Future trends in PDA Development

Answer 1

The use of PDAs has visibly increased and in the applications which work with them so that a range of functions from accessing e-mail accounts and the internet to sending faxes and digital images have become commonplace. Importantly, it is the PDA's ability to enable work in different environments and for different purposes that is allowing individuals and organizations to go beyond traditional computing and information seeking infrastructures. This ability is extending these boundaries to the benefit of personal and business applications. In particular, the wireless connectivity of the next generation of PDAs using Wi-Fi and Bluetooth will likely support the extension and direction of future applications (see Wireless Networks). Wireless technology in general is set to become cheaper and much more common over the coming year as more home users and institutions deploy or adopt Wi-Fi kits to share lines and devices around the house or within the workplace. The net effect being, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi will become a standard part of notebooks and PDAs. Additionally, Europe and Asia are embracing the wireless market since it moves away from underground cables and new civic planning. At this time, Intel is working with Wi-Fi technology to trial 'hotspot' location partners to create W-LAN (Wireless Local Area Network) marketing and services and has signed on fast food chain McDonalds, as well as Borders Group Books and Hilton Hotels (March 2003). These hotspots would allow PDA and other handheld device users to access information, product and internet resources via these local networks so wherever work or pleasure is located, the user will be 'connected'. On a related note, Palm Canada and Air Canada have jointly released their "Beam & Fly" station in the Air Canada Domestic Maple Leaf lounge at Pearson International Airport. The Beam & Fly station is a new service that allows travellers to receive up-to-the-minute flight schedules, destination guides, world news, sports briefs, and airport maps simply by beaming them into their Palm handheld computers. Analysts predict that this rapid roll out of wireless technology and related applications will drive the development of a new class of handheld device, namely those that can themselves act as 'servers'. This would entail that server technology be incorporated on hand held devices to enable message and service brokering, database hosting and access to selected data. Consequently, businesses and institutions may become part of an infrastructure of ad hoc server networks, more accurately described as On-Demand Mobile Server Networks. Applications in such a network could be on-demand mobile conferencing rather than Instant Messaging. The difference from present set ups would be the ability to move data, images (static and live), and interactive voice messaging, along with text rather than merely simple text messaging. This would be a direct device-to-device transaction, not one going through a central server. As an extension of the on-demand concept, there is evidence that the Web will itself be eclipsed by the 'executable net' which will allow real-time interactive experiences through disposable code, and the extended internet - an information network which covers all electronic devices such as PDAs. Some would say this is a natural outcome of an increasingly mobile population. Indeed, we are already experiencing aspects of this future in the trend toward building ad hoc community based networks. In his new book, Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution, Howard Rheingold applies principles of computer science, economics and anthropology to uncover a sociological shift embodied by what he calls "Generation Txt" - young, mobile persons who use PDAs, mobile phones, and pagers, to create virtual communities and to coordinate community protests and stage events by sending text messages. This phenomenon also known as 'mob-logging,' or mobile blogging, is spreading out globally, using mobile devices and the Web to disseminate information. The changing scope of personalisation is also indicative of these movements. It is becoming a case of mycommunity, rather than myinformation. More users are asking about what they are missing and whether other users think this information is important. Such a shift toward forms of collective communication further underlines how mobile technologies are changing how we view time, the way we navigate our cities and personal spaces, and how we collaborate with other groups of people. Handheld devices, like PDAs, are poised to become key platforms and agents of this shift.