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“Why Have PDAs Failed in the iPod Area?”
October 22, 2005 | 11:05 am
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By Branko Collin
Here is the question a Slashdot reader asks the hordes that frequent the “News for Nerds” website.
An iPod is just as expensive as an advanced PDA, but can actually do less. So how come the iPod is a hit in the world of portable media, and PDAs never got more than a foothold?
In reply, the Slashdot crowd argue that cheap PDAs typically come shipped with flash memory instead of a hard drive, but nowadays flash memory is measured in gigabytes. And PDAs that sport hard drives typically come in over 500 US$, which is decidedly more expensive than an average iPod.
But perhaps it is too early to draw any conclusions. Apple pioneered the hard drive in hand-held devices, it was to be expected that they would lead in their field. With storage becoming smaller, cheaper and more diverse, we should expect more exciting devices being brought to market.
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Comments:
Excellent point, Branko. As I myself see it, yes, it’s possible PDAs could grow more competitive than they are now. What happens when PDA storage grows cheaper and CPU speeds increase and screens improve–so that you really can’t tell PDAs apart from video entertainment devices? And of course they’ll have far more capabilities than iPODs.
Of course, iPODs may be popular because they’re compact and in many cases you can work or exercise while listening to one. PDAs, especially with larger screens, might be harder to deal with.
Obviously there are a few reasons for the success of iPod even though the iPod appears to be less powerful than comparably-priced PDAs. A couple reasons have already been noted. I think another reason is that there are a large number of people who simply don’t care about portable computing but are interested in “music on the go.” These people want a simple, brain-dead portable music player that can hold a gazillion songs. And Apple appears successful at marketing towards this particular consumer market. After all, the bread and butter of Apple has always been towards simplicity of operation.
Having abandoned my Palm III several years ago, I must’ve missed the new product press releases from PDA manufacturers where they describe how you can make the new ones do everything you want just by sticking little white thingies in your ears and pushing one white button. Once.
I’d like to buy one of those PDAs, so I can take notes, read my email, blog, and do other stuff like that. By sticking little white thingies in my ears and pushing one white button. Once. Where can I get one, exactly?
Until then, I’m still stuck with index cards and a pen.
I talked about this over on MobileRead a few weeks ago and nearly got my head taken off by one guy who couldn’t grasp that what he wanted didn’t reflect the general population.
The answer to this question is extremely simple: the iPod solves a problem that a lot of people have. A PDA solves a problem that very few people have, and have plenty of alternatives to.
A lot of people, including me, who have tried PDAs went back to paper planners. No battery life issues, instant random access, immediately reconfigurable. Frankly, it’s easier to flip through my day planner and find what I’m looking for.
The success of RIM’s Blackberry device indicates that it wasn’t PDA functionality that a lot of people wanted, but connectivity.
I wonder, sometimes, if people would be willing to pay for a PDA with 20 GB of memory, a big color screen, that plays music and videos too…The expertise Apple’s engineers have gained over the past several years would probably produce a nice PDA, but they’re just not interested in that market.
I think the question already includes the answer. the ipod does a few things very well, while PDAs do a lot of things ok. Information navigation is one of the things the ipod does extremely well and which most PDAs do very poorly. Also, there is this general assumption that people would rather have one single device that does everything, but I haven’t seen this happen in real life. The TV with integrated VCR is one of the examples that just never took off. and the same goes for multi-function smart phones. and the ipod responds to this.