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Written
By : Wayne Brooker
July 2004
Introduction:::...
As
a long-term PDA (personal digital assistants) user my reliance
on these tiny lifestyle aids is completely beyond help,
and it's this reliance on them that got me wondering about
their recent decline.
The
first quarter of 2004 saw PDA shipments of just 2.2million
units, that's down nearly 12% from the same time last year
despite estimates that demand for handheld information management
devices has actually increased. So what's going on?
Well
by far the biggest reason for the demise of the PDA has
to be the increasing capabilities being built into modern
mobile phones which, while not yet in the same league as
even the most basic dedicated PDA devices in most cases,
do manage to combine the basic data handling requirements
with the ability to make telephone calls all in a single
device. I say in most cases because there are devices like
the impressive Handspring
Treo 600 available on the market, and as if to prove
a point these are now Palm's fastest growing devices.
It's
not all bad news for PDA vendors though. Figures suggest
that sales of entry models like HP's iPaq h19xx series have
actually increased slightly, a fact that clearly suggests
some people are still drawn to the idea of the PDA provided
the price is low enough.
The
buzzword here is convergence, and it's a buzzword that's
been with us for a few years now, though it's only recently
that technology has begun to deliver on its promises. Look
in any mobile phone shop and you'll find a mind-boggling
selection of phones that let you surf the 'Net, play and
record music and video, take pictures, tune in your favourite
radio station and much, much more, and in many cases for
less than you'd pay for a good quality PDA. Just ask any
digital camera retailer and they'll tell you it's not only
the PDA that's being hit by the mobile phone.
So
is the PDA really in decline, or is it simply in transition?
The current situation is that if a PDA has a phone built
in then it's a phone, not a PDA. Meanwhile a PDA with WiFi
built in, which could conceivably be used for VOIP (Voice
Over IP) communication remains a PDA. If we make allowances
for this misleading labeling perhaps the PDA market is healthier
than we're being made to believe. Such is the marketing
value of the mobile phone at the moment that if you bought
a fridge with a built in phone it would register as a phone
sale and be marketed as a phone with a built-in fridge!
One
of the great advantages of the stand-alone PDA is undoubtedly
its relatively large screen size. Build a 3.5" TFT
screen into a mobile phone and it immediately becomes too
bulky for most people's tastes. By the same rule, try working
on an Excel spreadsheet on even a good 128 or 160 pixel
mobile phone screen and you soon notice the limitations.
This
more than anything serves to put me off having a PDA on
my phone, though with flexible
display technology already with us maybe we're not far
from seeing large, roll out high definition displays integrated
into regular sized phones, screens that would make even
the best PDA screen look small?
I
like to think I'm a fairly modern guy capable of embracing
convergence provided it serves a purpose, and I must begrudgingly
concede that my mobile phone is actually a pretty sensible
place for my PDA to be located. But that doesn't mean I'll
accept a shoddy underpowered implementation that's neither
use nor ornament. I don't want to find I'm compromising
one function in favor of the other no matter how popular
the other may be. I want a PDA that features a great phone,
not a great phone that features a barely usable information
manager. My only concern is do I really want to risk leaving
my bank details on the bus after a late night out? If I
know I might be having a drink I can choose to leave my
PDA at home, my phone however tends to follow me everywhere.
If phone makers want me to buy into their idea of convergence
they better convince me they've got the security issues
pegged down first.
So
what for the future of the humble PDA? Well there's no doubt
that the market will always exist for stand-alone devices,
but with profit margins already tight on the popular budget
models will there be anyone left in business to manufacture
them? I hope so
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