Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs)

A PDA is a small computer with a screen that is substantially larger than that of a cell phone. PDAs are the most fascinating devices when it comes to hardware development over the next few years. We will see fierce competition in this area, which will give rise to lighter PDAs that have higher resolution, increased memory, longer battery life, and more processing power. Another challenge that PDA manufacturers will face is the integration of phone functionality into the PDA. This certainly is a daunting task, but cell phone and PDA manufacturers will probably combine their efforts to find a solution. There is no question that PDA suppliers will meet the need for data communication—what’s more uncertain is if they will create a satisfactory telephone functionality. As of the writing of this book, there are several efforts already underway, but no clear winner is apparent.

PDA manufacturers are one step ahead of smartphone manufacturers—they have advanced know-how for building devices that are similar to PCs. The greatest challenge will be to create a relatively small device with functionalities that are virtually identical to those of a PC. In essence, the graphical user interface will be combined with an operating system that enables databases and rich applications. This is quite similar to building applications for a PC.

There are currently two main PDA alternatives on the market: the Pocket PC and the Palm Pilot. The Ipaq from Compaq was a great success on the Pocket PC market, closely followed by HP’s Jornada. After the merger between HP and Compaq, the new HP (www.hp.com) will be a strong player in this market. The question now is which company will create the next generation of devices on existing platforms. Although other suppliers have launched PDAs running the Pocket PC operating system, they have yet to reach HP’s popularity.

Palm (www.palm.com) has an advantage over its competitors thanks to the company’s market penetration (although the company is losing market share, it still sells the most devices). Palm manufactures its own devices, but it now faces competition from Handspring (www.handspring.com), a company that actually incorporates Palm’s OS in its devices. Here, Palm finds itself in a similar battle to the one Apple (www.apple.com) fought concerning its Macintosh OS. In that case, Apple was the first to create a graphical user interface, yet after a successful launch had to face Microsoft when the company entered the market.

A third PDA alternative has just recently been introduced in the form of devices built on different versions of Unix. Linux is the most well-known platform that will be available on different devices, such as the Sharp Zaurus. This PDA is positioned to compete against both Pocket PCs and Palms, but it is too early to declare a winner.

Taken From : Enterprise Guide to Gaining Business Value from Mobile Technologies

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