Hi Everyone,
Came across this interesting statistic in the November 2001 Pen Computing
magazine:
"According to Dataquest, global PDA sales should be about 14 million in
2001 and 33 million in 2004"
Another quote:
"Aberdeen Group projects PDA sales of 39 million by 2005. Strategic
predicts 85 million by 2006."
I would suggest that if these numbers are good estimates, that Apple
could reenter the market if they wanted to. And knowing Apple, if they
did at this point in time, we would see one very nice PDA system that
would be compatible with other systems.
I would not be surprised in the least if Apple's reentry into the PDA
market is more of a tablet type computer with a Pen interface running on
top of X. A G3 CPU is powerful enough to run X, has low power
consumption/heat so it can easily be used in a tablet computer, and is
relatively cheap. And with RAM memory getting so cheap and 2.5 inch HD
capacities getting to be rather large, one could have a fairly powerful
table computer right now.
And using X with a pen interface, it would take minimal programming to
accomplish this. They already have the best handwriting recognition
program there is. And by using X, that means that we would have a
wonderful OS and can use currently available software -- especially if
the tablet supports classic system 9 as well.
And by going with this concept, the user would save money on software
since they could use the same desktop applications and would not need to
buy portable versions.
There is a huge market out there in the waiting. My bet is that Apple is
already looking at it.
Sushi
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