Effective July 30, 2001, some of Palm’s U.S. customer support practices for its handheld computers changed. Palm will offer 90 days technical telephone support from date of purchase at no charge. After the 90 day period, Palm technical telephone support is available at $25 per incident unless the call results in a service repair order.

Chris Taylor at Time.com has a bit of commentary on the recent class-action lawsuit filed against Palm alleging PC motherboards were damaged during the HotSync process. This news, says Taylor, has shaken his faith in the universe as a whole.

CNET News.com Intel has decided to discontinue the credit card size Rex 6000 organizer as well as the Rex.net service. According to the article, Intel now plans to focus the former Xircom unit on making networking accessories for desktop PCs, laptops, and other handhelds, including Palm’s products.

LandWare is shipping a Palm m500 series floating*point stylus. The patent pending build of the floating*point combines a carefully balanced stainless steel shaft with a pressure sensitive tip designed to not only protect your organizer’s screen but provide a paper-feel writing experience.

Coffee Pot Software introduced the immediate availability of Teacher

Delta Employees Credit Union announced that beginning in October members will be able to wirelessly check their account balances, transfer funds, and review transaction history using the Air2Web Mobile Internet Platform. DECU’s 165,000 members will be able to access their accounts via Palm handhelds.

CNET News.com reports the handheld industry is looking to new midrange devices and wireless access to get past its first major slump. According to the article, “Palm and Handspring are looking to upcoming products and eventually to devices with integrated wireless access to spur their recovery.”

Handspring, Inc. announced price reductions off of its latest MSRP on its Visor handhelds, discounting the 2MB Visor by $20 to $129, the 8MB Visor Deluxe by $30 to $169, the Visor Platinum by $50 to $199 and the Visor Edge by $100 to $299.

In my ongoing quest for useful ROI (Return on Investment) information for my article, which is due next week, we’ve got a poll up on PalmPower’s Enterprise Edition. In it, we ask “In your company, what’s giving you the most bang for the buck, when it comes to using your Palm handheld?” I’d really appreciate it if you’d go there and choose the best answer you can. The more data we get, the more complete my article will be. Besides, it’s fun!

We got some great answers last week (thanks to those who sent great info), but I want even more! Here’s a recap of my original request: I’m working on a story for September’s issue of PalmPower Magazine Enterprise Edition which looks at the ROI (Return on Investment) of Palm handhelds in business. I need real-world data, stories, and quotes to nicely flesh out the article. I’d appreciate it if you’d send any information you have on Palm handheld ROI in your organization to me at showme@palmpowerenterprise.com. Please note that unless you otherwise explicitly specify, I’m going to assume I can use the information you provide to me in the article itself. With your help, this will turn out to be a fascinating article! — DG