PDA Sales Continue to Drop? Define PDA!

[Jonathon Watkins]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,118359,pg,1,RSS,RSS,00.asp' target='_blank'>http://www.pcworld.com/news/article...,RSS,RSS,00.asp</a><br /><br /></div><i>"If a handheld device doesn't have voice capabilities, a growing number of users around the world aren't interested, according to IDC. For the third straight quarter, shipments of handheld devices such as personal digital assistants fell as some prominent vendors decided to pull back from the market, IDC says. Worldwide shipments totaled 2.1 million units in the third quarter, down 8.7 percent from last year's third quarter. IDC defines a handheld as a device that does not include telephony but may include Internet connectivity……PDAs are in decline as mobile phone vendors have substantially improved the personal information management capabilities of their phones. Most people don't want to carry two separate devices to manage their personal contacts and make phone calls, which has led to increased interest in devices such as PalmOne's Treo 650 and Hewlett-Packard's iPaq h6315.</i><br /><br />Hmm, the old One Device/ Two Device argument seems to be going all one way at the moment. (So to speak ;-)) The PC World article argues that Dell and Mitac International have built up market share on the back of low-cost, low-margin devices, which means that they won't succeed in the long term. Hmm, the Dell X50v does not seem to fit the billing and Mitac seem to be doing just nicely with their GPS embedded PPCs. GPS navigation is a huge growth area and it's hard to navigate with a teeny tiny smartphone screen! HP's non-phone iPaqs also bucked the overall trend in recent quarters by growing just under 12%. In the end it may be down to definitions and semantics. So is it a Pocket PC with built in phone, or a phone with built in Pocket PC? In this era of convergence, aren't both PDAs? <br /><br />We've been saying at PPCT for a while that wirelessly connected Pocket PCs are the future. Wifi, 3G and the smorgasbord of current 2G mobile technologies all add up to powerful set of connection options for voice and data. Add a Bluetooth headset and a 60Gb hard drive into the mix and you would have a huge MP3 player, a PDA and a Phone. Just leave out the camera and you're set. ;-) So, what's your take on the perennial 'PDAs are dying' debate?

[gibson042]

So, in essence: "PDAs are dead! Long live PDAs with voice!"

Doesn't the growing market share of convergence devices indicate a boon for PDAs, rather than their demise?

[Darius Wey]

Jonathon, as you said, I don't...WHAT THE! (This huge moth just flew on to my computer screen). 8O

Okay, it has been dealt with appropriately. :snipersmile: Anyway, enough digressing...

EDIT: Ha! That all just sounded a bit stupid but imagine an 8cm moth landing on your laptop screen. Rather amusing! :roll:

As you said, the way of the future are wireless-enabled Pocket PCs. I believe that too. But now you draw the discussion of what a PDA should be used for.

For PIM? Heck...Palm secured that concept ages ago with their colourless PDAs.

Then you add colour screens, faster processors, multimedia enhancements? Useful innovations or just for a bit of fun? Well, if PIM is all a PDA is used for. I doubt the innovations become useful.

But then you have wireless communication. Without this, you have a somewhat confined mobile world. Yet with this, the options begin to open. You gain access to remote connections, phone calls, data calls, emails, your bank account, Google on-the-go. These then make those colour screens, faster processors, and multimedia enhancements a little more enticing. But add a hard disk? It almost becomes a media player.

So is the PDA dying? The main thing that people should ask themselves is "what do they look for in a PDA"? If it's for PIM, that's fine. But would a host of wireless-enabled options open the door right open? Perhaps. Then what about a camera? Do people really want these? Are they a useful or pointless innovation?

PDA sales may be on the decline, but in my opinion, this changes every time they extract the data. People's attitudes to PDAs change with time. A few years ago, PIM was the priority feature that PDAs had to deliver. Now it is probably PIM and wireless communication. What next?

If companies fail to deliver the products that consumers want, PDA sales are likely to decline. Yet if companies out there are able to respond to consumer wants and we start to see this trend over a few years, PDA sales may very well be on the rise. It's a very subjective issue to discuss... I'm sure we each have our own opinions on this one. ;)

[KH]

I am very happy to use my IPAQ for work and entertainment, but personnally am not interested in a bundled camera or phone. I am a photographic pixel hog, and already hate it when I take a good shot that has too few pixels to be printed in a large format. And since I love pixels, the large VGA screen of the 4705 suits me fine. The PocketPC is also my preferred reading platform, so smaller is not better. Also I take my phone places I would never take my PocketPC - horseback riding in the mountains for example. I am happy with the convergence I have - books, maps, music, video, games, word processing and such - but wouldn't want to pay the size and weight penalty for functionality I don't use.

[Jonathon Watkins]

PDA sales may be on the decline, but in my opinion, this changes every time they extract the data. People's attitudes to PDAs change with time. A few years ago, PIM was the priority feature that PDAs had to deliver. Now it is probably PIM and wireless communication. What next?

Yup, those were the points I was interested in drawing out for discussion. I.e. what is a PDA, what do you demand of it and what will you want it to do next year.

It's a very subjective issue to discuss... I'm sure we each have our own opinions on this one. ;)

Whcih makes for an interesting discussion. :wink:

I find my wants changing, depending on the device. Sometimes an all-in-one seems appealing, then a smartphone and PDA combo seems the way to go. I'm leaning towards a MS smartphone (maybe the SVP C500) and a Dell X50v with a large CF and SD card. Best of all worlds for me.

[Darius Wey]

Whcih makes for an interesting discussion. :wink:

As interesting as my "pet" moth? :P

I find my wants changing, depending on the device. Sometimes an all-in-one seems appealing, then a smartphone and PDA combo seems the way to go. I'm leaning towards a MS smartphone (maybe the SVP C500) and a Dell X50v with a large CF and SD card. Best of all worlds for me.

Personally, I'm okay with having my phone as a separate entity from my Pocket PC. My Nokia will live on for another few years. 8) What I require as "definite" features in my next Pocket PC are: Wi-Fi, BT, perhaps CIR, although CIR is not a must (all this will give me the wireless communication I want...I'm not too fussed about expanding my options to CDMA, etc. - well, not for the moment anyway); USB would be great to have; and a VGA screen. The other thing I would hope for is for companies to listen to consumer's wants. How often have we asked for WM2003SE updates? And how often have we asked for WMP10 updates? Decreasing consumer expectations, coupled with PalmOne's declining sales are probably the main factors contributing to the decline in PDA sales.

Hopefully, next year's debut of WM2005 will show promise for PDAs in the future.

[Kati Compton]

If you read these articles (I read either that one or a similar one the other day), they're saying that PDAs are dying because Palm sales are down and because Sony's PDA sales are down (big surprise, as they exited the market...).

However, they also mention that HP's sales are fine, as are Dell's.

So what *I* think is happening is that lots of people who used a PDA *only* for PIM functions are discovering that yes, they can do that with their phones.

It's the rest of the people that are keeping their PDAs.

[Darius Wey]

So what *I* think is happening is that lots of people who used a PDA *only* for PIM functions are discovering that yes, they can do that with their phones.

It's the rest of the people that are keeping their PDAs.

That's a good point. However, a lot of phones out there seem to do a very poor job at helping people with PIM (IMO, anyway). For those that want true functionality for PIM, I'm sure we'll see a slow trend back toward PDAs, whether it be Palm or Pocket PC.

Personally, I would hate to use my Nokia for PIM. Small screen, limited contact information, very poor calendar features, etc. This is why I think smartphones are becoming increasingly popular, yet eventually, I believe there will be a slow move back toward PPC-PE for the raw power Pocket PCs are beginning to deliver.

[rocky_raher]

Jonathon, as you said, I don't...WHAT THE! (This huge moth just flew on to my computer screen). 8O

Okay, it has been dealt with appropriately. :snipersmile:

So, you were debugging your computer!

This is a good time to point out that the first computer bug was, in fact, a moth. It happened at the Naval Weapons Lab in Dahlgren, Virginia, during WWII. The computer was the Mark I, which used electrical relays, NOT electronics. One day a problem was traced to a large moth stuck in one of the relays. It was taped into the logbook as documentation of the problem.

Some people believe this story is apocryphal. However, I heard it direct from the source, Captain Grace Murry Hopper. She was the one who retrieved the moth, and she always mentioned it in her lectures.

OTOH, use of the term "bug" to mean a problem may be older than the moth. I've heard that Thomas Edison described lab glitches as bugs. The moth was the first computer bug, however.

[gibson042]

Personally, I would hate to use my Nokia for PIM. Small screen, limited contact information, very poor calendar features, etc. This is why I think smartphones are becoming increasingly popular, yet eventually, I believe there will be a slow move back toward PPC-PE for the raw power Pocket PCs are beginning to deliver.
And I for one welcome that shift.

Although I wouldn't go quite so far as to call your phone a PDA, I do think it's a little unfair to report on the declining sales of PDAs while excluding Treos and Phone Editions from the count. They may be in a new category of PDAs, but they are definitely PDAs.

[primaz]

The reason why people have some interest in Treo, Blackberry, etc. is not that they want one device, rather it is that the tech industry forgot a basic rule of technology, "you can not force people to change behaviors". Those devices have interest because the current PDA trend is palm size devices and most users want to use mobile devices like they use a regular computer, via a keyboard. Thumb keyboard just do not work and added a foldable to a PDA with a tiny screen does not work either. What really is needed is not voice computers at this time; what is needed is a return to handheld clamshell devices with built in keyboards and 1/2 vga sreens! That type of device has real need now and I am sure that creative people could enhance that form factor to levels never realized.

I want a slim, 1/2 vga, with built in touch type keyboard, cf card slots, bluetooth & irda, color runnng pocket pc os that will fit in a suit jacket pocket. Creative companies could combine that form factor with what HP experimented for a short time, which was a device where that clamshell screen could rotate 180 degrees then you would have a larger version of a pocket pc when you do not need a keyboard then fold it out and have a clamshell device where you can type easily.

You can not make technology that will change users behavior. Just because you can make a device ultra small is cool but what users want is to have it in a form factor they want then make it as small as it can be yet still function as we are used to using that technology. It is like that OQO company making the smallest XP computer, cool, but the form factor is just lame, they should have made it into a slim clamshell form factor. As a bulky small squareish device is not able to be put in a suit jacket so there is no benefit in it's size, you would need to put it in a purse or briefcase.

Palm size devices are great for data viewing and light edits and access to contacts but for more real document generation, etc. like a laptop that form factor regardless of brand or OS is just not functional.

[Felix Torres]

Could be as easy as:
The media has a problem with the idea that a PDA can be something other than a Palm.
So, if Palm is losing market share, then PDAs have to be dying.
Never mind what non-Palm devices are doing.

As long as you try to pigeon-hole the gadgets into either PDA (Palm) and phones (Symbian) you're going to have trouble because the reality is that what you have is a complete spectrum of devices ranging from pure (dumb) cellphones to TabletPCs and laptops that includes dozens if not hundreds of variations of portable computing and communications.

No matter where you try to draw boundaries, somebody will come up with a product that crosses it.

Time for the media to get over it and accept the reality; portable computing is not a one size fits all business and the real innovation and growth is coming from and will continue to come in the form of hybrid gadgets.

[Darius Wey]

Could be as easy as:
The media has a problem with the idea that a PDA can be something other than a Palm.
So, if Palm is losing market share, then PDAs have to be dying.
Never mind what non-Palm devices are doing.

That's the ironic thing. A lot of the media accommodates for consumer's "expectations". A lot of people don't even know what a Pocket PC is. They assume it to be a Palm. So if Palm sales are declining, it's mass murder to the PDA market! You don't know how many times people have come up to me and said..."Ooh, is that a Palm Pilot?" :bad-words:

[LarDude]

Although I love my Toshiba e805, lately I've been pondering whether my laptop (at 4 lbs, it's not an ultralight but it's pretty light) and a new smartphone might not do the trick for me. My reasoning goes as follows:

1. For tasks that do *NOT* require extended interaction with the screen (i.e. tasks that you can carry out while "walking", for example, such as : quick access to PIM functions, listening to mp3's, doing a quick "google", or a very quick browse thru email) it seems that a smartphone would be more than up to the task. The small screen size is a very minor distraction since you wouldn't be staring at the screen for more than, say, one minute. This should be even less of an issue if they use the VGA-screen technologies (i.e. my present cellphone screen takes up about as much real estate as one quarter of my e805, so QVGA could/should become "standard" for smartphones).

2. For tasks that require a more extended interaction with the screen (i.e. editing documents, extensive web-browsing, organizing digital pictures, ...etc...), you probably wouldn't/couldn't be "walking around" while doing this anyways, so an ultralight laptop might not be such an imposition. You'd get much more screen real estate (I'm finding that even with VGA, the e805 screen isn't really big enough for me when I carry out extended sessions -- > 15 min -- using the terminal services client to our Win2000 server at work) and much better data entry capabilities. The one thing that I would personally want, however, would be better "instant-on" capabilities.

Just my 2 cents.

[LarDude]

I want a slim, 1/2 vga, with built in touch type keyboard, cf card slots, bluetooth & irda, color runnng pocket pc os that will fit in a suit jacket pocket. Creative companies could combine that form factor with what HP experimented for a short time, which was a device where that clamshell screen could rotate 180 degrees then you would have a larger version of a pocket pc when you do not need a keyboard then fold it out and have a clamshell device where you can type easily.


Personally, I'd demand a 1024x640 or even 1280x640 screen. With the newer screens, I would expect that they should be able to shoehorn such a screen into the HPC form factor.

[jimski]

I think the Pocket PC marketers have done a poor job in introducing PPC's to "first time users", or at least not nearly as well as Palm. As existing PPC users experiment with Smartphones of one sort or another, the market shrinks as there are fewer new users to fill the void.

In addition, new offerings have been weak until just recently. Case in point; I had my iPAQ 5450 for nearly two years, and as an early adopter and gadget freak (you don't want to see my credit card statements) I could certainly afford a new PPC whenever I got the urge, but nothing was introduced in that period to excite me enough to spend the time to setup a new device. At least not until the 4700 came along. Now I have two of these (one is undergoing surgery at PPCTechs) and can finally say I am excited with the current offerings.

Most people I talk to are not affraid to spend a few hundred dollars on a PPC, but two things stand in their way;
-They fear that the device will be too complicated to use
-Aside from storing a few phone numbers, they don't understand the devices capabilities.

I don't have the "killer" marketing strategy for the PPC product line (if I did I would be sipping a tropical drink on MY island) but there are people out there smarter than me that could think something up. I just don't get the impression that they are even trying.

[famousdavis]

I agree with the notion that potential PPC users find PPCs today either 1) too expensive or 2) too complicated or 3) too unnecessary if they can adequately use the limited features of their cell phones and/or paper system.

My wife, a non-techie, would never think about using a PPC on her own, but she may start next year after she inherits my iPAQ 1910 (I'm getting the Dell X50v). Even still, she'll think the feature-rich program Pocket Informant to be waaaaay too much for the simple things she'll use it for.

I'm a techie but never entered the land of PDAs until the hp 1910 hit $300 and had a terrific-looking screen and excellent form. If PPCs could be sold for $150 and under that were just like the 1910, market share would improve -- but who'd make any money on a $149 PPC?

Moreover, existing PPC users are holding onto their 2215s and the like awaiting Windows Mobile 2005 (will it EVER come out?) to get a better Pocket Office and Pocket Internet, better ActiveSync, and maybe a File Explorer that actually looks like Windows File Explorer. Can we just have an alarm in WM that works as well as an $8 nightstand alarm clock? We've been waiting for VGA screens. We've been awaiting a faster processor that doesn't choke on a database query. We've been waiting for no-hassle wireless and Bluetooth connections. A version of Windows Media Player that is so intuitive, that someone picking up a PPC could effortlessly begin using WMP without any prior knowledge of DRM restrictions and other reasons why songs might play in WMP10 but not 9 or 8.

And HP's recent release of iPAQs has done a terrible job of helping PDA adoption by new users. Check out their model numbers! Could they scramble up any worse combination of numbers and letters that a consumer would have a harder time deciphering? And does their entry level PDA really cost $250 with a worse form factor than my 1910?

I just returned the Dell X30 I bought -- it was so uncomfortable to hold, I opted to continue using my 2-year-old 1910 because it rests so nicely in my palm. And why did the X30's screen not respond to gentle tapping like my 1910? And why was the audio playback only enjoyable when throttled to its maximum position?

In short -- PDA manufacturers and Microsoft have not done a good job of creating a small, reliable, handheld computing device that can be used by anyone other than those with solid PC computing skills. The form factors are wretched, the price points are unmotivating, the functions are underwhelming.

Rant over! ;-)

[Dermot81]

http://www.brighthand.com/article/Lies_and_Statistics

[Prevost]

EDIT: Ha! That all just sounded a bit stupid but imagine an 8cm moth landing on your laptop screen. Rather amusing! :roll:
8 cms? Come on! We got 20 cms moths here...

[dnacpil]

Once people realize that it's much more convenient to have a cellphone & PPC (PDA) seperate than an "all-in-one" device, PPC (PDA) sales will go back up. I tried using the hp 6315 for 2 weeks and I ended up going back to having 2 devices. The nightmare of taking notes and talking on the phone at the sametime is the worst! You'd have to hold up your PPCPE next to your ear to answer a call and then tell the person you're talking to to hold on so that you can put it down to jot down notes and then hold it back up to your ear again and put it down again. Wow, what a nightmare! People suggested that I should use bluetooth headset but then whatever happen to having just one device? I might as well carry my phone and my PPC separately, right?
I went from h5555 to h6315 to h4705 to h4155. Why did I downgrade from h4705 to h4155? SIZE BABY! Smaller & thinner is the way to go! I'm a very mobile person and I don't want any of my tools to slow me down. I use all of h4155's features to the fullest! I use BT to connect to the internet via my V600 when there are no hotspots. I use my V600's camera to take snapshots of the locations that I'm authorizing then I upload it to my h4155 for a quick photo editing then I attach it to my report (pdf xfa form) and email em and upload em to my company's ftp site! The 4705 is great (had it for a week) but I find the h4155 much more convenient to use. It has majority of the h4705's features and I could not justify the VGA nor the landscape of the 4705 but I certainly became more productive with the h4155. I felt so heavy using the 4705 and the 4155 is so small and thin that I feel like it's part of my hand! The h5555 and the h4705 are almost the same size and weight and I hated bringing either one of them coz they don't feel right in any of my pockets. They're just to big. I hope hp will make more updated PPCs with the same size and weight of the h4155. Not too small and not too thin. Just perfect

[disconnected]

I definitely think that marketing has been terrible, except maybe for enterprise users. It also seems as if OEMs don't know who they're designing for (again, with the exception of the enterprise). For example, the new "media" iPAQs have lots of multimedia apps, consumer IR, and a good speaker, but no VGA. The 4700 has that great screen, but none of the multimedia apps, no consumer IR, and a speaker that's difficult to hear when using that great screen with GPS. Actually, I'd think that screen is an unnecessary frill for most enterprise use.

One of the best uses for a PDA is for reading ebooks, but it's not advertised much that way, and publisher's insistence on klunky DRM schemes doesn't help. (Same for music and movies).

I'm not even sure that the phone is the best device for a PDA to converge with. The IPOD has been incredibly successful. I've never heard anyone complaining about carrying both an IPOD and a phone, and I don't see why a PDA can't be an IPOD plus. I would think you could design a PDA that looks as sleek as an IPOD, with just as user-friendly an interface, and a combination of storage types, and have all of the added Pocket PC functionality and connectivity as well (and bluetooth headphones). Apple may be thinking the same thing; they now have an IPOD with a color screen to use as a photo album as well (supposedly being referred to as an IPORN). Maybe it was all a plan -- get a whole generation used to the friendly little digital music player, and then morph it into a computer for everyone and leave Microsoft Pocket PCs as a niche product.

[Prevost]

Could you use the voice recorder of the h6315 (I'm just guessing it has one) while receiving a call? I'm just curious, also so for the Treo.

This, since something so convenient is to have a PDA with voice recorder, so you don't need to jot anything of what someone is telling you by the phone...you just repeat it into your PDA.

This is, BTW, something you cannot do with a cell phone by itself.

[Prevost]

In short -- PDA manufacturers and Microsoft have not done a good job of creating a small, reliable, handheld computing device that can be used by anyone other than those with solid PC computing skills. The form factors are wretched, the price points are unmotivating, the functions are underwhelming.

Rant over! ;-)
I don't feel uncomfortable with that. Currently, PIM functions are just kind of a hook for newbies that, otherwise, won't find any motivations for carrying what has become real computers (IMO) I know you have seen people like those many times at retailer stores, thinking that what we know generically as PDAs are just for keeping phone numbers, expensive toys to make someone different from the people around.

And, since computers is what PDAs are now, it is only natural that they need a kind of PC computing skills, although I won't say those must be "solid", for I don't consider myself anything beyond a simple computer user and don't feel lost when playing with a PDA, be it Palm or PocketPC.

It is funny that I almost NEVER use PIM functions of my own PDA...I rely for that on my cellphone since it is easier, for example, to create a new registry holding and handling it with one hand.

For what my on-the-move computing needs are (construction documents referencing, word processing, spreadsheets, MP3 playing, gaming) I use my PDA. And those needs come in at places I would never take a laptop no matter how featherweight it could be.

In the end, PDA = Personal Digital Assistant.

Now, what kind of Assistance do you need ?

I know "PDAs" (as they are nowadays) are made for specific needs, for people that actually need computing power with them no matter where they are...the prices are accordingly. Accept it; not all people need that. Now, if we want this notion to change just because we don't want our beloved PDAs to dissapear from the market, well, that's another story.

[Stik]

From the IDC report ...

' HP's non-phone iPaq devices bucked the overall trend in recent quarters with shipment growth of 11.7 percent in the third quarter, putting it in second place. '

' Dell ranked third on the worldwide list and Mitac was fourth. Both companies are relatively recent entrants into the market and are gaining share with low-cost handhelds, IDC said. '

Sounds like ( PPC ) growth to me, so, whats the fuss? :mrgreen:

[Steve_PDA_Geek]

Well a newbie here but with some thoughts who knows if there are new or old ?
Where is the PDA going, well I have been looking at the 4700, mainly for the screen and the processor. I want to watch videos, read book , browse the web and wrok on it properly.
I need a phone, but a phone is a microphone and speaker, an input device and an aerial... I like the idea of a blootooth headset with one of these GSM / GPRS SDIO or CF cards.
I want more storage, and dont like the price of these high volume SDIO or CF cards, I saw an interresting Hard drive that linked through the USB port like a memory stick, now could you have one of those that uses blootooth instead, sit it in your pocket and let them talk wirelessly ?
What about keyboards, again some interresting stuff around the corner, a small chip that projects a laser keyboard onto any surface and then detects what you type. Its out there ready for market.
The last two bits are power and better screens, well the better screens can only go one way, take some aerospace technology and use head mounted displays. At the moment clunky but heading in the right direction. Once they get that working you will have your 1280 x1024 21" screens projected infront of you. Soon I hope.
Now the killer is power, all PDAs suffer from this. to me the most interresting stuff out there is these cheap power supplies that take AA batteries and then connect to your PDA. With 2200mAh AA batteries available at low proices and charges that can recharge within 40 mins, ther is a power supply to look at.
Oh and by the way the problem with this, mmmh not onme defice but a case full of bits and wires and everything.
Maybe not the most elegant solution just yet but the technology is heading in the right direction.
My thoughts on where it is going, fully portable computers, forget just PDA, forget just phone, I want a fully fledged computer I can carry and use.

[Mark R Penn]

Chiming in a bit late here (scared of the moth), but here's my view.

It all boils down to the question asked originally, which was "what do you want a PDA to BE". Well for me (this is going to sound over simple), it needs to be a portable computer. It needs to be a computer in that it should be able to do most of the things that my laptop can, connected or not. It needs to be portable in that it's not too big, and is useable on the go (so no boot up time).

Those basic requirements enable it to DO what I want it to do - communicate graphically, i.e. in ways that need a screen such as e-mail, fax and web. It must organise me, so PIM is vital (and BTW I certainly don't agree with the poster who suggested that the colour screen wasn't much value until we moved beyond PIM functions - one of the best ways to differentiate and instantly recognise info in a PIM is through colour). It needs to carry and let me view and (less importantly) edit info in documents from Word, Excel, Adobe etc etc etc. It needs to entertain me during "downtime" with music playback and games.

And then I add to that things that ONLY a mobile device like this can do well, like sat nav, on site note taking, viewing and marking up pictures as they are taken, and providing a ready and instant point of reference when not in the office - I have LOTS of manuals, drawings, pictures and price lists that, in the office, are FAR easier to use in their original paper form than they are on my laptop, but I keep them in electronic form ONLY because then I can take them to site with me on my PPC.

Take away from that things that I wouldn't ever ask any computer to do, the main one being telephone calls. When I'm in the office, I don't expect my landline phone to be integrated with my desktop computer, as the phone window would simply be an annoyance, so why would I want that to happen while in the car/on site?

I do understand the "less to carry" argument, but to me, there are some things which, if crammed into one device, get in the way of each other. Making or worse still taking calls while trying to read a price list, or do something else on the screen, is the main one. It's just too complicated to juggle too many functions on one device, especially when those functions often need to be used simultaneously, like looking at your diary while speaking on the phone.

When the quality and battery life is there to make it worthwhile, I can see an integrated camera (bucking the trend here) being useful, but integrating a phone into my ear canal makes more sense to me than integrating it into my PPC!

[Squid]

Hello All,

I have been looking this over and have decided to throw out a few points. They are certainly valid for me. Just not sure of the other consumers out there...

First of all, I have a Sony Ericsson T616. As for it's PIM capabilities; it is a painful experience, IMHO. Entering a new appt is a thumb killer. The screen is to small for comfortable reading. I have reminders e-mailed to me, and they have to be broken into 5 text messages! I sound crazy when I get one reminder that has been broken into 5 messages, each eliciting a ringtone from my phone.

Next, my pocket pc. I have an old iPaq 5455. I bought it and a month later the 5500's were released! C*#p! I think that the biggest thing to alter how PPC's will be viewed in the future is storage space. I personally think that HD space is the key. iPods were mentioned earlier. How interesting that you can buy one with a 40 GB HD? Why not in my * new * 4700? :lol: I read about how they are now discussing convergence of devices after putting a color screen on the iPod. Funny. My iPaq has a pretty good color screen. And it can do so much more! Right now I have about 20-30 programs on my iPaq. Most of them have been stored in the file store or on a storage card, and they still have managed to eat up a ton on my main storage area. (By the way, if anyone knows a fix to this, I would appreciate hearing it. I think I need to put it in a different thread...)

I forgot to add... I think that a good vision for the future is the OXO device. If they booted as quickly as my PPC does, had as similar touch screen, and had a lower price point my PPC would be in trouble!

Finally, I don't want an all in one device. I don't want to hold a phone the size of my PPC up to my head... Maybe with a bluetooth earbud... (which would be something else to carry...) Point is, I think it just looks ridiculous. Not to mention getting my greasy face smeared all over my screen (which would cause me a ton of grief 8O ). I read a LOT of e-books on my PPC. A normal book can end up being 1000+ pages. That would convert into something like 5000+ phone pages! Talk about a sore thumb!!!

To wrap this up... Please, PLEASE leave my PPC alone. Don't ruin it because the herd wants to not have more than one device. I understand economics/sales/etc. I just don't want to loose my PPC for a PDA/phone/camera/GPS/coffee maker... :cry: Although, I bet that last one would be a seller! :devilboy:

Hope this hasn't been to long.

Regards,

Squid

[rocky_raher]

Well a newbie here but with some thoughts...

Welcome to the group, Steve_PDA_Geek! We're glad to hear from you!!