>"...but clearly everyone's going to be packing PC
>power in their pockets and pocketbooks in the near
>future"
I'll put aside my skepticism that this is, in fact, true. Outside of the
business and
enterprise markets, I'm not sure most individual users want or needs that
level of
complexity in a portable computer. (Tech magazines aren't always the best
bellwether where consumers are concerned.)
>This exactly contradicts $J's assessment of PDAs in
>where he claims to see no future in the devices. And
>if the above statement is found to be true, then Apple
>will be the only computing player in the tech market
>without a Personal sized computing platform.
It's possible that he just sees the current iteration of such devices as
a dead end...or
that the consumer isn't interested in the levels of complexity that these
devices
are heading in.
>As a matter of fact, if Apple doesn't have plans for
>such a device at this point in time, and waits to see
>what the market will develop, then it will be too late
>and any attempt by Apple to play "catch-up" will fail
>miserably as they attempt to sway market share away
>from the already soon to be entrenched established
>players of WinCE and Palm.
But even if it were so, why does it mean that Apple is *obligated* to
enter that
market?
Here's how I see it: Apple has had quite a bit of success in growing the
"consumer"
end of their business, I believe the company will continue to pursue
opportunities
here, and I think that any handheld device that would come from Apple
would likely
be consumer-oriented. But I think that a consumer's basic handheld needs are
already being met by the Palm platform (for better or worse), for now.
There may come a day when Apple finds a way to make the consumer's experience
of using a handheld device better, and make such a device a must-have for new
users (in the same way the iPod has attracted an audience that largely
ignored MP3
players). When that happens, the company might consider re-entering that
market.
But short of that, there's no compelling reason to produce a competing product.
BRIAN/bpearce_at_cloud9.net
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