The PDA is dead – and an N95 is laughing by its grave
Analyst IDC says the shipment numbers of PDAs has dropped by 43% over last year, which makes a sensationally poor 15th consecutive period of decline for the once-futuristic pocket computers.
Clearly it’s because phones have been stealing their thunder for years now. With iPhone, Nokia’s N95, the lovely LG Viewty and numerous others all offering pocket computer levels of performance and applications, there isn’t any point in having something bigger – or anything else at all. Especially when you can get an N95 handed to you for free in exchange for signing up in a high street shop.
There is some good news for the PDA, though – it’s quite popular in “emerging markets” where the cheaper cost of ownership, thanks to not requiring network contracts, makes the things more popular.
Which, ironically, makes them even less popular to our superior Western consumerist eyes.
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