When?

When will we see Palm and Handspring organizers in color? The DragonBall VZ will not be available in mass quantities until January 2000. The Handspring Visor will just then be making its way into retail channels and possibly into Europe. Handspring will eventually have a color organizer, but not until they "get it right."

Palm Computing has traditionally released a new product around March or April. According to Michael Mace, chief competitive officer for Palm, Palm will have a color device by the first half of 2000. Will April be the month we see a "Palm IIIc or Vc"?

What to do for now?

For those who want to know if they should buy an organizer now or wait until mid-2000, I make the following suggestion -- buy the organizer that fits your needs.

• If you don’t have a PDA and need an organizer now, buy one now.
• If you need to upgrade your current organizer or replace it, do it now. Your productivity should not have to wait. There will always be people that will buy your old Visor/Palm/etc. from you, and they make a wonderful present.

Yes! Remember when color monitors first came out, and there were people that believed that only graphics users needed them? How many offices still use monochrome? Not many. Do you want to trade in your color monitor for those old monochrome monitors? Neither do I. Color will not be for everybody. I am sure that Palm and Handspring will have both color and monochrome models. However, as color prices drop, expect the monochrome models to go as well.