Will Smartphones kill off PDA's?
There is a
clear trend
in the handheld market. PDA sales are falling rapidly (some hardware
manufacturers such as Toshiba are leaving the market) in favour of
devices that converge data and voice, such as the
Blackberry and the
Smartphone which have
personal information management and email on them. There is also a rise
in the sales of handheld media and games devices with wireless and
Internet browsing, which have good screen sizes but no mobile phone
SIM card (e.g.
Sony PSP,
Nokia Internet tablet).
I have been 'playing' with the
Nokia Internet Tablet 770 for a couple of months, and in January got hold of one of the new
Nokia N800 devices. I have also been playing with the
Sony PSP handheld's which are currently being
piloted for education by
Maplesden Noakes School in Maidstone. I have managed to get down and dirty with the inside workings of both, and also with current PDA's.
James Blomfield at Capel le Ferne has received a set of
EDA's, and you may have read his article in this Fridays TES supplement.