Wednesday, October 16, 2002
PDAs are Here to Stay - Innovation is King
Posted by Ed Hansberry in "THE COMPETITION" @ 09:00 AM
http://www.infoworld.com/articles/op/xml/02/10/14/021014opsurvival.xml
This article touches on a point we are all intimately familiar with. PDAs are making their way into the enterprise, but chances are, you probably brought your PDA in through the back door. IT departments are looking at how to utilize them in the company and there are companies rolling them out, but the lions share are purchased by end users, even if reimbursed by their manager.
Those IT departments resisting this trend are reminiscent of those in the early 80's fighting the IBM PC doing things their vaunted big iron couldn't. Back then, PCs meant freedom. Today, PDAs mean freedom. All of your critical information in your pocket on devices with more RAM, processing power and storage space than the typical full blown PC had 10 years ago.
The author, Bob Lewis, compares this backwards IT strategy to Palm and their "Yesterday's features tomorrow" strategy with OS5. These end users bringing these devices in are cutting edge. Four years ago, they were hotsyncing all over the place. Today, Palm is trying to get "upgrades" with the same OS and different hardware. That isn't innovation and the public is noticing. There is a new breed that is bringing in the Pocket PC. Some are new to PDAs and others are converts. It is all about innovation. In 1982, it was about doing spreadsheets and wordprocessing without requesting computer time. In 1996, it was about getting rid of a paper planner. Today, it is about mobile computing. Innovation. It isn't a new case or doubled pixel counts. As the author states, "If you can't lead and can't follow, at least get out of the way."
Thanks to Foo Fighter for the link.
This article touches on a point we are all intimately familiar with. PDAs are making their way into the enterprise, but chances are, you probably brought your PDA in through the back door. IT departments are looking at how to utilize them in the company and there are companies rolling them out, but the lions share are purchased by end users, even if reimbursed by their manager.
Those IT departments resisting this trend are reminiscent of those in the early 80's fighting the IBM PC doing things their vaunted big iron couldn't. Back then, PCs meant freedom. Today, PDAs mean freedom. All of your critical information in your pocket on devices with more RAM, processing power and storage space than the typical full blown PC had 10 years ago.
The author, Bob Lewis, compares this backwards IT strategy to Palm and their "Yesterday's features tomorrow" strategy with OS5. These end users bringing these devices in are cutting edge. Four years ago, they were hotsyncing all over the place. Today, Palm is trying to get "upgrades" with the same OS and different hardware. That isn't innovation and the public is noticing. There is a new breed that is bringing in the Pocket PC. Some are new to PDAs and others are converts. It is all about innovation. In 1982, it was about doing spreadsheets and wordprocessing without requesting computer time. In 1996, it was about getting rid of a paper planner. Today, it is about mobile computing. Innovation. It isn't a new case or doubled pixel counts. As the author states, "If you can't lead and can't follow, at least get out of the way."
Thanks to Foo Fighter for the link.
