Brand: MacNews

A Wall Street Journal article takes a look at the price war currently being waged in the handheld market, as Palm, Handspring, Sony and others battle for increased revenues in a lagging industry and a weakened economy. Handheld makers have had to make significant price cuts and offer lucrative promotions to attract customers.

Ed Hamrick, who yesterday announced he had discontinued VueScan for Mac, has changed his position and will continue to develop the software, following a barrage of supportive email from Mac users. Thanks to MacMinute reader Darren English for pointing this out to us.

Sprint PCS will be releasing a Visor Springboard module in September that will enable users of Handspring’s Visor to use the handheld as a cellular phone over Sprint’s network. The product will sell for US$250 — the same price that Handspring originally priced the VisorPhone, a similar product that is compatible with service from Cingular Wireless, Powertel, and VoiceStream. Handspring recently had to cut the price of the VisorPhone to $49 to spur demand.

Apple has posted International versions of QuickTime 5.0.2, as noted by Macworld UK, after releasing the US version back in June. QuickTime 5.0.2 includes the Sorenson 3 video codec, for playing back content encoded in that format.

VersionTracker notes the release of Virtual PC X 4.0.6 today. Connectix’s Virtual PC X is the company’s “test-drive” emulation software to run Windows (and more) on your Mac. Version 4.0.6 offers a number of fixes and improvements.