Now, don't get me wrong. I'm a big fan of both Handspring and Palm. It's just that I think Palm may be onto something pretty special with the SD Card format that I don't think has been given enough attention.

First, let's talk price and storage capacity. The biggest Springboard module (in terms of memory capacity) I could find was the Hagiwara 16MB Flash Module, which lists for $114 on Handspring's site. By contrast, when you buy a Palm handheld from Palm, you get a free 16MB SD card with your purchase. In addition, you can buy additional 16MB SD cards for $39.95. There's a contrast. 16MB Springboard modules are $114, 16MB SD cards are $39.95.

But what if you want more? Palm doesn't appear to sell larger SD cards (they really should). But since the format is a standard, you can buy a 128MB SD card from PC Connection (the Sandisk brand) for $138.95. For a mere $24.98 more than the 16MB Springboard module, you can get a 128MB SD card. That's big.

Actually, that's small. Way small. You see, SD cards are also much smaller than Springboard modules. Springboard modules, at about the size of a pack of matches, are considerably larger than their SD card counterparts, which are about the size of a postage stamp. You could easily carry six to ten SD modules in the space you carry one Springboard module. In other words, if you have a standard Palm handheld case, you could drop a few SD cards in the case, and it wouldn't bulk up. You can't do that with Springboard modules.

So, you might be somewhat excited by the idea of saving money or some space in your case. Now let me tell you what got me really jazzed. I decided to see just how much I could carry on an SD card. To give you an idea (and to make a somewhat timely Biblical reference), the entire Old Testament, converted to PDF or DOC format, takes about 300K. Since that's a book nearly all of us can at least picture, it's a good reference point.

"On a 128MB card, the size of a postage stamp, you could carry around the contents of (hang on, this is wild) a total of 256 books!"

So, let's be conservative and say a serious business book, a reference book, a computer manual, or something of the like would take about 500k. That means, on a 16MB card, you could carry 32 books. On a 128MB card, the size of a postage stamp, you could carry around the contents of (hang on, this is wild) a total of 256 books!

So, let's think about this for a moment. You've got people going into the field, whether they're sales people, service people, technical experts, consultants, attorneys, or doctors. You could equip your staff with a bunch of Palm m125 devices or m505 devices and give each of them an SD card or two. And in the space of a postage stamp, your staff could carry with them every single reference for your company they might possibly need or even imaging they might need!

I told you this stuff would blow your mind.

"The key is to realize that Palm computers can now become incredibly deep, mobile, reference libraries for your company's field information."