[danmanmayer]

While I think these are really good points, I still see some other options. I see many of the ordinary people being quite happy with many of the features going into thier phone. They will like the features and some iwll begin to use them frequently others will never understand how to use the features in the first place. I don't see many PDa users switching to a smart phone, unless the input functionality is dealt with in another way. The input abliity on phones are far to limited for those of us using our PDA daily.

I see the the full PDA remaining strong if companies can every get thier act together and make blue tooth interaction with thier phone much easier, and much more available. I think most business and high end users will go this route, allowing them the flexabilty of the small p-hone and all the power and input options of a PDA.

I still think there is hope for the XDA / Treo crowd. I think these devices will change and shrink. I don't think they will become entirely turned into the standard phone, with no other input besides keypad. These devices help the everyday user of a pocket pc who basically carries a pocket pc with them daily anyways. They have no reason to have a seperate smaller phone, because they count on having thier PDA with them for scheduling, music, and other pim uses. I think these devices will stay around, and target the users that always needs both devices with them. How many people carry an Ipod with them almost every where they go?

As voice recognition improves to the point of common adoption, I think that is when you will finally see the PDA really absorbed into the phone size devices. This would allow most of the functionality to be built in with a much smaller screen and smaller device. Also I think benable screens will help with this adoption as well. The ability to have a small cell phone device that can roll out a 4 inch screen for video and other applications would change the entire design of all pdas. I don't see either of these really changing the market for at least 5 if not ten years, because of cost, performance, and slow adoption rates.

I will agree that there really are those 3 current categories in use, and that each suits a different type of user. The only user that was left out are the ones, that hate all the feautres added to cell phones, and don't understand why color screens are being added to destroy their battery life and can barely find a regular simple phone anymore. hehe they might have the hardest time.

good article.