Apple PDA - Now a dead cert?

blackcatblackcat
Posted:
in Future Apple Hardware edited January 2014
To recap, 10.2 will bring us:



- A new Addressbook

- a new Mail

- iCal

- iChat

- Ink

- Rendezvouz



And the subtly named



- iSync



A good implementation of all these items is essential if you want to produce a killer handheld.



The gloves are off with M$, and Jobs doesn't get on with the new CEO of Be-, er, Palm so there is no need to support PocketPC or M515 over an Apple device now.



September for release?

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 19
    screedscreed Posts: 1,077member
    We now have a PDA. It's called the iPod.

    Calendar and address book. That's all I use my Palm for.



    Screed
  • Reply 2 of 19
    sizzle chestsizzle chest Posts: 1,133member
    I agree with Screed -- if anything, the firmware update to the iPod is proof to me that Apple will not release a "plain PDA" any time soon.
  • Reply 3 of 19
    g4dudeg4dude Posts: 1,016member
    [quote]Originally posted by sCreeD:

    <strong>We now have a PDA. It's called the iPod.

    Calendar and address book. That's all I use my Palm for.



    Screed</strong><hr></blockquote>



    It's still not a PDA. Most of the time when you have information to add to a PDA it's not when you are at your desk, it's when you are on the road, and you can't do that with the iPod. But I do agree that this is Apple's attempt to get casual PDA users to get an iPod and it will probably work well.
  • Reply 4 of 19
    gycgyc Posts: 90member
    [quote]Originally posted by G4Dude:

    <strong>



    It's still not a PDA. Most of the time when you have information to add to a PDA it's not when you are at your desk, it's when you are on the road, and you can't do that with the iPod. But I do agree that this is Apple's attempt to get casual PDA users to get an iPod and it will probably work well.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    Notice how the new iPod's (except for the 5GB) now have a solid state scroll wheel? Well, It paves the way for Apple to introduce handwriting recognition by writing on the solid state area. Perhaps it will be a bit awkward to write on a circular area, but now there's at least an area for Apple to use for input.
  • Reply 5 of 19
    screedscreed Posts: 1,077member
    [quote]Originally posted by G4Dude:

    <strong>It's still not a PDA. Most of the time when you have information to add to a PDA it's not when you are at your desk, it's when you are on the road, and you can't do that with the iPod. But I do agree that this is Apple's attempt to get casual PDA users to get an iPod and it will probably work well.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    "Casual users." Precisely.



    Here's a point I made a while ago, before the Great AI Outage. The Palm in its current form is nothing but a PIM (personal information manager). Oh sure it can run other applications, but the buttons on the bottom sum up its prime function: Calendar, Phone List, To Do, and Notes.



    If you want the Web or video, buy a laptop. Ergo the Internet Jr. analogy. (Here's where I refrain from going on a pro-Tablet rant).



    With its MP3 capability plus the PIM features, the iPod can sweep up a lot of the light users or consumers who'd buy those ghastly consumer Palms. Myself being the former (maybe).



    Screed
  • Reply 6 of 19
    cliveclive Posts: 720member
    [quote]Originally posted by sCreeD:

    <strong>With its MP3 capability plus the PIM features, the iPod can sweep up a lot of the light users or consumers who'd buy those ghastly consumer Palms. Myself being the former (maybe).</strong><hr></blockquote>



    But it's 2-3 times the price of the cheapest Palm's!?
  • Reply 7 of 19
    composercomposer Posts: 212member
    Sure it's more expensive than a palm, but it does take care of its primary functions, and lets you carry around music, videos, files, etc.



    So it's better than a palm in most cases, for most people.



    However, this improved PIM capacity pretty much kills any hope of Apple releasing a Tablet/Full PDA anytime in the near future.



    This latest keynote emphsizes what I think is great about Apple product development: Enhancing what people are already doing through better technology.



    Later,



    Composer
  • Reply 8 of 19
    dcsimagesdcsimages Posts: 59member
    Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I was listening to the the financial analyst meeting webcast and in the Q & A session a reporter asks Steve if Apple will be entering the PDA market. Rather than give the standard " we don't comment on future products" line that everyone else was giving in answer to questions about product lines, Steve gave a lengthy explaination of why Apple will not ever be making a PDA. Basically his opinion is that as cell phones approach the fuctionality of PDAs fewer people will want to carry two devices and PDAs will "be dead". Here's a link to the webcast page <a href="http://www.apple.com/quicktime/qtv/analyst_meeting_q302/"; target="_blank">Financial Analysts Meeting Webcaast</a> Click on the link at the bottom of the list called Q & A. I'm not sure how far in you have to listen, it went on for quite a while, but it was Steve who answered the question.



    Dave Smith



    [ 07-17-2002: Message edited by: dcsimages ]</p>
  • Reply 9 of 19
    engpjpengpjp Posts: 124member
    The iPDA is now certified dead. iSync, iCal and iAddress shows that Apple's strategy is to implement a SOFTWARE PDA, using available hardware from suitable producers such as Sony-Ericsson.



    Unlike the old Apple, the new Apple doesn't try to make its own, "superior" version of all categories of hardware.



    Unlike MS, Apple doesn't want to take over all hardware niches by



    Instead, through being the first to develop (open) connectivity standards and to implement them, Apple makes its own products ubiquitous for the present day digital user. Apple unlocks the promises of GPRS, BlueTooth, VCards and a host of other interface standards by making them connectable through Apple hard/software interface hubs - the Digital hubs.



    In reality, it's hijacking other producers' hardware - and it will increase: make a circle; write iSync and RendezVouz inside it; then write the names of all the Apple iApps along the circle and connect all of them to all the others. Now, consider how each of them connects to each of the others. Some of the connections you have already heard described at various Keynotes: iChat to iAddress - you can see the person you are chatting to; iPhoto to iTools (Sorry, now it's .mac) - Internet publishing of photo albums and sending personalized iCards...



    Others are yet to be developed; what could connect iChat to iMovie, for instance (okay, you already read the answer to that one here on AI), or iPhoto to iPod? Quadruple the possibilities by adding the Quicktime sections to the circle, and the many hardware possibilities found in the GPRS standard.



    Already mentioned is also the possibility of tracking people's position through a combination of iAddress, GPS and GPRS, and calling people via Bluetooth on their cell-phones. That is an extended version of localized paging - without having to pay phone company charges. Sending pictures via iPhoto to a cell-phone is obvious, as is sending tunes (Nokia, eat your heart out!). But wait... (etc)



    A $50 digital camera, the size of a matchbox, was introduced recently. Okay, 640x480 pixels won't help much in a Cuba crisis, but it can be used as a webcam too, via USB. Now, take this tiny thing out of your pocket and connect it to the USB port of your cell-phone... there you go, a cheap wireless snapshot-cum-webcam, to be distributed through iPhoto (which batch-optimizes it automatically) via Bluetooth, or AirPort, or a cell-phone connection - or even through Mail! The open standards for sending commands, data and addresses from cell-phones to computers already exist. Now Steve the Pirate implements them - NoConfig.



    engpjp
  • Reply 10 of 19
    graeme d warrengraeme d warren Posts: 84member
    There was something strange about the way Steve glossed over InkWell. Is it just me, or is he holding that back for a big release soon. Look at how long he spent on other Jaguar features. H



    ow come InkWell barely got mentioned? To save it for a big product release of course - a PDA.



    Or is it just me?
  • Reply 11 of 19
    junkyard dawgjunkyard dawg Posts: 2,801member
    Steve Jobs has said more than once that Apple will not be making a PDA in the near future. I believe him.



    This MWNY proved to me that for now Apple is content to focus on making the iPod the best MP3 player available, and they aren't standing still.



    As for Inkwell, it's very possible that what Jobs said is true: Apple had the technology on hand, so they incorporated it into OS X, where it can be used with existing products. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
  • Reply 12 of 19
    vinney57vinney57 Posts: 1,162member
    There will be no Apple PDA. Jobs believes we have all the PDA's we need in the iPOD for the simple stuff, and in the inreasingly complex mobile phone for the connected stuff. The problem that was addressed today is how do you keep everything synced and up to date; which is a real and increasing problem.



    Now an Apple 'slate' would be a different proposition altogether
  • Reply 13 of 19
    satchmosatchmo Posts: 2,699member
    I also noticed how Jobs pretty much glossed over the fact that iSync will work with Palm handhelds.



    Instead he focussed mostly with it's synching possibilities with an iPod and cell phones.



    But the bottom line is while an iPod comes close, but you cannot input data remotely.

    That is a big distinction in that a major reason people have a handheld is the ability to jot down info in a pinch.
  • Reply 14 of 19
    fireants22fireants22 Posts: 119member
    Im thinking with this iSync and Inkwell, owners already with a palm/PDA via bluetooth with be able to use it as a wireless data input device (unlike a Wacom-tablet which connects via USB).....Apple will first have to make appropriate drivers/apps for PalmInk, but since theyRe on a roll with all these new iApps, it shouldnT be much of a challenge. When 10.2 rolls out, i donT want to have something else cluttering my deskspace (a wacom tablet) so the double duty of my PDA would be great!



    Just wishfull thinking.



    [ 07-18-2002: Message edited by: fireants22 ]</p>
  • Reply 15 of 19
    tulkastulkas Posts: 3,757member
    I don't think Apple will get into the full blown PDA market. Using the iPod as an digital organizer instead of a full digital assistant is about as much functionality as it needs. I don't see using the new scroll wheel with inkwell, too awkward. I think Apple realizes that most people do not regularly input full contact info into their Palms by hand. I at most entered phone numbers, when I had a non-newton PDA. No matter how good the interface, it was just too cumbersome to enter all the info. I think most people collect personal info by hand (business cards, scraps of paper) and enter full contact info on their computers and sync the data over. Even goto a conference and take in a couple dozen business cards? Did you sit down in a corner somewhere and enter all that info for a couple hours, or did you goto you computer, type it all in (or scan in) and sync it up with the PDA? If all we generally use the PDA for is to lookup data, whether it is contact info, schedules etc, we can now do that with the updated iPods. So, the iPod delivers the most important parts of a PDA, as an extra feature on the world best MP3 player.



    [ 07-18-2002: Message edited by: Tulkas ]</p>
  • Reply 16 of 19
    addisonaddison Posts: 1,185member
    The future is Phone-PDA's multi-function devices, not straight PDA's. Apple is not going to start making phones. Steve's focus was on the phones as that is the real story not a palm conduite.



    The future of the iPod must be a colour LCD and support for quicktime 6. Imagine being able to export you home movies from iMove into a small QuickTime movie for the iPod to gether with your mp3's or MP4's.



    So that's my vision of the future, Phone-PDA's and iPods with a colour screen and video support.
  • Reply 17 of 19
    scadboyscadboy Posts: 189member
    Combination devices are definitely the future, and for some of us, the future is here. I bought a Treo 180g when they came out in february and absolutely love it. You don't know how many times I've wished it also had a 5GB harddrive and a headphone jack for MP3s so I could ditch my iPod. I used to have a cell phone and a pda, now I have a cellphone/pda and an iPod, so I'm kind of back to square one on my gadget count.



    I think Steve's comments during the conference call point to a very sophisticated understanding of the PDA market, I totally agree that pure PDA devices, Palm and Pocket PCs, will be dead within five years, replaced by phones with more sophisticated PIM features, and tablet PCs.



    Will apple make a phone with iPod and PIM features? I doubt it, but that doesn't mean they won't partner with Sony Erricson to do somethign like that. Phones with limited MP3 playing capability exist, Phones with limited PIM capability exist, now it's just time for the paths to cross.



    I do hope Apple makes a tablet, though.



    ciao,



    michael
  • Reply 18 of 19
    matsumatsu Posts: 6,558member
    [quote]Originally posted by Junkyard Dawg:

    <strong>Steve Jobs has said more than once that Apple will not be making a PDA in the near future...



    Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    And sometimes it's a musty sex toy. That's about the size of it, though. And, speaking of office rendezous... "can you imagine what kind of devices will be released."
  • Reply 19 of 19
    hirhir Posts: 66member
    Here's my theory. Did you guy's notice how much like a browser Sherlock has become? Sherlock is now a super, efficient browser or information client. now, imagine this ...



    Mobile Sherlock.

    On demand access to movie, restaurant, map, phone directory, etc.



    Now add to this the possibility of a mobile .mac client. It's mobile Sherlock that accesses .mac resources. (email, iCal, iDisk, etc.)



    Come to think of it. They should just release Sherlock as an app on Palm OS so I can still use Palm OS apps if I choose to.
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