Looking at the new products under development, one can get an idea of where the industry is going. Microsoft is developing a "screen phone." This is a wired device that appears to be intended to replace an ordinary telephone, but include a screen big enough to get info from the Internet (using MSFT software, of course). Spyglass (SPYG) has a large contract with MSFT to develop both browser and formatting software for this product. Even though this is a wired Internet appliance, the smaller the physical size becomes, the more likely it will depend on flash memory.
In the area of wireless Internet access, the QUALCOMM pdQ is already available, combining Palm OS and other Palm computing features with QUALCOMM's proprietary CDMA digital cellular system. The low power requirements of CF or MMC are ideal for this application, though at the moment it appears that SNDK products are not universally accepted in these applications.
Microsoft and QUALCOMM are also involved in a joint venture, called Wireless Knowledge, which, though lagging behind other groups, appears to be going in the direction of a wireless version of the Screen Phone, referred to above.
Art |
