Hand-Held Computer Plus Spreadsheet Will Debut

Hewlett-Packard Co., maker of the world’s first hand-held calculator, and Lotus Development Corp., publisher of the computer program that broke the PC market wide open a decade ago, will unveil today a hand-held computer equipped with the Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet.

Measuring a mere 6 inches by 3 inches, weighing 11 ounces and priced at $699, the new HP 95LX is the most powerful of the new breed of hand-held electronic devices that are springing up in record numbers these days, analysts said. They added that it also offers a glimpse of some promising new data communications technology that should figure prominently in future portable devices.

Despite its size and price, analysts cautioned that the new device should not be dismissed as a mere yuppie toy for accountants, financial analysts and investors. Nor, they said, should the machine be lumped with earlier hand-held electronic devices such as the Wizard and Boss daily organizers.

“This is a real functional device,” said Richard Shaffer, editor of a personal computer newsletter in New York. “It has utility, and it’s not boring to use.”

H-P said the primary market for the new device is the more than 14 million computer users who work with Lotus 1-2-3 on their desktop machines.

Shaffer said he was most impressed with how easily the device can be linked to desktop computers so users can send work performed on the hand-held machine to their full-sized PCs. The hand-held system can be wired to a regular PC or can be connected to a modem for telephone data transmission.

But most interesting, Shaffer said, is how the new devices can communicate with each other in a single room via infrared light beams. This technology, which Shaffer said will be included in hand-held devices introduced in the future, would allow users to beam their spreadsheet calculations to other users with a flick of a few buttons.