The TeleInterActive Lifestyle

"Handhelds will Replace Laptops" and desktops, and clip boards, note pads, planners, sticky notes and more. This is a concept to which I subscribe whole heartedly. The question is what's an handheld?

Is an handheld a PDA, a smart phone, a Linux Slate, a Windows TabletPC, a wireless network appliance? What does the UI look like? How does one present information in a meaningful manner? What data visualization tools make sense on the available screen size? How do you deal with the casually connected state of most, if not all, wireless systems? I've been pursuing solutions to these questions since I first worked with Oracle Mobile Agents in 1994 using snail-slow wireless modems and greyscale handhelds that could be used for strength training.

Times have changed quite a bit, but I'm still amazed at how many people don't use - or want to use - an handheld of any type. Or at how many people, young professionals even, need to print something out before it becomes real to them. While many technical challenges have been solved, and while millions of folk use computers and handhelds and smart phones, there are still many challenges to be overcome, both technical and behavioral.

I agree with the following

"Now mobile users are just as hooked into corporate networks as their desk-bound brethren. Their data is as fresh and accurate and their response time is nearly comparable. Data in the field is no longer untimely or out-of-date; it is just as accurate as data available at the desk top."

and

"All these consequences, generated by wireless applications, will continue to squeeze inefficiencies out of operations."

-- Jim Chard in Handhelds will Replace Laptops

Though I would replace each "is" and "are" in that quote with "may". The statement could be true, but it rarely is. But I like the "will". Things are headed in that direction, the quicker the better. I'll be pushing all the way.