The
wait is over. Handspring
announced today that its line of Visor handhelds will be in retail
stores next week. There are three chains where the Visor and its
accessories will be available: Best Buy,
CompUSA,
and Staples. Even as you read
this, Visors are being delivered to stores, so you may be able to find
them as early as this week.
The Visor, the Visor Deluxe, the
cradles, and most of Handspring's
Springboard modules will be available for purchase at these retail stores
at the same price that Handspring
sells them for. Retailers will determine what Visor Deluxe colors
they carry, although they can special order a specific color if necessary.
The Visor Solo and Modem module will only be available from
Handspring.
Third-party Springboard modules will eventually be available in retail
stores as well.
This is a very important step for
Handspring
as the company works to expand its market share. Many people who
are still wary of purchasing products over the Internet or need to physically
touch and play with a product before buying it will now be able to do so.
Customers will also be able to try out the Springboard functionality of
the Visor using comprehensive point-of-purchase displays.
The move into retail also gives the
company more exposure, since there has been very little visibility of the
Visor outside of the Internet until now. Many people have seen the
Visor as more of a consumer-friendly product because of its low price.
Greg Woock, vice president of North American
sales for Handspring, said that
“fast-growing industries require new and innovative approaches to distribution
to provide the best experience for customers, especially in the consumer
market where we see the most potential to make an impact.” This will
be a real challenge for Handspring,
because now there are even more people that will potentially be calling
for technical support and customer service, areas that the company has
worked hard to improve because of the demand they have faced.
So to sum everything up, starting
next week you can buy the following from Best
Buy, CompUSA, or Staples:
So what are you waiting for? Hurry
to the nearest strip mall and beg them to look in the back :-)
