Instant Access To 100,000+ Essays!

Introduction PDA’s or “personal digital assistants,” are handheld devices that function in several capacities: as a cell phone, fax sender and personal organizer, among other things. PDA’s use a stylus, or pen, rather than a keyboard (www.darwinmag.com). The topics discussed in this paper include how this technology works, the business and technical problems PDA’s are designed to solve and any possible limitations. In addition, how this technology may create new problems for users, and the prospects for growth in the future. PDA's are one of the fastest selling consumer devices in history. More than 9 million of these hand-held computers have been sold. Manufacturers of the PDA industry include: 3com, Casio, Compaq, Handspring, HP, Microsoft, Palm, Philips, and Sony. Palm is the leader in this industry with Sony, HP, and Microsoft not far behind. Palm’s revenue for the quarter ending Feb 2003 was $209 million (www.hoovers.com). Sony, a competitor of Palm had revenues of 13.7 million, but this is due to their sales of other products other products as well as PDA’s. PDA’s are just one segment inside of their industry (www.hoovers.com). Many other companies are breaking into the market. Competition means more fea