You Say You Want a Revolution...6 October 2003 I expected to write capsule reviews of the new Palm handhelds this week, but let's face it. Anyone who reads this column has already read comprehensive reviews elsewhere. I'm know some of you already have these devices in your hands. And as much as the new Palms interest me, what I find most interesting is the revolt they've spurred among Pocket PC users. Remember the comic strip "Bloom County"? There was a great Sunday strip where the guys decided to get together and buy Cutter John (the local leader of the Meadow Irregulars and a disabled Viet Nam vet) a new wheelchair. They went to the local wheelchair dealership and were shown row after row of nearly identical wheelchairs. They told the salesman they were looking for something distinctive, a little wild. He showed them a wheelchair that looked almost like all the rest. "What's so distinctive about this one?" they asked. "Mauve armrests," he replied. (They ended up building a new wheelchair out of a recliner and what appeared to be Goodyear racing slicks.) The last few iterations of Pocket PC have amounted to little more than mauve armrests, while Palm and Sony have vaulted ahead with PalmOS. Pocket PC users are mad as hell, and they're not going to take it anymore. For example, check out these comments from a recent discussion on Pocket PC Thoughts:
Does that sound like palmOne is on the right track? Right now, PalmSource licensees are not only making the best PDAs on the market, but they're taking the PDA concept into new and exciting areas. PalmOS devices are showing up from companies willing to take risks, companies that are taking risks. Let's face it. If the entire iPAQ line flops, HP isn't going belly up. If palmOne's line fails, palmOne is gone. Is it any wonder that companies like palmOne and Tapwave are putting out devices that look like they're betting the company on them? My theory is that Microsoft has decided the future of mobile computing lies in the two-pronged solution of a Smartphone and a Tablet PC. For most people, they're probably right. Bill Gates uses a Tablet PC daily, but he doesn't use a Pocket PC at all. Tablets run the full Windows XP Tablet Edition build and can run any program a desktop can run, notably Office XP in all it's "glory." For most writers, it's the only writing platform they need. As for Smartphones, let me tell you a little story. This morning I had breakfast at a local diner while I read the ongoing Pocket PC peasant uprising on Pocket PC Thoughts via my Smartphone. I was still reading as I walked up to the counter to pay. The hostess asked me if my phone had Internet access. I explained that not only did it come with Internet access, but it actually ran Windows, and had Internet Explorer, Outlook email, calendar, Windows Media Player, etc. "Wow," she said. "I'd never be able to stop playing with my phone if it had all that." This is actually a pretty common reaction to my Smartphone. For most people, say, the people that already have "dumb" cell phones and might be interested in a low-end PDA like the Palm Zire 21, a Smartphone would be a better option. If you just need scheduling and email, a Smartphone is really all you need. As much as I like my Smartphone, I'm not in that category. I, and I suspect a not inconsiderable segment of the population, fall between the cracks in Microsoft's solution. I need the ability to do real desktop-style work anytime, anywhere. I need a pocketable device with a decent-sized screen and a wide variety of input methods. I need a PDA. While Microsoft may not have officially abandoned the Pocket PC platform, it seems that for users looking for great PDAs, PalmOS is increasingly the only game in town. Today's Pocket PCs aren't really much different from the Pocket PC 2000 generation. The ARM processors have gotten faster, the screens have gotten brighter, but the interface, resolution and overall capabilities of the Pocket PC are pretty much unchanged. Pocket PC 2000 to 2002 to 2003 is similar to Windows 95 to 98 to 2000. Not ground-breaking. And for Pocket PC users waiting for that jump analogous to Windows XP, I don't think we're going to see it, for reasons stated above. For folks like me that need something bigger than a Smartphone and smaller than a Tablet, PalmSource and their licensees will have to keep the PDA platform alive. Jeff Kirvin
Jeff Kirvin is available for consulting on mobile technology. Email me today! |