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Originally Posted by Steve Jordan
I'm not so sure on this. Obviously, people can make calls, send texts/e-mails and keep their contact list on a phone. But how many actually make/edit calendar/appt functions on their phone? Or use the calculator? Or make/edit notes? Or carry/edit documents accessed from platform to platform? Or track their expenses in realtime?
Sure, many phone users don't do any of this regularly. But plenty of people do, and for them, non-phone devices can be more convenient to use (I do all of those things on my PDA, and I am aware that none of them would be easier to do on my full-featured phone).
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A smart phone is essentially a PDA. Certainly my last phone, which was a Windows Mobile phone looked and acted like a PDA, but could also be used to make calls. I switched to my current (feature) phone because it came with a full keyboard that made doing all of those things easier. Sure I gave up some functionality, but I can still do everything I need to do and easier than on my touch screen Windows phone.
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That's why I think a larger device can easily serve as a PDA... just as people have carried pad- to notebook-sized organizers for decades. It could especially happen if the larger form-factor made it easier for people to use the functions, something that older or less dexterous people might appreciate (we don't all have small fingers or fine motor control). Just because phones can do most of these things, doesn't mean it's the best device for doing these things for all people.
Bottom line, there's lots of room for different form factors for different people. A larger PDA would probably sell, especially as the population gets older... I wouldn't count such a device out. (And it can always have a built-in phone accessed by a headset...)
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I think the market place kind of voted there Steve. Larger PDAs kind of dropped off the market for phone devices. Personally, I want a device that I can slip in a shirt or pants pocket and forget about. Carrying in my hand is not an option, because I know I will leave it sitting around 90% of the time. I hate to say it, but I have found I am far more likely to get voice mail when I call a woman; she usually has her phone in her purse which is across the room, or in another room, etc.
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Bill