From: Andrew Shooner (shooner.3_at_osu.edu)
Date: Wed Feb 19 2003 - 19:28:35 PST
Well maybe not totally OT,
I studied Industrial Design some in college, and have always thought
the pda would inevitably become
not condensed and consolidated, but refined, and split into multiple
units, based on function. For instance. As this
list has said many times in one way or another, Palm is the right size
to carry, Messagepad the right size to actually use.
I think the Palm has been successful, but I think it is mostly fit for
quick Info recording and retrieval, as opposed to more interactive
functions. The new low-end Palm I think is the best manifestation of
it's genre.
Now, for me, My Newt is the Emate. I realize it's not at all
pocketable, but it is the right size for an OS that serves as the in
depth platform that NewtonOS is. So as far as I'm concerned I use my
Emate for all sorts of things, and my Palm iii for dates, calendar,
contact info etc.
As far as a new product goes, I don't see Apple going for it. Simply
because you have the limited function, expensive Ipod on one end, and
the reasonably priced, and superlatively functional 12 inch PB on the
other. If they go cheap, they cannibalize the Ipod, if they go
functional, why not get a power- or I-book? But I was daydreaming the
other day: What about specialized functions? The one I could come up
with in the consumer market is a GPS type function. The idea with this
is, either through a dock or just firewire, you connect the base unit
to your Mac, use the obligatory sleek Apple software to plan a trip, or
whatever, ( even set up the music you want where on the trip) and then
insert it into an dash-mounted dock in your car. Using natural apple
creativity, they could design the unit to have on on-board display
(touchpad of course) That could fold out for use while it is connected
to the car. At that point, once it is connected to your car, it would
also connect to your sound system, and pretty much act as an on-board
computer. Once at your exciting location, the base unit (what you
remove from the car) can be carried along, continuing it's gps/mp3/
data functions. It would be what you would plan a trip on. Using
Sherlock, you could have a trip planned, booked, totally thought out,
and it would come with you throughout the experience. If a car company
is looking for something to win over the fence-sitters, it would work
for me. Of course you could easily retrofit any car to use it, the car
dock would fit into, and replace the function of, a car stereo.
So whaddya think?
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