The future of handheld devices for Comdex Fall 2000

"The less features the better for the future of handheld devices", - concluded the expert group on the latest digital technology at the conference Comdex. Can hardly be expected that in future wireless handheld device will be able to simulate all the functions of a PC. That was the basic idea of ​​the debate "The latest digital technology," which took place Tuesday at the trade show Comdex. The discussion was attended by representatives from Nokia, Research in Motion, Palm and Sony. Leading the discussion, Walter Mossberg, editor of Technology in The Wall Street Journal, told the audience that he feels that the first years of the twenty-first century will be the golden time for wireless handheld devices, just as it was with personal computers in seventies. But here's what this raises an important question continues Mossberg. Will this device is a mobile phone, borrowed some of the features of a handheld computer, or vice versa, pocket computer, borrow some features of a mobile phone? According to Tim Eckersley, senior vice president of Nokia, none of the types of devices will dominate the market. According to his predictions of all types will be three: the voice-oriented, focused on data storage and, finally, the hybrids with the Pocket PC interface. Some of these hybrids have been released for sale. The company Handspring, whose unit Visor won his quarter-market sales of handheld computers, has begun to run on the mobile phone market, a module called VisorPhone worth 229 dollars. Meanwhile, Palm is developing with Motorola phone with built-in Palm OS and have already purchased from the company Kyocera, Qualcomm PDQ phone distributor under OS Palm. Microsoft is also working on a smartphone, codenamed Stinger, which will be a Pocket PC Pocket PC, built-in mobile phone. In addition, representatives of Palm reported that the co-Nokia, the world's largest mobile phone manufacturer, is working on the application interface and application to the Palm platform, Symbian. According to Mike Lazaridis, president and a director of RIM, producer of the popular handheld BlackBerry, one of the most important tasks of the developers' new handheld devices - to solve, without which such a device can do. Right concept adheres to Palm: do less, but as best as possible. "We must take advantage of not harness the power of the Internet - says Lazaridis - but do not try to copy the PC screen or something that you see on the screen of your phone." Complained about the U.S. lagging in wireless communications, which is explained by the lack of uniform standards, the panelists agreed that in this direction has been some progress. According to Eckersley, two months ago, Nokia launched the service in the United States SMS, allows you to send and receive text messages to mobile phones. During those 60 days were sent to "tens of millions of" SMS, which suggests the possibility of future prosperity data services, adds Eckersley. In the development of mobile devices, ergonomic considerations may become a more important role than technology, says Patrick McVeigh, CEO of OmniSky. In other words, the first question will be posed as: Is the device easy to use? Sources, Materials: