Mobile Pipeline says user don’t really want device convergence. This conclusion was made in response to results of a study from the Forrester research firm.
“PDAs stand out from phones in their input capability — via keyboard or touch screen — and personal information management (PIM) applications like calendar and contacts,” the report said. “But only 6 percent of mobile phone owners say that a keyboard or pen input is important in their choice of phone, and only 10 percent say that PIM applications matter.”
I’m not sure the interpretation of this study was very accurate. I don’t think most people understand the implications that a properly integrated mobile device can offer. People don’t use the personal information management applications in their phones because they’re difficult to use and input is tedious. People don’t typically use PDA’s as phones because they’ve been traditionally too large and unweildly dispite the increased input capabilities.
I still think that eventually there will be a happy medium between mobile phone and personal digital assistant.
Originally published on Pocketnow on January 6, 2005. More Smartphone News articles from the Pocketnow archive.