Word: pdas
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...spring fling. Just look at the flurry of new-product announcements in the past few weeks. From Handspring's razor-thin Visor Edge to a new memory-packed Compaq iPaq, a major upgrade has been trumpeted by nearly every PDA maker. Here's why: last year nearly 10 million PDAs were sold worldwide, almost double the number for 1999, according to research firm Gartner Dataquest. By 2004, the firm anticipates that everyone from executives to hairdressers will buy some 33 million PDAs, generating nearly $8 billion in revenue...
...clunky, overpriced gadgets that did little more than store phone numbers and addresses, handhelds are being reincarnated as sleek wireless accessories that let you do anything from find the nearest Lebanese restaurant to edit an Excel spreadsheet--all while standing in an elevator or waiting at a bus stop. PDAs are on their way to becoming the next must-have gadgets, like cell phones, showing up in the hands of everyone from Puffy to Rosie. Michael Jordan is reportedly planning his own signature Palm. Someday your PDA may even become your cell phone, electronic wallet and personal entertainment system rolled...
While spectacular growth for the handheld market seems certain, no one is quite sure who will be the biggest winner. A year ago, the obvious answer was Palm, which has sold more than 11 million PDAs to date and now claims some 60% of the retail market, according to tracking firm NPD Intelect. But Palm is paying for its decision, made a few years back, to license its operating system to other hardware makers. The idea was to achieve a critical mass of PDAs that would make the entire market viable and attract ever more software developers to create applications...
...captured nearly 30% of U.S. retail PDA sales in the 12 months since its Visor line hit the shelves. The colorful, inexpensive devices were the first with expansion slots that allow users to add anything from a digital camera to an MP3 player--in effect to customize their PDAs. Co-founders Donna Dubinsky and Jeff Hawkins created the original PalmPilot before leaving Palm to start Handspring...
...however, PDAs are breaking out into all sorts of shapes and sizes. Some double as phones, while others look more like pagers. What finally caught my eye was a pair of credit-card-size organizers from Royal and Xircom. They looked small enough to slip into my pocket without so much as a bulge, and I liked the fact that I could carry one without listing to one side...