Any possibilty of an Apple PDA?
I haven't heard anything for years about this one, but thought I'd throw it out there.
Now that I'm a year and a half into my switch from PC to a Mac, I'm totally sold on Apple products. Next to my computer and iPod, my most treasured/useful gadget is my Treo.
The Palm OS is dying on the vine, and Windows Mobile 5 is....well....Windows.
Seems like Apple, with its attention to design and user interface, could make a killer PDA (with or without a phone). The few rumors I've read about the iPhone is that it's Apple tie-in will be iTunes.
Any chance they are secretly working on a PDA phone??
Now that I'm a year and a half into my switch from PC to a Mac, I'm totally sold on Apple products. Next to my computer and iPod, my most treasured/useful gadget is my Treo.
The Palm OS is dying on the vine, and Windows Mobile 5 is....well....Windows.
Seems like Apple, with its attention to design and user interface, could make a killer PDA (with or without a phone). The few rumors I've read about the iPhone is that it's Apple tie-in will be iTunes.
Any chance they are secretly working on a PDA phone??
Comments
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Any chance they are secretly working on a PDA phone??
It's no secret. It is called the Newton. Apple has been there, done that, and lost its T-shirt.
People would ask about it and were always pretty impressed when I showed them some of the features. They would be even more blown away when I told them it was 10 year old tech. It really was way ahead of it's time. Too bad the rechargable battery finally bit the dust.
check it out for the basic overview:
http://www.everymac.com/systems/appl...n_mp_2100.html
Miss my Newton...
The Apple UMPC was rumor was generated after a couple of Apple Patents a recent thread on the subject can be found here: Apple seen delivering "ultra-portable" at Macworld
The Apple iPhone "Smartphone" is a rumor that is gaining traction, recently in the news the forum thread on it can be found here: Prudential: Apple to release two iPhone models, one with WiFi
Dedicated PDAs are a dying breed. No one wants to carry their iPod, phone, wallet, keys, and PDA at the same time. Not to mention development of/for PDAs has really slowed down within the past couple of years.
Then there's the gui... I'm not a Windows-hater of any kind, I just happen to like my Mac/OSX alot better, but with Windows Mobile it's as if they tried to shoehorn in a fullblown version of Windows (with registry and all - true!) which frankly is just too slow for mobile implementation.
To me there's a very simple "law" when it comes to applications/hardware "sluggish-ness". The smaller the device the faster it needs to be for it not to feel sluggish. If I want to make a phone-call on my mobile half a second here and there makes for a very bad user experience. Split-seconds I might not have even noticed if I was waiting for my home computer to finish its task. Continuing, it seems that on every screen (whether it's an app or the os gui) there's too much information. Instead of trying to make a smart screen-switching solution (or whatever) they have tried to fit everything on one screen. There's even a slow Windows-like "start"-menu. It just feels over-complicated for a mobile user experience. The more features you implement the more you need to think about it's presentation/usability.
I've tried it over and over because it has so much potential but it's just too many features without the user experience. It's the "do one mistake and you have to do it all over again" which is *much* more frustrating on a mobile device than on your home computer where you probably have more time and isn't standing next to someone who's waiting for you to grab some "quick info" on your flashy device.
It's hardware is yay but the software (OS) is nay... Now I hardly ever use it anymore... *sigh* I have to be honest, if Apple could do this in a better way I'd be the first in line. Uhm, right after the Newston-evangelists I guess.
Sorry for the rant and beating that poor dead horse.
Apple (now) redesign good ideas/technology and they produce products that appeal to the masses. They are now second to market... but they do it right.
PDA by itself is long gone. Apple will never do it.