboard platform that provides a simple and easy method for hardware and software expansion. Handspring sells its Visor line of handhelds at handspring.com, along with a full line of Springboard expansion modules and accessories. For more information, visit http://www.handspring.com.
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