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Good news for Graffiti fans as Handspring fixes the Treo

Users of the Palm platform all love Graffiti - the simplified alphabet which Palms and Treos recognise. But the Handspring Treo came out with a keyboard, and no Graffiti - causing cries of rage. Handspring has provided a fix, courtesy CIC ...

Any Handspring Treo customer can now download - free - a software patch called RecoEcho Plus, from CIC. CIC is Communication Intelligence Corporation - and it has done a deal with Handspring, as a way of enabling Treo users to try (and perhaps buy) CIC's other pen-based software: Jot and WordComplete, which compete with Graffiti.

The company has also coincidentally done a deal with RIM to licence its keyboard patents for Treo.

And in future, Handspring will bundle RecoEcho Plus from CIC for use on its full line of Treo communicators and organizers.

"With RecoEcho Plus, Treo customers can alternatively choose between entering data through RecoEcho Plus or through the built-in (very small) QWERTY keyboard. Trial copies of CIC's Jot and WordComplete will also be available to new and existing Treo customers," says the official statement.

Jot allows data input "using a more natural printed letter method," said CIC, "and WordComplete provides a shorthand style means of entering words from a pop-up pick list, which reduces input time and improves accuracy."

Press statement from Handspring reads: "As popular and effective as the Treo keyboard is for most users, we still have customers who prefer Graffiti input," said David Diangson, senior manager, strategic partner development for Handspring. Translation: "We miscalculated, frankly."

He goes on to say: "CIC's RecoEcho Plus enables these customers to write Graffiti directly on their Treo display." He doesn't point out the (minor) detail that the Treo doesn't have the normal Graffiti input panel, so you have to write on the main display - which will, of course, reduce its useful life. "The combination of our Treo products and CIC's software provides busy professionals with an enhanced mobile communications experience." Of course it does.

"With this agreement we have elevated our relationship to a new level exposing the Handspring customer base ... " well, you get the feel of it. That's Jeff Sandler, vice president, worldwide corporate sales for CIC. Only in a press statement can you expect to find language like: "With the widening array of devices and capabilities provided, we are delighted to become a part of Handspring's go forward strategies." There's more of this on the Handspring web site, so enough here.

The patch is free to "registered users of Handspring Treo communicators and organizers including the Treo 300, Treo 270, Treo 180 and Treo 90 , and the bundle with new Handspring's products, is expected before year-end. Additional information about the program may also be found on CIC's website.