Handspring is known for making colourful handhelds for consumers, but the company has been quietly gearing up for an attack on the corporate market. Handspring took its first steps earlier this year, partnering with distribution giant Ingram Micro in March to begin signing up resellers that focus on businesses. On Wednesday, Handspring went a step further and announced a deal with Aether Systems, whose technology allows mobile devices to access corporate data. "Business customers want secure data. That's not Handspring's bag. We do hardware," said Lee Epting, one of the early few who left Palm to establish Handspring. She now heads Handspring's business sales effort. Mountain View, California-based Handspring, which started selling its first Visor device two years ago, quickly garnered the No. 2 spot in the US retail market for handhelds by combining the Palm operating system with brightly coloured cases and its Springboard expansion slot. Since then, the company has added new models with features such as faster chips, more memory and colour screens, but its efforts have remained largely aimed at individual buyers. Cracking the coporate market could be important for Handspring which has suffered from excess inventory and a brutal price competition with Palm in the consumer market. The slide in sales has contributed to a dramatic decline in Handspring's stock in recent months, with the shares now trading at about $2, down from more than $45 in January. In going after business customers, Handspring faces competition on several fronts. Microsoft has made the corporate market the main focus of its Pocket PC efforts, and Palm has spent considerable time and energy marketing its products to business customers. Meanwhile, other hardware makers, such as Symbol, use both Palm and Pocket PC to offer rugged handhelds to mailroom clerks and shop-floor workers, for example. "Going through Aether is a recognition that [Handspring] needs a stronger partner," Gartner analyst Ken Dulaney said. "Handspring has an uphill battle because they never have established themselves in the enterprise, and the [broader] Palm economy is somewhat waning in the enterprise." Working with Owings Mills, Md.-based Aether could aid Handspring in scaling that hill. Aether's technology focuses on helping businesses use mobile devices to access important corporate data, as well as sales software and other key applications. Aether sells both mobile devices and server-based software. Modest steps Handspring's corporate efforts are still in their infancy. The company's team aimed specifically at corporate customers consists of six workers, including Epting, who was shifted two months ago from developer relations to become director of enterprise sales. "As we start to see some wins, I think we can justify growing that organisation," she said. Although Handspring doesn't detail its sales numbers to businesses, Epting said corporations already buy millions of dollars worth of Visors. Handspring has signed up roughly 900 resellers in North America through the Ingram deal, she said. The handheld maker has another 200 or so resellers in Canada through a similar arrangement with Merisel. However, Epting asserted, most handhelds used at corporations are still purchased by individuals. And even when companies buy Visors in bulk, they typically buy just the basic handhelds, without the custom software needed to turn the devices into a mainstay of corporate computing. Deals like the one with Aether are aimed at giving businesses a more compelling reason to buy Visors. Although Handspring is intent on creating handhelds that businesses want, the company's strategy focuses on partnering to offer and sell other items that corporations need, such as software for secure access to data -- instead of trying to do everything itself. "I don't plan to hire 40 salespeople," Epting said. "I plan to use my channels." Palm is also relying more on partnerships to approach the corporate market since abandoning its effort to buy Extended Systems in May. Taking businesses wireless Handspring's deal with Aether provides one way for companies to gain wireless access to some types of corporate data, but Epting said to expect other partnership announcements soon. Epting hopes to make a compelling case for businesses to go with Handspring so that, by the time the company announces wireless handhelds later this year, businesses will have the tools they need to start using them. Last month, the company received regulatory approval for two such wireless devices, both of which use the GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) network and are capable of making phone calls and receiving wireless data. Such devices build on the company's initial wireless effort, the VisorPhone add-on, which Epting admits failed to live up to expectations. "We can admit the VisorPhone sales have been slow," Epting said, adding that "the software work we did has been very valuable." However, Dulaney asserts that Handspring's biggest problem could be that the Palm OS loses out to Pocket PC as the operating system of choice among large companies. "I'm afraid Microsoft is on a roll here," he said. Although many companies initially standardised around Palm, Dulaney said, some are reevaluating that decision amid increased competition from Microsoft. Rather than support multiple standards, Dulaney said, many companies may opt to support just Microsoft. If Handspring is serious about the business market, Dulaney added, it may want to offer devices that use both Palm's OS and Pocket PC -- something that will become easier when Palm moves to the same ARM-based chips used in Pocket PC-based devices. "The biggest thing Handspring has to think about is whether they stick with the Palm platform," Dulaney said. See the Mobile Technology News Section for full coverage. Have your say instantly, and see what others have said. Click on the TalkBack button and go to the Telecoms forum. Let the editors know what you think in the Mailroom. And read other letters.