First people were saying that the PDA was dead. Whoops. There’s the matter of cellphone-PDA combos, so we’re talking semantics. But, having settled that issue, what about another debate: handhelds vs. laptops?
Check out The Evolution and Death of the Laptop Computer by Rob Enderle (photo), in TechWorldNews. Overview: “The laptop will probably last through this decade, but we are exploring different alternatives and as such it is likely that conclusions on this subject will be different in 2011. The market desperately needs to move to a more appliance-like device that is much more portable and much less power-hungry.” Needless to say, if this scenario unfolded, e-books would benefit. But will this actually happen? That remains to be seen. People hate to change, and for some apps, you need a larger screen. One solution could be PDAs or cellphone devices with rollout screens. But they aren’t here yet.
Meanwhile I myself am rooting for tablets with good detachable keyboards to take over from laptops, which, for heavy-duty writing, really suck. the optimal eye/screen distance on laptop may not always be compatible with the best keyboard distance. I have mixed feelings about schools handling out laptops to kids, who in some cases may pay the price later in medical problems.
Related: Taking control during the iBook experiment, in MacNewsWorld.
(Via jkOnTheRun and Mobile Computing)
