From Controversial to Universal: How PDAs Influenced the Smartphone

For modern phone users, the idea of intentionally limiting device capability is unthinkable:  smartphones now account for 70% of all mobile devices, and subscribers use an average of almost 27 different apps per month. But as Media Genesis continues our technology retrospective, we’re revisiting the evolution of handheld devices that led to the modern smartphone.

The word “smartphone” may have risen to prominence in 2007 with the phenomenon of the iPhone, but the term as such was actually first used as early as 1999, in a press release to describe Qualcomm’s pdQ phone featuring Palm functionality–promised features that are taken for granted today, but heralded as “James Bond-like gadgetry” by CNN. CNN, of course, was only stating the obvious–the arrival of a full-fledged smartphone in 1999 would have had earthshaking effects, but early PDA/mobile hybrids could not view animation or rich web content, and were instead confined to text-only displays over abysmal connection speeds (14.4 kbps was bad even in 1999).

The seeds for even this rudimentary smartphone had been laid for more than a decade–Palm founder Jeff Hawkins developed the first pen-based computer for GRiD Systems in 1988, and his company survived the catastrophic launch of the Apple Newton to become the industry leader in PDAs in 2001 (even though Hawkins had left to found Handspring, a direct Palm competitor).  Given the ubiquity of smartphones, we thought it would be fun to revisit PDAs, to examine their contributions, some of their missteps, and diehard characteristics that remain true for modern smartphones.

• Email Anywhere:  This is what transformed Palm, BlackBerry, and their competitors from marginal devices to hot corporate commodities. Executives may have questioned the need for digitizing appointments or meeting notes, but email was an already digital medium that PDAs untethered to give business communication more immediacy and dexterity.
• Touch Screens: As primitive as it seems to require a stylus to write on a screen, the Palm Pilot gained reasonable success as a touch screen tool, while many contemporaries relied on button navigation and thumb keyboards. Considering the failure of Apple’s Newton only a few years before, the success of the Palm Pilot, as well as its Graffiti shorthand, showed that consumers would buy handhelds with touch screen functionality if it was done well.

Early touch screens, however, were nowhere near the robust full-color displays we’re used to today, but instead two-color displays of black text on a green background.

• Untethered Internet:  Even before 3G was adopted, PDAs offered consumers wireless, hotspot-free broadband access. Palm’s version of antenna-driven mobile web came from Palm.net, a proprietary subscription-based web service that enabled users to engage in e-commerce, visit popular sports and news sites, and send email.  Many of the complaints about Palm.net centered around the restrictions to which websites users could view, a model that much more emulates cable TV providers than an Internet service provider. Palm eventually abandoned Palm.net when it could be replaced with more robust web, but the VII was an industry leader at its time.
• PC Connectivity: Introducing PC connectivity and USB with its more later models gave Palm a higher degree of utility and eroded barriers to the PDA as a standalone tool. Although this  seems incremental in hindsight, this predated widespread phone/computer linkup and only offline, single purpose devices like MP3 players were widespread adopters of PC connectivity.

Along the road to innovation, Palm was responsible for a number of questionable decisions, some of which seem major in hindsight.

• Peripheral Devices: In its pursuit to make the Palm a plug-and-go device, it was largely guided by Hawkins, who favored a simplified device that ran well rather than a chimera-like tool that did a lot of things less than optimally. A result of this was peripheral devices from third-parties (but spurred on by Palm) such as a portable printer, snap-on keyboards, and hard shell GPS modules, all of which turned the Palm from a light, on-the-go device into one that crept into laptop utility.
• Branding:  Speaking of utility, we’re sure you remember multiple hip holsters for devices, emblematic of nerddom at its joyous excess. As a PDA, Palm never totally overcame its original stigma of a useful supplemental device (Al Gore was one of its most visible users), implying it was primarily for the tech-savvy. Modern smartphones are designed to be immediate as well as technically agile, but in 2000, during one of its most dominant periods, Palm sales never rose above 3.5 million units in a year.
• (Gulp) Price:  A PDA commonly started in the $300-$400 range and could get as high as $600, before supplemental software, add-ons, and any subscription services. Those numbers are tough to justify for the average consumer, and tacitly fencing the PDA in the highly demanding corporate and tech world cemented its status as only a bridge device to an eventual fully-capable smartphone.