Uh taht would be XYBR. You want a real portable PC?: "Handspring, Visor Computer Maker, Files $300 Mln IPO (Update1)
(Adds details from filing, analyst quote in paragraph 5)
Washington, March 31 (Bloomberg) -- Handspring Inc., the
handheld computer maker started by the people behind the popular
PalmPilot, filed to raise as much as $300 million through an
initial stock sale.
Handspring, which last September unveiled its Visor handheld
organizer to compete with Palm, filed with the Securities and
Exchange Commission to sell common shares. The number of shares
the Mountain View, California, company intends to sell and their
price will be disclosed later.
Handspring was founded in 1998 by Chief Product Officer
Jeffrey Hawkins, who invented Palm Inc.'s Palm computer, and Chief
Executive Donna Dubinsky, known as a marketing whiz who helped
make the PalmPilot into the most successful handheld computer,
with more than 6 million devices sold to date.
In challenging Palm, Handspring is taking on a company that
said it controlled 68 percent of the handheld computer market in
1998. Handspring's Visor has qualities that make it competitive,
an analyst said.
It's ``an appealing device,' said Jill House, an analyst
International Data Corp., a market researcher.
The Visor operates much like a Palm handheld device, though
it includes a slot that lets users insert cartridges aimed at
letting the Visor perform like a pager, music player, or other
device.
Demand
For several months after the Visor was unveiled in September,
Handspring buckled under demand that was greater than it had
anticipated. The company tripled its workforce and boosted
production to overcome the difficulties, which included shipping
delays and a sometimes-faulty Web site.
The result: $15.8 million in revenue by Jan. 1. Net losses
for the three months ending on that date totaled $11.4 million,
reflecting in part the cost of hiring people to develop new
products.
Handspring this week said it fixed the problems earlier this
year. Three big U.S. retailers have just begun to sell the Visor:
Best Buy Co., CompUSA Inc. and Staples Inc.
Handspring said it believes the market for handheld computers
is in its early stages, and that consumer demand will be stoked by
the emergence of more powerful devices that can do more things.
More than 35.5 million handheld devices will be shipped
worldwide in 2003, up from 6.8 million shipped in 1998, according
to forecasts from International Data Corp. cited in the SEC
filing.
Founders
Hawkins, 42, and Dubinsky, 44, spent years developing and
marketing the PalmPilot at the company which today is known as
Palm Inc. Palm previously has been a subsidiary of two larger
companies: U.S. Robotics Corp., which bought Palm in 1995, and
3Com Corp., which bought U.S. Robotics in 1997.
Palm went public earlier this month with its own IPO. Palm
initially sold shares at 38, and saw them soar to as much as 165
in their first day of trading. Palm shares fell 1 7/16 to 45 1/16
in early afternoon trading.
If Handspring shares duplicate the performance of Palm's
stock, Hawkins and Dubinsky would be the latest Silicon Valley
entrepreneurs to reap paper fortunes. Hawkins holds a 36.4 percent
Handspring stake before the IPO, while Dubinsky holds a 19.6
percent stake.
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