"Pure-blood" PDA stops growing, as miniature notebooks are offering more and more functions.
In my previous discussions on "mobile computers", I pointed out that future computers, big or small, would offer mobility to some extent, the question is how mobile it would be. In those discussions, I also predicted that as notebooks get smaller and smaller, they would erode the market of PDAs.
Such products are already available in the market. In the United States, Vulcan Inc., a company with a relatively short history has showed off the prototype of a notebook as small as your palm - about the same size of a PDA. The finalized model is expected to appear at DEMOmobile2004 in September.
Impatient consumers can learn more about the product at: http://www.flipstartpc.com/.
The company is set up by Paul G. Allen, who co-founded Microsoft with Bill Gates. The most distinct feature of the product, which is called FlipStart, is the fact that it is a real computer, with a standard Microsoft Windows XP, instead of Pocket PC.
Most of today's PDA products use simplified operating systems to save power and improve performance. Also, to deliver simpler operation, they use simplified application programs, for example, Pocket Word embedded in Microsoft Pocket PC.
That, nevertheless, has resulted in inconvenient file format conversion and restricted many functions of the PDA. For example, they cannot be connected with external printers or CD drives, and must use special
WLAN PCI cards for Internet access. As they never have sufficient memories, they have to depend on expensive external memory cards.
In a word, a PDA is only a PDA. You cannot expect it to deliver the performance of a notebook. However, the biggest advantage of a PDA is that it is ready for use as soon as you press the power button. Thanks to its simple functions, it consumes far less power and provides much longer standby time.
Yet with the advance of hardware technologies, including those of screen/display, hardware capacity and size, energy conservation and battery, manufacturers are eventually able to squeeze a PC into a frame as small as a PDA.
Features of the handheld computer include:
- Windows XP operating system: that means you can install any software you want, without worrying about the file format conversion. In theory, you can even install
games that you run in conventional PCs.
- HDTV-quality display (1024X600): the biggest problem with the Internet access by using a PDA is that the webpage is usually bigger than the screen and you have to use the Left/Right scroll bars to view it. With FlipStart, however, the entire webpage can be displayed on a single screen and the characters are still clear enough.
- 1 GHz processor, 30 GB hard disk, 256 MB built-in memory, and WLAN PCI card: you can connect the product with an external display, CD driver or printer. In addition, it also has a USB port that allows connection with any USB device. It is exactly a PC.
- User-friendly interface: with state-of-the-art design, the keyboard and mouse are placed on a small space. From the picture we can see that the product's keyboard is designed to use your two thumbs to operate it, and at the left side there is a track wheel in the place of the mouse.
- Low-power Interactive Display (LID): when FlipStart is folded, there is an external touch screen to allow users to check schedule, contacts and emails, or play
MP3s without having to turn on the machine.
As an alternative to "paper notebooks", PDA was successful in the past. It is a pretty good tool to record daily work items of business people, including contact information, schedule and quick notes.
Not all business users have to throw their PDAs away. For many people, the requirement is just for a simple electronic note pad, instead of a notebook computer. Nevertheless, with the emergence of FlipSart and similar products, the market of PDA will be squeezed continuously.
If FlipStart could be sold at about USD 650, the prices of many high-end PDAs will fall, and those of middle-end PDA will drop down to the low-end level. As a result, the entire price structure of the current PDA market will collapse, as shown in the following figure:
In other words, not everybody needs a palm-size notebook. However, if the price of such a notebook drops to the level of a PDA, consumers would begin to consider: "why not buying those with better functions since the prices are about the same?" Replacement would happen then.
(
2004/08/15
- By
Digitalwall.com - Way to
China Internet/Telecom )
- Read More
Next : PDA in Siege (2) Bottlenecks of the Smart Phone
- Today in History
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PDA in Siege (1) The Attack of Notebooks - 2004/08/15
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