The Handspring range of personal digital assistants will be introduced to the South African market through local distributor Rectron.
Based on the PalmOS platform, the product is compatible with Palm applications, and benefits from extra content and applications through its proprietary expansion slot.
According to Rectron CEO Mark Lu, the Visor offers several advantages, including built-in USB support, enhanced applications and compatibility with Apple.
"The Visor is the next evolution of the handheld computer, drawing heavily on the Palm`s design successes - a close coupling between elegance, simplicity and cost-effective compact hardware," says Lu.
The similarities between the Palm and Handspring are no coincidence - the same team that developed and marketed the Palm Pilot founded the company. The Handspring differentiates itself through its proprietary expansion slot, allowing content and applications to expand on the machine`s functionality.
Some of the expansion slots demonstrated by the company include a GSM cellphone kit, which turns the Handspring into a cellular phone, as well as providing access to the Internet; two MP3 players, sporting 65MB of memory; a digital camera; a backup slot; and an 8MB memory expansion card. Other applications expected include a Bluetooth chip, as well as content such as encyclopedias, bibles and dictionaries.
Rectron will offer four products in the range. The 2MB Visor is the lowest performance machine, costing R1 995. The Visor Deluxe sports 8MB, and will cost R2 795. The Platinum also offers 8MB, but features a faster processor, and will hit the street at R3 495, while the high-end colour machine - the Prism - will compete with the Palm Pilot 5x at R5 495.
The GSM expansion port will be available once it receives approval from the cellular phone network providers. The 8MB expansion port and the backup slot are available immediately.
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